10 Ways to Reduce Plastic Use in Your Life

Rebecca Prince-Ruiz of Perth, Australia, challenged herself to avoid single-use plastic for the month of July 2011. A decade later, her local action has blossomed into a community of 250 million like-minded people in 177 countries; Plastic Free July participants avoided creating 900 million kilograms of plastic waste in 2020 alone.

Ready to take the challenge this July and beyond? Sign up with Rebecca’s Plastic Free Foundation to become an official participant, and read on for pros' advice on key swaps and practices to reduce the plastic in your life.

When you’re trying to reduce your consumption of single-use materials, “be sure to eat all the food you buy,” says Anne-Marie Bonneau, the author of The Zero-Waste Chef and a blogger who has lived plastic-free since 2011. “You’ll throw out less food and as a result, buy less food and less packaging, almost all of which is plastic. By eating all the food you buy, you’ll reduce not only plastic waste but also food waste, a driver of climate change.”

Anne-Marie’s new book offers both spend-less-and-use-what-you’ve got tips and recipes and handy prep and storage tactics.

Toting reusable grocery bags is an excellent way to sidestep plastic use on shopping trips — and prepping one as a “to-go bag” with glass jars for bulk items, metal containers for meat and fish, and cloth bags for produce before you plan to head to the market turns sustainable shopping choices into no-brainers. Bonus: You’ll likely reach for healthier items as well. “Fresh produce comes in its own packaging so choose fresh, whole foods over highly packaged, highly processed foods,” Anne-Marie says. “If you have access to bulk bins, bring clean containers to fill up (not all stores allow this, especially during Covid, but rules are beginning to loosen up).”

‘Tis the season for feasts on the boardwalk, pulling over for roadside barbecue, visiting your favorite vacation spot… and all of that low-key, delicious eating can add up to a mountain of discarded plastic straws, cups, utensils and so on. Erin Boyle, a sustainable-living blogger and author of Simple Matters, packs reusable versions for her family of five. “We generally just grab whatever clean cloth napkins we have (I love cotton block-printed napkins from 21Tara) and our regular stainless steel utensils,” she says. “We do have four enamelware plates and four stainless steel tumblers that we nearly always pack with us when we’re headed out for a long picnic or park day.”