Plastic Free July – We’re Halfway There!

July 2019

We’re two weeks in to our Plastic Free July, and it’s been an interesting education into waste reduction. We spent the first week highlighting changes we’d made since the campaign last July, which included changing our coffee machine to one which doesn’t use pods and adding our coffee grounds to the compost bin, which in turn feeds our herb garden. We’re now having our milk delivered in glass bottles avoiding unnecessary plastic containers, we’ve switched to plastic free tea bags, grow our own salad and herbs at the office to add to lunches, and we’re encouraging everyone to switch to reusable drinks containers.

Week two saw us look at additional ways to help reduce single use plastic in the office, and ways we can reduce plastic in our home life too. We’ve stopped buying biscuits, opting for homemade instead. We just need to work out a baking rota now. Shop bought biscuits, and other perishable goods are often wrapped in plastic, which is discarded and ends up in landfill. Buying non-perishable goods in bulk reduces the amount of plastic used, so think about what you need to buy well in advance, and store it correctly. We’re also encouraging staff to take glass containers to take away outlets at lunchtime, rather than have their lunches prepared in throwaway plastic containers.

A huge change has been the way we recycle our waste here. We’ve dispensed with waste bins at desks and now have one large bin for waste paper, a compost bin for organic waste, and one other bin for plastics and non-recyclables. It’s a much easier way to ensure we don’t contaminate potential recycling materials.

And finally, we, like many others, are saying no to plastic straws. So many end up washed up on beaches around the world, and contaminating our oceans.

Do continue to follow us on social media this month, we have a long way to go, and plenty more tips on reducing your single use plastic.

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