I read about this Plastic-Free Challenge earlier this week but haven’t had a chance to post about it until now… If you’ve been following the blog you’ll know that I’ve mentioned that we’ve been extraordinarily busy this past couple of months and hopefully we’ll be able to share what we’ve been up to sometime later this month… it’s really exciting!

Back to the post though… part of my New Year’s goal was to start using less plastic and disposable items in our house. I know we probably won’t be a zero waste household anytime soon but I know that we can have really cut back on single-use plastic items in our home.

Just the other day I realized that our plastic storage containers have been disappearing. Where have they gone? Well, that’s a question that may never be answered but I do know that I really need to replace them. I’ve been looking at a few Plastic-Free options on Amazon and Walmart but haven’t decided what to get yet but I will need to find something soon.

I know that some things will not be replaced soon like our favorite lunch boxes but I have found some replacements for some time in the future. I have also been looking for non-plastic/non-glass replacements to the kids’ water bottles that they use at home. We do try our best to use reusable shopping bags when we go for groceries.

Here are a few ideas of things we’ve replaced recently:

• Disposable drinkware for:
  • Mason Jars – I love my Pioneer Woman Drinking Jar
  • Yeti tumblers or similar metal tumblers
  • Glass water bottles from Berkey (We’ve been using our new Berkey for our drinking water so no more buying plastic bottles of water.)
  • Reusable Straws:
    • Metal straws for the adults
    • Colorful Silicon Straws for the kids because they don’t like the metal ones
• Plastic bags for:
  • Reusable grocery bags – I really want to try out these Trolley Bags and Bag Podz
  • Reusable produce bags
  • Reusable storage baggies
• Disposable diapers (when my kids were smaller):
  • Cloth diapers – They have so many pretty styles now!
  • Cloth Wash Rags instead of baby wipes
• Other Household:
  • Reuse plastic bottles by using cleaning solution concentrates
  • Glass bottles and containers for sprays and soaps
  • Reusable K-Cups
  • Metal or Glass storage containers (Mason Jars of various sizes can store a wide range of things!)
  • Metal or Glass Bowls
  • Bamboo plates/utensils instead of disposable plastic items
  • Cleaning cloths/rags instead of paper towels and napkins which come wrapped in plastic.

I know that there are some items that might hard to replace but there are new solutions coming out every day. Making these changes one at a time will make a difference and you may find that it saves you money as well!

Join the Plastic Free Challenge Today!

So many places around us are putting bans on plastics as well so this is something that everyone really needs to adjust to. It’s crazy to see the numbers on the plastic pollution crisis and our family wants to do our part to help out with this. With the Plastic Free Challenge, you can choose where you will be going plastic free, what you choose to refuse, and how long you choose to go plastic free.

This week I got an email from Life Without Plastic about their Plastic-Free Tooth Tabs which can replace those plastic toothpaste tubes and are packaged in a paper box. They also talked about their new Plastic-Free Lunch Boxes which were funded on Kickstarter. They also have a wide variety of Plastic-Free Containers for packing those delicious lunches in.

Here are a few more interesting articles I’ve found about this topic:

• Plastic Free July – Going Zero Waste
• How To Have A Plastic Free July – Plastic Pollution Coalition
• Plastic Free July – Green Matters
• Millions pledge to go plastic-free for July in global challenge – Euro News

It’s not too late to join the Plastic Free Challenge Today!

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 –Thank you!