Plastic Free July

 I just discovered Plastic Free July via the Peppermint Magazine blog. And, as a joiner, I joined the challenge. It's an initiative that was started by the Western Metropolitan Regional Council (incidentally, comprised of the most elite Western suburbs councils) in Perth.

I'm sure you all know that plastic is bad news. It takes thousands of years to break down and creates havoc with the environment. I won't go into the science here but I obviously think it's worth reducing my personal plastic consumption.

Cut and pasted from the Plastic Free July website, here are "The rules":

1. Attempt to consume no single-use plastic during July.
2. Remember it's not going to be easy! It is a challenge, not a competition so don't worry about being perfect.
3. Collect any unavoidable single-use plastic you buy. Keep in a dilemma bag and share it with us at the end of the challenge.
4. It's up to you regarding how long you participate. You might decide to go plastic-free for a day, a week, a month or longer! However long you choose will still make a contribution.

I figure that it will be easy to avoid the "top four" single-use plastic items  - plastic bags, coffee lids, plastic bottles and straws. It will reinforce other habits like using tote bags for shopping, not drinking non-fair trade takeaway coffee, not buying drinks from fast food outlets, avoiding soft drinks, etc.

Avoiding other single-use plastic is much more challenging. My prescription medication comes in plastic packaging, for one thing. Many toiletries and cosmetics involve disposable plastic - I won't buy any replacements this month but I will need to think hard about non-plastic alternatives.

Looking at Step 3 of "The rules" above - I really hope that no one puts used nappies, continence pads, sanitary pads or stoma bags in a "dilemma bag". (Those who read my other blog will know that I have a healthy obsession with body fluids.)

I'll post an update later in the month.