Join us for Plastic Free July, a global challenge to refuse single-use plastic throughout the month. This year, we are focusing on taking small steps for systemic change—things all of us can do to help build up real solutions on the scale we need to make a big difference.
Plastic Free July was started in 2011 by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz (founder of the Plastic Free Foundation) and a small team in local government in Western Australia. Millions of people around the world participate each year, with many committing to reducing plastic pollution far beyond the month of July.
Eliminating plastic pollution will require massive shifts across businesses, governments, and society. Although the blame for plastic pollution is certainly not on us as individuals, we are still forced to participate in at least some of the larger systems that drive plastic pollution. However, our individual actions can hold considerable power and influence others around us. So, let’s focus on what we can do individually: curbing single-use plastic use in our day-to-day lives and advocating for that same reduction in single-use plastics on a systemic level.
Here are Four Small Steps for Systemic Change to Take this Plastic Free July:
Learn About the Latest Health Research
Research linking plastic pollution and harm to human health has been featured heavily in the news lately. And for good reason: Plastics contain over 16,000 chemicals, with at least 4,200 already known to be hazardous to human health. Plastic items don’t break down, they break up into particles called microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics, which carry chemicals into our bodies when we eat, drink, and inhale—we even absorb them through our skin. These particles are now found throughout the human body, from the heart and lungs to penis and placenta.
Yet plastic pollution is more than just plastic items: Plastic pollution also encompasses the air, land, and water pollution created by the extraction, refining, storage, and transportation of plastic’s fossil fuel ingredients; plastic production, shipping, and disposal. Plastic never really goes “away,” it only goes somewhere else to cause pollution (yes, even when you put it in a recycling bin). People living on the industrial fencelines and frontlines of plastic pollution are unfortunately the worst harmed and face the greatest health hazards.
Get caught up on the key facts:
- This is Your Brain on Plastic: What You Need to Know About Plastics & Health
- Chemicals in Plastics Added $250 Billion to U.S. Healthcare Costs in One Year
- From the Frontline: Petrochemicals, Plastics, and Cancer Alley
- From Womb to World, Plastics Harm Babies: How to Protect Their Health
- Microplastics Within Us: Are We Becoming Plastic People?
- Plastic Harms Men’s Fertility: How to Protect Your Health
- Scientists Map Research on Human Health Impacts of Plastic Chemicals
Embrace Healthy Lifestyle Benefits
Unfortunately, we can’t always control our exposure to plastic pollution. Yet there are still many ways you can try to limit your exposure to plastic and its chemicals to better protect you and your loved ones. Doing so can be as simple as swapping packaged foods for loose, unwrapped produce, or skipping single-use plastic items in favor of plastic-free reusable, refillable alternatives. Many plastic-free items you may already have at home or can find inexpensively secondhand can be repurposed, such as empty glass jars for holding leftovers, or worn cotton t-shirts to make reusable tote bags.
Going Plastic-Free:
- Going Plastic Free: Why Small Steps Matter for Your Health
- How to Avoid Microplastics at Home
- How to Reduce Your Exposure to Plastic in Food (and Everywhere Else)
- The Healthy Baby Guide
- The Healthy Pregnancy Guide
Take Action to Change Systems
Once you embrace the change you want to see in the world around you, here’s how you can start to shift systems:
Advocate
Write to your representatives or a business, and discuss plastic pollution solutions with colleagues, friends, and family in everyday conversations. Show up, stand up, and speak up! Advocate for policy change and leave informational cards urging businesses to serve straws upon request. Advocate for plastic-free reuse for dine-in and bans on single-use plastic foodware and take-out packaging. Sign one of our petitions (or multiple!) and help spread the word.
Audit
Do a plastic audit of all of your purchases during the month. Buy unpackaged products when you can. Take it to the next level and sign the 4Rs pledge to reduce, reuse, recycle, and refuse single-use plastic. Add a brand audit to your local cleanup and identify polluters to hold them accountable.
Engage
Engage your workplace or office and implement simple shifts to reduce single-use plastic. School may be out for summer in some parts of the world, but whether or not classes are in session, students and teachers can find resources to engage in or prepare for building plastic-free systems here.
Inspire
Inspire others with your own storytelling and art. Learn more about plastic pollution and engage your community through storytelling or visuals that tell the true story.
Support
Support brands changing business as usual with healthy ingredients and plastic-free packaging—or buy nothing at all! Visit the DoneGood Marketplace, Life Without Plastic store, or Pirani to make sustainable swaps for your essential needs.
Share Your Journey with Our Community
Now that you have some thought starters, tag your Plastic Free July posts on Instagram using @plasticpollutes, or #plasticpollutes and #plasticfreejuly. We love seeing your Plastic Free July in action, and might feature your post on our stories or main feed. Spreading the message about why and how you are helping to end plastic pollution and build a more just, regenerative world can inspire others to do the same!
Happy Plastic Free July!
