The Plastic-Free Home
From 1957-1967, Disney’s Tomorrowland featured a “House of the Future” made entirely of plastic. We’re talking inside, outside, furniture, plates, doors, and windows. They really thought the future was plastic…and they were right, but not in the way they intended. Plastic has become our future not because of its durability but for its inexpensive production and our “throwaway” mentality toward it. Because it takes hundreds of years for it to decompose, now we’re stuck with it, and there’s a big problem. People are realizing the value of reducing their plastic waste and are seeking a new kind of home for the future–one with no plastic in sight!
Saturday marks the beginning of the Plastic Free July campaign. It is an international effort to join together for one month and share alternatives to the plastic we use in our daily lives. We know that starting to reduce your waste can seem overwhelming without support, so throughout July, we’ll also be focusing on practical ways to reduce plastic use, and we’ll share the challenges we’ve faced in our own journeys, as well as some helpful tips. We also have eco-friendly products in our shop to help reduce plastic waste in every area of your home–kitchen, bathroom, laundry, self-care, cleaning, and more.
In fact, it can help to go through each room in your house and think about your routines in each room and the plastic you encounter while there. For example, in the bathroom, you might use a plastic bottle of face wash, a plastic toothbrush, and plastic packaging around toilet paper. After your list of plastic use in that room is complete, try to list any alternatives you can think of for those items, or search if any exist. Chances are, you’ll find a lot of great ideas out there, and those could be the areas you may want to focus on during this month.
If you’d like to officially register for the challenge, check out PlasticFreeJuly.org to sign up, take a Pesky Plastics Quiz, or find lots of ideas for first steps. Their motto this year is “small steps, big difference.” If the steps are too big, you’re not likely to climb the hill easily, but with lots of smaller steps, and lots of friends with you, you can reach your bigger goals.