Happy Plastic Free July! Every year, people around the world participate in this global challenge to rethink our relationship with single-use products, reduce plastic use and take action to work toward a future beyond plastic. While individual actions matter, they are only one piece of the solution. Addressing the plastic pollution crisis requires systemic change, from reducing plastic production to creating stronger policies that hold corporations accountable. Keep reading to learn how you can reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals in plastics while taking action to support the transition to safer, more sustainable reuse systems.
The plastic problem
Within just half a century, our lives have become flooded with plastic. So, what’s the problem with plastic?
- Climate emissions: 99% of plastic is derived from fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases throughout its life cycle. If plastic were a country, it would rank as the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter.
- Environmental pollution: Every single day, approximately 2,000 garbage trucks of plastic enter our oceans, rivers and lakes, which puts marine life at risk. Globally, less than 10% of plastic ever produced has been recycled, which means the rest is burned, buried or dumped into the environment.
- Health impacts: Microplastics and their associated toxic chemical components, have been found all over the human body, including the brain, blood and lungs.
Plastic production has increased 220-fold since 1950 and if left unchecked, production is expected to triple again by 2060.
This rapid growth shows why plastic pollution is not just an individual waste problem — it is a global systems challenge. Around the world, people are calling on their governments to address the plastic pollution crisis by calling for a strong Global Plastics Treaty, bans on single-use plastic and stronger policies to hold corporations accountable. Plastic Free July is an opportunity to highlight the urgent crisis of plastic pollution and real solutions.
How to get started with Plastic Free July
If you have been thinking about reducing your plastic consumption and use, Plastic Free July is a great way to start. Reducing individual plastic use can reduce your individual toxic exposure, build up creative zero waste skills and inspire others around you to do the same. (However, individual actions alone can’t solve the plastic problem — more on that below). Here’s how to get started:
- Conduct a plastic audit: Pay close attention to what you buy. Is it made of or packaged in plastic? Many items, including textiles and cookware, are actually made of plastic-based materials. During this audit, also pay attention to what is widely available near you. Are plastic-free options available at all? Are they more expensive? These questions help reveal how larger systems, such as product availability and affordability, shape our individual choices.
- Refuse plastic wherever possible:
- Bring a reusable bag when you go shopping
- Bring Your Own Cup (BYOC) if you are going out for coffee
- Bring a reusable bottle with you
- Carry food storage containers when dining out for leftovers
- Support local businesses that offer reuse and refill, such as co-ops
- Select products that are package free or that are made of genuinely recyclable materials (such as cardboard or glass)
Plastic pollution and public health
Whether you are just beginning your plastic-free journey or a seasoned zero waste expert, you will quickly realize that plastic is very hard to avoid. Reducing plastic in food packaging, cookware and drinkware is a great step to reduce your own or your family’s toxic exposure but we also need system-wide solutions.
Plastic is so ubiquitous that even if you try to avoid it in your day-to-day purchases, you may still be exposed to microplastics whenever through drinking water (with rates of microplastics often higher in bottled water than tap water), dust inside of your home and fresh food like farm-grown fruits and vegetables. Even the most diligent zero waste expert can’t eliminate exposure.
And some are more impacted than others. Millions of people live on the fencelines of fossil fuel extraction, petrochemical processing, and plastic production. In places like “Cancer Alley”, Louisiana (a 184-mile stretch along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana housing over 150 petrochemical plants) residents experience a 95% higher rate of cancer compared to the rest of the country.
The impacts continue beyond communities where plastic is produced. In the U.S. alone, nearly 4.4 million people live within a three-mile radius of a commercial waste incinerator, where garbage (including plastic) is burned. This burning worsens air, soil and water quality and causes health harms including asthma and cancer.
The U.S. also exports more than 850 million pounds of plastic waste annually, shifting the environmental and health burdens of plastic pollution to communities around the world, including Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Building a future beyond plastic
We need to act urgently to turn off the plastic tap and replace the current norms of disposability with non-toxic reuse systems that work for people and the planet. That means transforming the systems that drive plastic pollution, consumption and waste, while supporting communities already working toward solutions.
Stay with us this month as members of our team share real stories about how they are reducing their individual plastic consumption and taking action to build better reuse systems. If you’re looking for a way to take immediate action, you can support the petition below calling for a strong Global Plastics Treaty!
