Honestly, I’m not doing plastic free July this year.

Written by Jordan Alice Fyfe

The honest truth is that neither of us have had time to organise plastic free July this year.

We’ve been busy.

Busy living.

We’ve had some amazing things happen recently. We went on an epic weekend retreat for one of our teams’ birthdays. Organised a long table lunch for another friend. Had a huge presentation for my PhD. Launched new eco-workshops. It’s disability pride month. Corporate events. Family fun stuff.

Writing it out I’m thinking “this is all just life”. Nothing particularly dramatic or different from the usual.

And so, I will rephrase my earlier statement.

Neither of us has MADE time to organise plastic free July this year.

But I think that’s okay. We’ve made time for so many other things, things that are important. Important to us and important to our community. And maybe, plastic free July isn’t that important to us anymore.

I’m not saying that plastic free July isn’t important. It’s a huge movement that opens so many people’s eyes to how much waste they are producing. It’s a starting point for people to implement some changes and see what they can fit in their lives. It’s hugely important.

But it’s not that important to us, because it’s already worked. Personally, I don’t even have a general waste bin inside my house anymore. Maybe a few times a week I will have to walk a small piece of plastic out to the big bin. I shop almost exclusively in the fresh veggies isle or bring my own containers to the whole foods store. I cook or go out instead of getting take away. I have plastic free period care, cleaning, haircare products, take away cup, wrapping paper, bin liners, the list goes on.

I’ve done plastic free July.

I’ve done it every year. Every year I have taken another thing I’ve learnt along the way and implemented it into my life.

Am I perfect? Gods no.

I still have waste. I haven’t figured out the plastic free pet food. I still buy dairy that comes in plastic. I have to throw out veggies sometimes. But I’m actually okay with this, and I know that I’m not going to change these things anytime soon. My cat is fussy, I like my yoghurt, and I like the freedom of a slightly unstructured life, where I can spontaneously go to a friends for dinner even though I know I should cook that carrot. And I have a worm farm now, so that’s better.

So, what would plastic free July do for me this year? Not a lot. Not when I’m living every day ‘plastic free’. So here I am, trying to let go of the guilt. Because I can always be doing better.

But honestly, I’m pretty proud of where I am.

If you want to take part in plastic free July this year, head over to The Plastic Free Foundation for heaps of amazing resources.