Are you ready for Plastic Free July?

A range of assets are available, such as this poster, to download

Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets and oceans, and beautiful communities.

You may be thinking: “I can’t go plastic free because …” – but the campaign’s creators have come up with lots of ways to make changes one at a time. You can decide if you would like to make personal changes, focus on single use plastics at work, or both.

Ideas for the workplace

Do you know how much of your waste is single use plastic? Why not carry out a bin audit to help you understand the single-use plastics you’re generating as a business. Use the audit to spot plastics that you could avoid or recycle too.

Once you know what your goals are, consider creating a Green Team at your business. It’s a way to involve like-minded people, and it can demonstrate to staff that you live out your values as a business. At ABDO, we’re appointing a Sustainability Champion for each department.

Many businesses find that amending their procurement policies is a powerful way to reduce single-use plastics. Procurement is just about how you buy the materials your business needs.

Talk to the person who is responsible for purchasing and see if they can ask:

• Do we really need to procure this single-use plastic item?
• Can it be obtained without single-use plastic packaging?
• Can the same item be made from recycled content?

Plastic Free July has a procurement card with more ideas.

Communicating change

Making changes this July is all about communication too. Why not ask your frame suppliers to pack without plastic, and requesting reusable/returnable/sustainable packaging? If that’s not possible, look beyond your current suppliers and see if there are others who offer more sustainable packaging and solutions.

You can find signs here to show your patients about the changes you are making.

Will you be part of Plastic Free July by choosing to refuse single-use plastics? Let us know what you are doing on social media using the hashtags: #thinkinggreen #PlasticFreeJuly #ChooseToRefuse