July is ‘Plastic Free July’

Did you know Australians use around 100 kilograms of plastic packaging per household each year? Choose to refuse single use plastic this July by signing up for the Plastic Free July challenge at www.plasticfreejuly.org. You will receive tips and support through a weekly e-newsletter during the month and you won’t be alone. You’ll be joining a million+ people world-wide in making a difference.

It is so simple to be part of Plastic Free July. Firstly, remember your reusables! Being plastic free means you always need your trusty reusable water bottles, reusable coffee cups and reusable bags handy.

Secondly, spread the word – grab your friends or co-workers and spread the plastic free love.

Go plastic free and make a difference

The more people that choose to refuse, the greater impact we can make in reducing landfill and saving our oceans! We encourage you to help people share the challenge in your workplace, community, school and other groups.

What can you do?

From hosting a plastic free morning tea to giving your local cafe posters to encourage reusable coffee cups there are lots of materials to share and are all free to use.

Here’s some ideas we put together specifically for schools and childcare centres:

• Plastic free morning tea: Use it as a healthy and fun way to introduce children to the problems of single-use plastic in an easy way. Plan a plastic free morning tea
• Plastic free living workshops: give children and people skills and alternatives to plastic. This could be sewing reusable bags or making preserves. Plan a plastic free workshop
• Bid Audit – what’s in your bin? A bin audit is a great way to see how much plastic you dispose in your school or workplace. You can opt for a comprehensive audit, weighing all the rubbish or go for a simple audit and just count the number of plastic items.
• Have a school cleanup day: cleanup the school grounds or surrounding areas and work on ways to target plastic litter.
• Have a ‘nude food’ day: nude food lunch days are days when students (and parents!) try their best to pack a lunch box without single-use disposable plastic.
• Start a plastic free initiative. Get inspired by these great case studies.
• Encourage others to refuse plastic: share these freely available posters & flyers with your local cafe, school or group to encourage people to use reusable coffee cups and bags.

All the tools and resources you need for your Plastic Free July are at www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Share with us

We’d love to see what your doing in your Plastic Free July. Post your pics on Facebook and tag @oceanlifeeducation so we can share them and inspire others to go plastic free. Let’s all do our bit to keep our waterways and oceans plastic free!