3rd July is International Plastic Bag Free Day, designed to raise awareness of the negative impact of using plastic bags and encourage shoppers to use more sustainable options. We all know the planet is in trouble, so we’ve put together this list of eight simple switches you can make to greenify your life.
1. Carry a tote bag at all times
About a million plastic bags are used every single minute across the globe! That’s a whole lot of unfantastic plastic to end up in landfills, the sea, or nature. It’s a no-brainer to carry a canvas or paper bag secreted away in your handbag/computer bag/pocket at all times so that you always have an environmentally friendly option on hand to stash those impulsive purchases. It’s not hard to do, so eliminate single-use plastic bags from your life by carrying your own bag and encouraging others to do the same.
2. Bye-bye plastic wrap
Plastic wrap, or cling film, is another single-use plastic item that is super simple to eradicate from your life. It’s so easy to find reusable silicone food covers and beeswax wraps in all shapes and sizes. Go online right now and order some. The planet will thank you.
3. Hello bars of soap and solid shampoo
Liquid soap, shower gel, shampoo… all of these items add plastic bottles to the mountain of waste we humans generate each day. Why not switch to solid soaps and shampoo bars? Extra green points if you can find a local small business to buy from. There are loads of independent producers springing up offering gorgeous products made from all-natural ingredients which feel very luxurious. Making the switch no longer needs to feel like a compromise.
4. Buy a reusable coffee cup
If you buy a cup of Joe from your favourite coffee shop every morning before work, that’s around 200 plastic cups contributing to the plastic mountain each year from you alone. Reusable coffee cups are everywhere these days, and there’s really no excuse not to have one. You just need to remember to stick it in your bag each morning.
5. Review your shopping habits
Food waste is a major environmental issue, given the resources that go into producing and distributing our food. And households just like yours and mine are responsible for a lot of it. That black banana you threw away yesterday might not seem like a big deal but imagine the number of rotten bananas, lettuces, and cucumbers being thrown away all over the world every single day. Most of us tend to overbuy food, especially fruit and vegetables, so it’s worth taking a close look at your shopping habits and buying perishable items in smaller quantities but more frequently. Again, an easy switch and – bonus – one that will save you money.
6. Eat less meat and dairy
It’s never been easier to find tasty vegan and vegetarian food options in restaurants and supermarkets, and Asian cuisine lends itself particularly well to cutting out meat and dairy. If going full-on vegan seems like too big a step, start by going meat and dairy-free one day a week and build from there. Reduce portion size, too – instead of frying up a big steak, stir fry a small amount of meat and bulk it up with plenty of tasty vegetables.
7. Bin fast fashion
The fashion industry has been in the spotlight recently. It’s the second most polluting industry in the world, generating unacceptable volumes of pollution and waste and guzzling the world’s water supplies. In addition, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles of plastic microfibers find their way into the sea, and the food chain, each year. Think carefully before you purchase new items of clothing – do you really need another pair of jeans? – and favour natural fibres from sustainable sources and timeless, classy items which won’t date and will last beyond one season.
8. Invest green
Green investing has exploded over the last couple of years now that you no longer have to sacrifice return in search of investments that don’t damage the planet. It has never been easier to select investments that reflect your environmental values. Collectively, we are sending a message to the big polluters that we want to support companies offering less carbon-intensive and more sustainable options and reshaping the way industries operate. This is huge for the planet.
On this final point, Infinity’s consultants are ideally placed to advise you on how to select investments that will deliver on green credentials and return. We work closely with world-renowned investment management giant, Tilney, which is ahead of the game when it comes to ESG investing with a portfolio manager dedicated to sustainable investing. Why not contact us to find out how to greenify your investments to build a sustainable future for you and for the planet?
International Plastic Bag Free Day History
For the longest time, people did not value single-use products. It was only toward the end of the Industrial Revolution that we started using plastic products and plastic bags as cheap and convenient resources. The widespread use of single-use plastic bags has a significant impact on our world, including detrimental consequences on our wild and marine life as well as human health.
The most commonly used plastic, polyethylene, was first created in Northwich, England, by accident. Although this chemical has been created in small amounts in the past, 1933 was the year that it was industrially implemented.
Celloplast, a Swedish company, patented the one-piece polyethylene shopping bag in 1965. This type of plastic bag, designed by Sten Gustaf Thulin, rapidly started to replace other plastic bags and cloth bags in Europe. As this type of single-use plastic bag started to dominate the market to a great extent, plastic companies all over the world began to market their single-use plastic bags as being better than reusable bags and paper bags.
Then, Charles Moore, a researcher and sailor, discovered the largest stretch of accumulated plastic waste in all the earth’s oceans in 1997. This region is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This immense accumulation poses detrimental threats to marine life, as it was found that animals like sea turtles ingest the plastic bags, wrongly believing them to be jellyfish.
When Bangladesh found out that thin plastic bags were one of the greatest factors contributing to clogged drains in times of flood, they were the first country in the world to ban the use of such plastic bags, followed by many countries, such as Rwanda, Italy, and Australia.
International Plastic Bag Free Day is a widespread movement seeking safer alternatives to show everyone that a plastic bag-free world is possible. International Plastic Bag Free Day is a division of the Break Free from Plastic Movement, which has its origin in 2016 and has been joined by numerous environmental conservation organisations. This movement aims to spread awareness and find solutions to the worldwide crisis of plastic pollution to make our world a safer place for humans, wildlife, and the environment as a whole.
More About the Impact Of Plastic Bags On the Environment
A plastic bag is only used for twelve minutes on average. After that time, most people discard their plastic bags. Fewer than 3% of all plastic bags are recycled globally. The really shocking thing is that plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to decompose. This means that millions of plastic bags remain in the environment for that long.
Plastic bags not only cause significant damage to the environment during their production but also during their disposal. Single-use plastic bags and other plastic products that are buried result in soil pollution where they inhibit oxygen supplies to the soil and further release carbon dioxide into the environment when they are eventually incinerated.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is evidence of the widespread plastic pollution that forms a part of everyday life, as the currents trap millions of plastic bags from all over the world, creating a plastic bag island. If we continue on the path we are, by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight.
The sight of a dolphin with a plastic bag around its neck, a sea turtle with a plastic bag in its mouth, a whale with plastic bags in its stomach, and fish trapped in a plastic bag leads to the undeniable realisation that our plastic waste kills millions of marine animals each year.
Microfragments of a plastic bag accumulate in various fish and shell animals, which ultimately end up on our plates. According to a study by the World Wildlife Fund, every person consumes an average of 5 grams of plastic weekly.
When you consider a tiny plastic wrapper around a candy bar in the grocery store or a single plastic bag to carry a few groceries home, it seems harmless, but if you imagine every person in a grocery store using even just one plastic bag, the weight of the situation appreciates substantially. The hope of establishing an International Plastic Bag Free Day is to encourage people to make even minor efforts to move in the direction of a plastic bag-free world. Bringing your own bags to the grocery stores and supporting plastic bag-free incentives already go a long way in combatting plastic pollution, protecting the world’s oceans, and building a better future planet for all of us.
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