Small steps, big difference
Are you looking for ways to beat plastic pollution? This July, millions of Plastic Free July participants will take steps to end plastic pollution by choosing to refuse single-use plastic. Every step makes a big difference and shows others they can step up too!
At the good tonic, we wanted to share some ideas, and give you some suggestions to discover more around going Plast Free, for ever!
- Take the challenge and get tips, tricks, stories of other participants and news from across the global movement
- Do the Plastic Free July Quiz (it takes less than 5 minutes) to discover the items you use and decide what you’d like to choose to refuse
- Decide to take your first step- or really challenge yourself !
Take the pledge to refuse single-use cups
It is estimated that in Aotearoa - New Zealand, we discard 295 MILLION single use cups a year. What doesn't get to the landfill, escapes into the environment where the cup's plastic lining means that these can take forever to break down.
Reusable cups are becoming increasingly popular. If you can have your takeaway coffee poured into a reusable cup then the problem disappears - it's really that simple. Recycling is not the way out of this mess, refusing single use is!
Compostable cups are are slightly better, in that they compost and don’t produce methane if the cups are sorted and sent to a compost facility. In New Zealand there are only 11 of these facilities nationwide and due to not having the resources to identify and sort these cups, the majority will end up in landfill.
So, if you want something really easy to start your journey to a plastic free way, refusing single use cups (or single use anything!) is a great way to start. Share your journey on our socials and with your workmates, remember, small steps, as zero waste chef Anne Marie Bonneau said, “We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly”
Ask your local café what they are doing, the more they are asked, the more likely they are to take action, remember, it costs them to buy all of the single use cups, our friends at again again have an amazing set up that your local may want to implement, just ask!
Want to find out more?
The Plastic Free July website is full of amazing ideas and tools for you to use or share on your socials or with your work mates, with lot’s more ideas of things you can do at home, at work, and in your community to get involved.
If you’re stuck on what more your organisation could do, we’d love to help, drop us a line, or pop into the store and catch up, we love to discuss these things, and work with our communities and with nature.
Finally it’s important to remember that this is not just for July, it should be part of your 'business as usual' mantra, remember when plastic shopping bags were banned in July 2019!
If you want some other great inspiration, check out these amazing sites
- Use the Good on You app to check how sustainable your favourite clothing brand is.
- Use the RefillNZ app to find a nearby water refill station, there are a few in Whakatane!.
- Visit The Rubbish Trip for zero-waste shopping tips in your region.
Thank you for being part of this amazing initiative and journey to reduce our impact on nature, the team at the good tonic
#plasticfreejuly.
