Reduce Plastic. Stop Using Single Use Plastic!

In Short:

Do not buy single use plastic for one full week. #SingleUsePlasticSucks

What’s In It For You:

Using less single use plastic not only saves the planet, but also saves you a whole lot of money.

Why To Avoid Single Use Plastic

We all know single use plastic sucks. It is purchased, used one single time, oftentimes for very few minutes only, and then carelessly discarded. No problem so far. If this plastic would now degrade as quickly as it was thrown away, life would be good.

But: It doesn’t. Single use plastic lives on for hundreds, possibly even thousands (!!) of years. Basically, it never goes away (sure enough we won’t witness that day…). Instead, what it does is it breaks into ever shrinking pieces of plastic, finally being tiny enough to not be detectable with the human eye anymore. And that’s when things get nasty: These tiny little plastic molecules float freely in the ocean, get consumed by the fish, which then again get consumed by us. Not cool.

The beauty is: Avoiding single use plastic not only helps save the planet, but does help save you quite a bit of money as well. Mainly because you will decrease your overall consumption, e.g. of plastic-wrapped sweets. In case you have tracked your expenses to date, try going single use plastic free for one week, and post below how much money it saved you. Multiply it by 52 to calculate your potential annual savings. You’ll be surprised…

Oh, and: Single use plastic does kill thousands of marine animals as well. Either by entangling / strangling them in ropes, or by starving them to death, since their stomachs are all filled with indigestible plastic. And we don’t want that, do we?

How To Avoid Single Use Plastic

Avoiding single use plastic is not as difficult as it may sound, once you give it some thought.

Take your own shopping bag when you head to the supermarket. Carry a reusable stainless steel water bottle and get free refills wherever possible (restaurants, bars, public drinking water dispensers…). Same for reusable coffee mugs. (Even though refills may not be free, several coffee shops actually offer a discount.)

Avoid sodas. It’s healthier for you. Buy loose fruit and veg instead of packaged crisps and chocolate bars. That’s healthier for you as well. Try the Chocolate Jallenge, now that you’re here already.

Research which products contain microbeads – and don’t buy them. Carry reusable cutlery with you. Eliminate straws – or invest in a stainless steel one.

And since we know you’ll come up with tons of other hacks how to avoid single use plastic: Share them in the comments below, to inspire others.

The Jallenge

Let’s be the change we want to see in this world! We challenge you to not use single use plastic for one single week only (to start with).

And, as with all other Jallenges: Make sure you make someone else think about it, too! You can simply use the cool new sharing buttons to the left (laptop) or at the bottom (mobile). Share this now! (#Jallenges & #SingleUsePlasticSucks)

Further Reading

There are tons of further resources to read up on if you like.

Wendy from “It’s a Fish Thing” (great resource for all fish lovers!) has written a sensational article on Issues, Facts and Possible Solutions for Plastic in the Ocean.

The HuffPost compiled a great collection of articles on ocean plastic. Find it here.

They also created a short slideshow with 10 Things You Can Do To Help Curb Ocean Plastics.

However, please don’t get caught up reading – start acting!

Not Enough?

If simply avoiding plastic is not enough, consider supporting these projects:

1. The Ocean Clean Up. The largest ocean clean up in history.
2. Beach Clean Up. Help to tidy up a local beach. (There are dozens to hundreds of beach clean ups in every country (except for Switzerland *g*). Simply use Google to find one close to you – or organize your own. In Thailand they even combine this with a cool workout!)
3. Buy a new fragrance. (No affiliate link. Actually only mentioned because this was the final trigger to write this article. Thanks Davidoff!)
4. Brag about what you do on Social Media, tell your family and friends, mention it during conversations with colleagues. Spreading the word helps a lot! #SingleUsePlasticSucks

Exception:

If for some reason you did forget to bring a reusable bag and have to buy a plastic bag for shopping: Don’t throw it away empty. Fill it with trash you collected from the road side, beach front or elsewhere before discarding it into a recycling depot.