Plastic Free July: 8 Easy Ways to Celebrate

Plaine Products is celebrating Plastic Free July,a global movement to reduce single-use plastic waste every day at home, work, school, and within your community. By choosing to refuse single-use plastics, a small change by many can make a huge difference in the world’s plastic pollution problem. Join us in imagining a world without plastic waste. We’ll be posting Plastic Free July tips and blog posts with ideas all month!

We kicked off the first week of Plastic Free July with some of the easiest swaps for when you are traveling and out and about around town. Check out our ideas:

We challenge you to refuse single-use takeaway coffee cups and bring your own reusable coffee mug!
Did you know that most of the nearly half-trillion disposable coffee cups manufactured are not recyclable? They are lined with plastic! Find a reusable mug you love and never leave home without it!

Refuse single-use plastic bags and bring your own reusable shopping bags to help reduce plastic waste! Nearly 4 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. And they are only used for an average of 12 minutes. Plus, they are extremely difficult to recycle. Carry your reusable bags and bring them along for all of your shopping trips!

Drink out of a reusable water bottle instead of a single-use plastic one! A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, only to be discarded after one use. Plastic bottles can take more than 450 years to break down and decompose. Choose to refuse single-use plastic bottles and bring your own reusable bottle.

Refuse plastic straws when you buy a drink! In the U.S. alone, over 500 million straws are used every single day. If you don’t need one, don’t use one. And if you do need one or prefer one, choose a reusable straw. There are lots of sustainable options from stainless steel straws to glass straws options and bamboo straws alternatives. The best way to keep plastic straws out of landfills is not to use them. Choose to refuse plastic straws and bring your own instead!

Avoid plastic cutlery and bring your own reusables! It’s estimated that 40 billion plastic utensils are thrown away each year in the US, usually after one use. Single-use utensils can take up to 1000 years to decompose and have been listed by The Ocean Conservancyamong the items most deadly to sea turtles, birds, and mammals. A utensil roll like this is easy to toss in your bag so you are always prepared! Refuse plastic utensils and carry your own!

Bring your own travel size products! Over 2 million half-used hotel shampoo bottles are thrown out every day across the U.S. We can help you travel sustainably and plastic free with our travel size products! Our shampoo, conditioner and body wash are all TSA compliant and in aluminum travel bottles.

Choose to refuse takeaway containers and bring your own from home! Styrofoam is a form of plastic that’s incredibly difficult to recycle and it can easily break up into tiny, often airborne particles that are difficult to clean up. Instead of taking home your leftovers in a styrofoam container, consider using your own and skip the styrofoam all together.

Pack lunches and snacks in reusable bags! There can be a lot of single-use packaging when it comes to lunch and snacks. Instead of using plastic baggies for food on the go, put your sandwich or snacks into a reusable silicone sandwich bag like this. Commit to never using a single-use plastic sandwich bag again.