Plastic Free July is over for another year.
The milestone is a chance to reflect on what we have learned over the past four weeks, while continuing that work in some shape or form.
No matter how simple or insignificant your Plastic Free July swap might have felt, I assure you, it will help to make a change.
Your new habit will not only reduce plastic waste, but it will also be noticed by your family and friends, which leads to more change.
For example, if you spent the past month swapping out takeaway coffee cups for a reusable option, then you have just made the world a better place.
Here’s why: if you bought a coffee each morning throughout July, you saved plastic›lined throw›away cups from landfill.
Imagine though, one day, once your ‘‘conscious effort’’ becomes ‘‘habit’’, your seven weekly coffees in a reusable cup could save 365 throwaway cups from landfill each year.
That’s a significant amount of waste, plus you’re helping to change the ‘‘normal’’ behaviour of using single›use cups for just a few minutes, and then throwing them away.
No matter what you chose to swap out, even if you didn’t have a 100% success rate, your efforts count and could one day become second nature.
So, whatever you’ve been working on, don’t feel the need to give up just because July is over.
If it worked for you, keep it going for the rest of the year.
And if it didn’t work for you, keep trialling new habits because there are so many options out there waiting for each and every one of us.
I will keep shopping for plastic›free alternatives in the supermarket until those products become my natural go›to.
For example, I’m already naturally gravitating to packs of toilet paper wrapped in paper.
The product works for me because it doesn’t cost me any more and being wrapped in paper (not plastic) doesn’t make any difference to the product.
As the team at Wastebusters signs off on another great Plastic Free July, we wish to thank you for your efforts. They truly do count towards the bigger picture.
