Whether you are new to 'de-plasticing', or an old hand, here are some quick and easy plastic free swaps to make.
Australians use about 3.5 billion plastic straws every year. That's 10 million plastic straws every day. If you don't want to ditch the straw completely, there are huge ranges of reusable straws available. Stainless steel, bamboo, colourful kid-safe silicone straws, thin straws, smoothie straws - you drink it there's a straw for it!
Despite the bag ban, Australians still use about 3.92 billion plastic bags each year. That's more than 10.7 million plastic bags every day...with a bag ban. A lot of people are accustomed to bringing their own bags to the supermarket these days. If you're super organised you might even remember to take them from the car into the shop with you.
I am not this person! I am the person standing in the car park with a full trolley of individual groceries that I'm putting into the bags that I left in my boot while a kid screams in the car because I forgot to actually take my bags into the shops with me and I refuse to buy another bag. Not because I'm cheap and don't want to pay 15 cents, but because I refuse to have more plastic in my life. Anyway, I digress.
Keep reusable produce bags in the car with your grocery bags and use them for your fresh produce instead of the plastic bags the supermarkets provide. Simple as that!
Australians use about 1 billion disposable coffee cups every year. That's 2.7 million disposable coffee cups every day. These are one of the easiest plastic free swaps to make and an increasing amount of cafes and coffee shops are giving discounts if you BYO cup. Saving money and the world, what's not to love! The Cheeki 350ml mug is by far our most popular - insulated to keep your drink warm for hours and spill-proof too!
Australians use about 585 million disposable water drink bottles each year. That's over 1.6 million bottles a day. That's just water bottles and doesn't take into account other plastic drink bottles like soft drink bottles. If you bought enough bottled water to drink your recommended intake it would cost you over $3500 per year. The same amount of tap water would cost you $1...for the whole year! Reusable water bottles are another super easy swap that has the power to save you money while you save the environment. If everyone made these few small changes, even if it was just for Plastic Free July, it would save 750 million single use plastic items just in that month! If everyone made these 4 simple changes permanent, it would save over 9 BILLION single use plastic items PER YEAR! Huge changes made possible by everyone committing to take a little step and make a little change.
Cheaper than the plastic alternative from Woolworths, it's madness that everyone isn't using these! Yes the bristles are still plastic, but that's still better than the whole toothbrush made of plastic. Snap off the head, or pull out the bristles and put it in your waste bin and the handle can then be composted.
These guys last for literally months and months and when they're worn out just pop them in the compost. When you consider how long these coconut scorers last, it's another thing that works out cheaper than the conventional supermarket alternative. Being eco doesn't have to be expensive!
We're spoilt for choice with shampoo bars now. They're a great way to reduce plastic waste in your bathroom and they generally last months so are great value too. As with chemical and palm-oil filled bottled shampoo, different shampoos work differently on different hair types. If you give a shampoo bar a try and find it doesn't work for you, it might not be that shampoo bars themselves don't work for you, you might just not have found the right one for your hair type.