Before Plastic Free July

I am going to share something I allegedly said before plastic free living, before zero waste, before grabbing a sustainable lifestyle with both hands. A friend reminded me of something I said over the Christmas break of 2008…


“I love being on holidays because you don’t have to recycle.”

Ha! Did I really say that six years ago?

So not only has my hair colour gone back to a more natural state (I forgot I went brunette!) but so has my thinking, which is now more naturally attuned.

If you are a little afraid to make a change like taking something familiar as single use plastic out of your life, don’t be. Taking a challenge like Plastic Free July does not mean you have to go plastic free forever or in all areas of your life. It is about giving it a go and challenging yourself, like a marathon or committing to giving up wine for a month.

If my declaration from six years ago is anything to go by it shows that even someone who was once not a full time recycler could get excited by it and even enjoy not only recycling on holidays but going plastic free.

Right now I have a friend who is going to take on the 2014 Plastic Free July challenge and I am super proud of her. And I would be just as proud if she only did the challenge for two weeks or one day. Just to give it a go is worth applauding. She is asking me all types of questions and I am glad that I can be of some help having gone through the challenge myself and now living the plastic free life full time.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Ginger,

    I'm so excited for plastic-free July! I love a challenge, and I love being able to tell the kids they can't have something because it comes wrapped in plastic. We don't have bulk options for things like pasta where I live, and that's going to hurt a bit, especially as it's sooooo cold lately (top of 7 degrees today).

    I went to the post office this afternoon and asked for 35 stamps without the plastic backing. I think the sales assistant was a bit surprised. She offered me a stamp collector pack which comes with a cardboard backing and wrapped in plastic and seemed genuinely confused when I declined. I then had to explain how I'm trying to go zero waste, and wanted the old-fashioned type of stamps. No one had any in their drawers, so she had to go out the back and look for some. This took a while and I'm sure everyone behind me in the queue thought I was nuts!! However, mission accomplished, I came home with no waste stamps :)

    Your cotton shopping bags look great. I tend to use net ones for fruit and veg as they weigh less. I use cotton ones like yours for bulk flour and woodfired sourdough.

    Madeleine.x

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    1. Hi Madeleine, I understand your pain regarding asking for items with no plastic. People generally do become perplexed when you refuse it. After a while one can't help but laugh about it.

      Don't worry about pasta. Even though I live in a city the closest bulk store does not have any pasta. I LOVE my pasta and found this hard also. But decided to think of it as a treat for when i happen to go out for dinner. Same with sushi and any noodle dish really.

      I am going to teach myself to make pasta. Have you checked out The Greening of Gavin? He has some recipes for making pasta. Here is one I want to try http://www.greeningofgavin.com/2014/02/make-homemade-pasta-dough.html

      Erin xx

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    2. Hi Erin,

      I actually found your blog through the greening of gavin. What a great idea to make some pasta. I have a pasta machine that used to be used regularly, but when the kids came along it moved to the back of the cupboard - that was 14 years ago!! So time to dust it off and check out Gavin's recipes. Thanks for the tip!

      Madeleine.x

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