If you’re as passionate about reducing plastic as we are why not take on the Plastic Free challenge? It’s a great way to get started on your zero waste goals and if you’re already a plastic-free pro you might discover something new.

We’ve all heard that failing to prepare is preparing to fail, so it’s time to get organised. This might sound like yawnsville but we promise you – get this bit right and the rest is plain sailing! Have a think about your day-to-day activities and note down where plastic rears its ugly head. Start with your morning routine of having a wash and cleaning your teeth. Do you use moisturiser and make-up? What about during the day, do you grab a take-away coffee on your way to work and
pick up a sandwich for lunch? Write it all down and list the plastics you could start to swap. For a quick way to get going you can take the Pesky Plastics Quiz at Plastic Free July or read on for a breakdown of your lifestyle areas.

Plastic-free beauty

It’s easy to take our daily beauty routine for granted when it comes to plastic. Visit your bathroom and count all the plastic products in there, don’t forget those ear buds! How many did you find? Start by challenging yourself to reducing 50% of that plastic. Whether it’s your make-up bag or shower shelf – there are some amazing suppliers out there of tried and tested plastic-free products (listed at the end of this post).

Feeling creative? You could make your own products. It’s just like making a cake but without the baking! Visit organic-beauty-recipes.com for ideas.

Plastic-free food and drink

There’s a lot of innovation happening in alternative packaging, cutlery and straws. If you’re on the go and need to grab something look out for the ‘compostable’ and ‘biodegradable’ logos. Even better, find some time to make your own lunches and snacks to carry with you in re-usable containers – ditching the waste altogether.
For store-cupboard solutions find out whether you have a zero-waste shop near you by using zerowastenear.me

Plastic-free clothes and laundry

For hard-wearing items, such as backpacks, check that the nylon or polyester used has been made from recycled plastic – reducing landfill and ocean pollution. Clean them carefully by hand.

For clothing that doesn’t have to be made from artficial materials try to opt for organic fabrics where possible. This helps reduce the microplastics leaving your washing machine. Speaking of laundry, how do you wash your clothes? Did you know there are natural and plastic-free alternatives to detergents? Maybe you can find one in the suppliers listed below.

Next steps

The aim here is to reduce your plastics on future purchases - don’t throw away half-full tubes of toothpaste! But if you happen to need a new product now is the time to shop more consciously.

Some wonderful humans have done all the hard work for you and put a load of plastic-free suppliers in one place. Here are some of our favourite shops with a mission to reduce waste:

plasticfreedom.co.uk
theplasticfreeshop.co.uk
peacewiththewild.co.uk

For more inspiration check out the great work that other people are doing:

plasticfreespirit.co.uk
myplasticfreelife.com
trashisfortossers.com

Finally, remember, this is a journey. Big lifestyle changes don’t happen overnight but you can start with just one step. Now go take your bamboo cup to the barista, order your favourite drink and get planning.

Don’t forget our GOODTIMES™ backpacks remove 32 plastic bottles from landfill. Show them filled with plastic-free solutions by using #GOODTIMES