An average 6kg load of washing, releases 700,000 microfibre plastics. Choose natural.
Welcome to the first in our series of blogs and articles in celebration and awareness for Plastic Free July! Over the next month, we will be sharing a range of content about reducing your use of single uses plastic. We want to share advice, tips, thoughts, facts and everything in between. This is your chance to get up to speed on plastics, and to start a habit that can form a lifestyle!
What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July was set up by a fantastic group of people in Australia- and it is now a global challenge run by the Plastic Free July Foundation. Last time we checked this year 2 million people had already signed up, with the number following it probably a lot higher!
It takes 21 days to set a habit. The idea is that for the entirety of July you reduce your use of single use plastics, with the support of literally millions of people around the world- and the things you do now to prevent single use will continue on.
Who can join in?
Everybody who wants to can join in plastic free july! It's an opportunity to look at your plastic use, try and reduce it and take it further than just July! We’ve signed up at www.plasticfreejuly.com and you can too, it’s free.
Why?
Plastic is a plague on our plastic. Most troublesome are the single use plastics, that are used for an extremely short period of time, yet cannot biodegrade and last indefinitely. Many of these plastics are not even recyclable. Reducing dependence on these plastics is an important tool to reduce your environmental impact. Plus their alternatives are often beautiful and lovely to use.
How?
Single use is the easiest, and most important plastic to reduce your use of. This might be through reusable coffee cups, reusable water bottles and reusable bags. Transitioning to a low waste lifestyle has layers, but reducing the big players is a fantastic place to start! We’re here to help this Plastic Free July, and all year! Fire us your questions, conundrums and struggles!
Our plastic of the month, although not single use, is a potent one. Synthetic clothing. An average 6kg load of washing releases 700,000 microplastic fibres into the waterways. These are the micro plastics that can enter food chains easily- and are particularly hard to clean. So reducing their release from source is super important. If you want to help prevent microplastic dispersal from your clothes, you can: - Choose natural clothes, love them, look after them and upcycle them once they reach the end of their lives. Bamboo, hemp, cotton, silk are just a few that are A-OK. - For your old polyester clothes- wash less often, on gentle cold washes or spot clean. Patagonia offer fibre catchers- a device that you can fit to your machine to catch those nasties. Recycle when you no longer need them, or when they reach the end of their life.
So, to all those taking the pledge to a Plastic Free July, Good Luck! To all those unsure, hit us an email, hello@makingroots.co.uk for more info on how you can get involved.