The awesome Cal Major, founder of of Paddle Against Plastic, shares ten ways you can cut down on single use plastic in every day life. Change up your lifestyle with these tweaks to do a little bit more to save the planet, and read my full interview with Cal.
10 easy switches to limit your single use plastic usage
1. Buy and use a reusable water bottle – make the most of our glorious tap water!
2. Reusable coffee cup – most disposable coffee cups are not recyclable and some are plastic lined. Polystyrene cups are particularly troublesome.
3. Refuse plastic bags at the checkout – carry a cloth bag with you, keep one in the car, in your handbag, down your jumper…
4. Cotton buds – there are several manufacturers now producing, or pledging to produce, only cardboard cotton bud sticks!
5. Fruit and veg – Find places near you that don’t wrap all their fruit and veg in plastic, and don’t use those silly plastic bags to wrap them in. Lidl are pretty good for veg out of plastic wrappings.
6. Have a couple of days a week meat free. Not only will this limit your single use plastic usage as most meat is wrapped in plastic, it will also reduce your carbon footprint.
7. Ask for your drinks without plastic straws – we have mouths for that!
8. Ensure you aren’t buying cosmetics containing microbeads – the “Beat The Microbead” app allows you to scan the barcode on products and alerts you if it contains plastic which would be washed down the drain and into the ocean.
9. If you buy a lot of bottled juice or smoothies, try making your own! You can create some pretty interesting and delicious combinations!
10. Refuse, reuse, recycle – apply this throughout your life. If you can find an alternative to the single use plastic wrapped item, go for it. If you can reuse instead of buying new, do! And if all else fails and you need to dispose of plastic, recycle whenever possible.
To find out more, and for more tips on how you can help protect the oceans, follow Cal and Paddle Against Plastic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
