By Naomi Yaeger
This July participate in a challenge: avoid single-use plastic for the month of July.
Begin at the grocery store. Pack your own lunch using reusable containers or waxed fabric for sandwiches.
Shop at a farmers market. Talk to the farmer who grew your food. It's a fun experience.
Razors, toothbrushes, and flossing picks, and many toiletries are available as alternatives. How about your shampoo? It’s possible to get nice shampoo in bar form. Laundry detergent is also available as a powder or on strips of paper. You can refill shampoo and detergents at a co-op.
Keep a spoon, fork, and small knife, along with a straw in your purse or your vehicle glove compartment. You never know when they will become handy and aid in your refusal of plastic.
Has the pandemic got you thinking you can’t use your own bag? (This might make people think they shouldn’t bring their own bag. I think most scientific studies agree that covid isn’t spread by bringing your own bag.) Ask the cashier to place the items back in your grocery cart, take your cart to your car and bag them there.
BYO reusable water bottles instead of buying plastic ones
Reduce the number of soft drink bottles used (e.g. consume less or make your own ‘soda’)
Prepare lunch boxes without plastic wrap
Choose alternatives or avoid plastic bottles of milk and juice
Pick up litter in public places
Celebrate in style with plastic-free decorations.
We purchased a subscription to a brand with a naughty name, “Who Gives a Crap,” toilet paper. A case of toilet paper is shipped to us periodically; the rolls wrapped in pretty paper with pithy sayings; no plastic wrapping. The company helps build toilets and washing facilities across the world.
Keep a journal of your daily use of disposable plastic. Hosting a July 4th party? See how decorative and fun you can be without using plastics.
Visit PlasticFreeJuly.org
(Do you feel a call to care for creation? Join the sustainability committee at your house of worship, or learn more about becoming a United Methodist Earthkeeper https://umcmission.org/EarthKeepers/ Contact Naomi at sun_dog_press@yahoo.com, (218) 591-5277))
Ecclesiastes 3:20
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust
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