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Plastic Free July ideas at home

If you’ve been following our Plastic Free July journey so far, you’ll know that we’ve been carrying out plastic audits in our homes. Whenever we carry out our weekly shop, we come home and count all the pieces of plastic involved. The aim is to reduce this number as much as possible. Living a plastic free lifestyle isn’t an overnight decision and slowly happens over time. But if it seems too drastic for you, why not try and reduce your plastic like we are. Take a look at how we’re introducing the plastic free ethos into our homes. 



After your plastic audit, make some plastic free swaps 

Three items at a time. This is what we’re suggesting. It’s more manageable and requires minimal thought processes. After you’ve carried out your plastic audit. Take a look at the items you’ve purchased and choose three to replace with a plastic free alternative. 

It might be buying loose fruit and veg rather than those wrapped in plastic. It could be buying bars of soap rather than bottles of shower gel. You might even find rice and pasta refill stations in a supermarket or local zero waste store to avoid plastic packaging. If you’re struggling for ideas, we’ve listed below a bunch of products that have plastic free options easily available: 

  • Shampoo and conditioner bottles (bars of shampoo and conditioner are in most beauty stores) 
  • Soap dispenser bottles (bars of soap are available everywhere) 
  • Trigger cleaning bottles (refill solutions with zero packaging) 
  • Dishwasher/washing machine tablets/liquids (zero waste packaging available) 
  • Nuts and seeds (widely available in refill stations and zero waste stores) 
  • Plastic bags for fruit and veg (this bag is not essential, bring your own) 
  • Bread bags (Bring a bag and buy bread from the bakery counter) 
  • Cheese singles wrappers (Bring your own Tupperware and buy sliced cheese from the counter) 
  • Seeds, nuts and lentils (widely available in refill stations and zero waste stores) 
  • Rice and pasta (widely available in refill stations and zero waste stores) 
  • Spices (widely available in refill stations and zero waste stores) 
  • Loose leaf tea (available in most shops with no plastic packaging) 

The importance of plastic in your home 

When we say plastic free, that doesn’t mean throwing away everything plastic. In fact, if there is already plastic in your home, try and use it as much as possible! Tupperware, drinks bottles, pots, cleaning bottles, even the squirty bottles for your tomato ketchup. They can all be reused over and over again. The key isn’t to never use plastic, it’s to significantly reduce the amount you buy. Something which is easily achieved through reuse. 

Oh, and if you were wondering how to reuse your tomato ketchup bottle. Think about sun cream and moisturisers. You can buy some brands in large 5kg tubs, but for ease of application use your squirty bottles. You can thank us later for that tip.

Single-use plastics in the UK 

The biggest issue the world has with plastic is those single use items. Thankfully the UK government did ban the use of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds. However, there is still a way to go. Here’s a list of common single use items you’ll find. Can you think of ways to reduce these in your lifestyle? 

  • Food containers (meat trays) 
  • Hot drinks cups 
  • Cigarette butts 
  • Cling film 
  • Sweet wrappers 
  • Food packaging (think biscuits, sweets, crisps) 
  • Wet wipes 
  • Sanitary items (from towel packaging to tampon applicators) 
  • Takeaway containers (foam boxes for your chips) 

These products are all single use. You might be able to find a new use for some of them. For example, wash out the meat trays and make a ‘plastic robot’ craft with the kids. But most of these items will be used once, and then head for the bin.

They’re the most troublesome products, so how can we reduce them? Well, most of the time it involves a little more thought and care. Swapping out your beloved product for something else. For example, purchasing period underwear and ditching tampons, removing wet wipes from your lifestyle and opting for a moist reusable towel. In some cases, you can easily do a swap; bringing a reusable cup to the coffee shop, giving up smoking and using beeswax wraps.  

If you find any of these plastics in your plastic audit, they may be more difficult to remove but they’re the most important to tackle. 



There we have it, Plastic Free July wrapped up in a not-so-plastic bow! As with everything at Greenredeem, it’s about taking manageable steps to a more sustainable future. So if this month you’ve managed to get your plastic audit down from 20 items to just 2, congratulations – but if you’ve gone from 20 to 17 you should also be proud. Every little action helps and it’s only once we successfully make one change that we should consider taking a new step. Let us know how you’ve got on with Plastic Free July in the comments below.

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