Permaculture Northern Beaches joins the Plastic Free July challenge to cut down on all plastic for the month of July. COVID lockdown is a great time to reset how many plastic and disposable items we use in our daily lives. Single-use items such as plastic bottles, bags, and takeaway containers that we use for just a few minutes use a material that is designed to last forever. Every bit of plastic ever made still exists!

These plastics:

• Break up, not break down – becoming permanent pollution

• Are mostly made into a low-grade product for just one more use or sent to landfill

• End up in waterways and the ocean – where scientists predict there will be more tonnes of plastic than tonnes of fish by 2050

• Transfer to the food chain – carrying pollutants with them

• Increase our eco-footprint – plastic manufacturing consumes 6% of the world’s fossil fuels

Be part of the solution, by:

• Refusing plastic bags and packaging (choose alternatives)

• Reducing plastics where possible (opt for refills, remember your reusable shopping bags)

• Refusing plastics that escape as litter (e.g. straws, takeaway cups, utensils, balloons)

• Recycling and reusing if you cannot avoid the purchase of a piece of plastic in the first place.

To register to join 100,000 Australians and a million+ people worldwide for a Plastic Free July go to: www.plasticfreejuly.org

Hopefully new habits gained will continue well beyond July 31.