You guys, this is a very different Plastic Free July we are all living in. So I thought I would come up with some fresh ideas to tackle plastic, even during a pandemic. It seems that so many of the things we have fought for: reusable bags and cups, avoiding disposable products, are here to haunt us once more. That is why I have really hard on what I can share with you that is relevant for right now, and also for Plastic Free July challenges.
And also I need to note, I do love the idea of having a month where we focus on plastic waste awareness, but I usually work on this year round. Plastic Free July is when I share more but really I like to spread awareness year round and will be doing more videos and blog posts in the future talking about it. If you want to read my previous posts about Plastic Free July you can find them here and here.
in regards of ordering to go.
There’s two tips in here I would like to share:
- TIP 1. Make sure to state on your phone call or online order that you don’t need disposable cutlery. If you are at home you can use your own silverware, and if you are not, try keeping reusable cutlery in your bag.
- TIP 2. Order from places that use compostable and paper packaging. If your favorite take out place doesn’t, make sure you tell either the manager, leave a review, or send an email about how awesome it would be for them to use compostable or recyclable packaging.
When shopping
Reusable bags are not allowed during this time, even though there’s been some research showing it is not as problematic as we think it is. We can fight the system all we want but we still have to go get groceries. There’s not much that can be done right now about it. But here are four things you can do whilst shopping:
- TIP 1. If you like to bag your produce, make sure to store the plastic bags you use for later use (ex. when the pandemic is over you can just reuse them for produce, I did that before and it was an easy way to reuse them.)
- TIP 2. If they are torn, store them in a box or a container for when your supermarket starts back recycling. Usually there’s a bin at the entrance of the store where you can drop your plastic bags and wraps. And in case you didn’t know (I didn’t) here’s what you can recycle in those bins, aside from plastic bags:
- Product or case Overwrap: think the plastic wrap from toilet paper rolls, or soda cans or bottle water wraps (why are you still buying water bottles btw?) etc.
- Newspaper bags
- Bread Bags: like from your ezekiel, Dave’s Killer Bread, etc.
- Dry cleaning bags
- Air pillows: used to protect items during shipping
- Food Storage Bags: Meaning Ziplocs, clean of course
- And the previously mentioned produce and shopping bags
- TIP 3. When the cashier asks you if you want paper or plastic, please choose paper.
- TIP 4. Opt for stuff that comes in either glass, aluminum or paper/cardboard (ex. pasta in cardboard box instead of plastic, ketchup in glass instead of plastic, etc.)
Terracycle
Guys, this company deserves a blog post all on its own. TerraCycle has made some great campaigns and now works with a lot of companies for a free recycle program. The difference of suing Terra Cycle is that you ensure that the products really get recycled, specially the ones that are harder to recycle.
The way it works:
- Check the list of brands that they work with here. Recycling with this brands is free.
- For some brands you fill a form, they send you an envelope with a prepaid return label, you fill it out with the containers and then you give it back to USPS.
- For other brands, you can fill out whatever box you have, print the prepaid label, fill it with empty containers (some even don’t need them to be cleaned, just as long as they are not leaking).
- Some brands ask you to simply drop the empty clean containers at selected locations (there’s a useful map showing locations of where you can do that.) Mainly I saw this happening for laundry detergent brands
- For some brands you can earn points to donate to charitable organizations, and other cool things like that.
- Some brands that participate in this free recycling program:
- Acure organics
- Arm & Hammer
- Barilla (the pasta brand)
- Burt’s Bees
- Colgate (they recycle toothbrushes you guys!)
- Tide and Bounce and those other detergents
- Febreze
- Gerber
- Gilette
- Gogo Squeeze (baby food)
- Herbal Essences
- L’occitane
- Living Proof
- Welleda
- Wellness pet food
- Eos
- Solo cups
- Swiffer
- Vans (yes Vans)
- Tom’s of Maine
- This is not brand specific but tech gadgets (phones, laptops, ipads, ink cartridges)
So as you can see there are a lot of brand already working with them, and all you need to do is collect them in either a box or envelope, print the prepaid label, pack your stuff and send it on its way.
And not only those TerraCycle work with those brands, but also, they offer recycling other brands and containers and items that are hard to recycle but at a cost. The cost of the box depends on the size, but I won’t lie it is a little high. But! But. You can get together with friends or family to buy a box, and everyone gets to send stuff. I think this is genius and tbh is a small price to pay for having used plastic or other polluting items.
Some of the “Zero Waste Boxes” that you can purchase are (each bullet point is a different box):
- Plastic packaging: bottles, cereal bag liners, takeout containers, plastic wrap, bubble wrap, styrofoam peanuts, straws, shrink wrap
- Coffee capsules: capsules, K-cup, pack, pod or disc, no need to be cleaned
- Kitchen separation: plastic packaging, filters, cleaning accesories, party supplies and dining disposables, prescription drug packaging.
- Candy and snacks wrappers
- Disposable Gloves
- Beauty Products: from any brand, shampoo and lotion bottles, hair gel and shaving foam tubes, spray bottles, lip balm/gloss/mascara tubes, face soap dispensers, eyeliner/eye shadow cases, concealer tubes.
- Shipping materials: bubble wrap, shipping peanuts
- Safety equipment and protective gear. Hello this would is so important!
I have heard some that have asked their local supermarket, co-op or corner store to get one of this boxes so that everyone can recycle what they have. This is also a very good way to recycle within your community.
about face masks
Oh boy, we are already seeing the impact face masks are having. People are finding them washed up ashore and in waterways, and in the middle of the street. I picked up one the other day at Target’s parking lot and people were looking at me like I was doing something so out of the ordinary. It is sad that people feel this way when they see somebody picking up trash, it means that they don’t even think about it.
But anyways, a good point is to make your own face mask. There are plenty of tutorials going around, and even if you still feel safer wearing an N95 mask, you can do a fabric liner to protect it and make it last longer, since you can wash the fabric one over and over.
Tbh I’m still using the same mask I’ve been using since March, but I really don’t want to throw it away and have been out much. I plan to make some for both hubs and I soon with some leftover fabric I have. You can also make them in a cute fabric that you like and add some personality while you’re at it. Or of course you can also purchase it, there are so many brands out there making unique and gorgeous face masks.
ditch the shampoo bottle
I have talked a lot about this, but it is really something super easy you can do. There are a lot of brands doing shampoo bars that leave your hair feeling awesome and work just as good if not better. Some brands I know sell them are Hi Bar, by Humankind and LUSH. I’ll share more brands later.
That is it you guys, I really tried to look for realistic Plastic Free July tips that can work during the Covid pandemic and that can, of course, be applied in the future.
