Starting a plastic free journey
We’re continuing on our plastic free journey this week by asking the founder of I’m Plastic Free, Simona Paganetto, a few questions on how to get started.
What advice do you have for someone at the start of their plastic free journey?
Our advice is: “don’t go cold turkey”! You’ll be exhausted and overwhelmed in less than a week. Make a plan! Select 10 single-use plastic items that you’d like to start refusing and go from there only once you’re confident about those first items! We have written a blog article about “how to go plastic free” which shows examples of 10 items you can start with, and also gives a few tips if you are on a low budget. The answer to the next question will clarify why it is important to take little steps at a time!
2. How can a household make avoiding plastic as convenient as buying it?
It’s all about creating new habits. The best method is to tackle a few “swaps” at a time. Once you think you’ve mastered those items, then move on to the next one. Only then! New habits are hard to form, hence why it is important to go slowly and swap items step by step. We have created several blog articles on our platform to help with this. We have also created two checklists to help people make the switch more easily, a beginners’ checklist on how to start your (single-use) plastic-free journey and an advanced checklist for eco-warriors. Both checklists are set up like workbooks that let you tick items once you’ve mastered the “swap”. The advanced checklist is 25 pages and goes in-depth into each room around your home showing you which items to swap with what exactly. Here are some examples of swaps:
Buy a reusable bread bag and buy your bread loose at the bakery instead of buying the bread in a plastic bag.
Bring reusable produce bags and buy fruits and veggies loose. Tip: place your reusable grocery & produce bags in the car after using them, so they’ll be ready the next time you need them.
Invest in a water filter jug or even better in a tap water filter and stop buying bottled water.
3. Some people feel like they have to choose between saving money and not buying plastic. Is it really more expensive to be plastic free?
In some cases it is a little bit more expensive to buy plastic free than in plastic, i.e. think about carrots loose or in a plastic bag. The loose carrots are always at least $0.20 more expensive. However, by buying them “loose” you’ll buy fewer carrots, and you’ll use all of them in your food instead of forgetting them in the fridge and having to throw them out. Think about it this way!
Also, a way to save money and buy less plastic is to buy in bulk. For example, instead of buying your children those expensive yogurt pouches that are difficult to recycle, buy yogurt in a 1kg pot and fill in little containers in the kids’ lunchboxes. The same principle can be applied to other food like cheese, nuts, etc. Don’t be fooled by marketing messages on colourful product packaging that targets children. The food is the same, you’re just paying for the convenience of being “portioned”
You don’t have to invest in new fancy reusable items. For example, instead of an expensive reusable coffee cup, you can use a pickles/olives jar and place some elastic around it, so as not to scold your hand with hot coffee.
Words by:
Simona Paganetto
Founder
I’M PLASTIC FREE is a matchmaking platform for plastic waste reduction. It connects individuals and small businesses with solutions to plastic pollution. In fact, it provides the easiest and fastest way to find such solutions. It’s a world first, bringing together eco-brands and business-to-business solutions in an open forum with the goal of eliminating plastic pollution.
