Tips to Reduce Plastic Use

Cutting down on your plastic use can be a daunting prospect. It's tricky knowing which areas of your life can be changed, and what alternatives are already out there. It's a tall order to go completely plastic free, as most of us regularly use plastic products in our lives that are difficult or even impossible to replace with plastic free alternatives. So if it’s simply too much to forego plastic packaging entirely, try to commit to cutting out a few things. The following tips are not an exhaustive list, but aim to help you get started on cutting down on your plastic use, and inspire you to think of what other areas of your life could be changed.

Reducing plastic in the home

• Swap plastic bottles for bars, whether that be shampoo bars, shaving bars, washing up soap bars etc.
• Exchange your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo alternative. Once the toothbrush has reached the end of it's life, you can compost the handle.
• Give beeswax wraps a go as an alternative to clingfilm.
• Try to reduce the amount of ready meals you buy and look to cook from scratch and freeze your leftovers.
• Buying in bulk cuts down your plastic consumption and is usually cheaper. This can be done through either buying products in a larger volume, or through buying products loose at refill shops, such as Filling Good, Zero Joe's or the Refill Hub.

Reducing Plastic Whilst Out and About

• Remember to take reusable shopping bags with you to avoid buying plastic ones. You can buy bags that fold into a small pouch so you always have one with you, ready for any unplanned impulse buys. Any old plastic bags that you have can be kept and used to recycle old clothes and home textiles or line food waste caddies.
• When visiting cafés in the borough for a hot or cold drink, remember to take a reusable flask or water bottle with you to prevent single use cups from having to be used.
• Consider quitting smoking. Cigarettes make up a third of all collected litter. Cigarette filters contain microplastics which are a hazard to waterways, oceans and plants. If you needed another reason to quit, besides your health and the expense, this is it. Head to NHS for help and advice on how to start.
• Buy big – If you're out with friends and family, buy large bags of snacks and drinks that you can share so that you can cut down on the number of smaller bottles/bags used. For drinks, remember to bring reusable cups to pour!

For more plastic-free related content such as an interview with the zero waste shops in the borough and how single-use plastics are affecting our environment, please check out the Circular Economy section on the Environment and Sustainability Hub. We would love to know how you're getting involved in cutting down on your use of single-use plastics, so please send us photos to Sustainability@RBWM.gov.uk.