Last year Ben and Brooke tried their hand at Plastic Free July. They tried to cut their use of plastics to zero for a full month, alongside tens of thousands of other counter-cultural, environmentally-minded souls. And… it was a bit of a bust.

The truth is that they were vastly unprepared. They hadn’t really thought through their daily needs or systems, and hadn’t gathered the required replacements for many of their plastics, which meant they were left high and dry when time came to go food shopping. Or buying takeaway. Or grabbing a coffee. Or living, really.

Over the next four Mondays they’re going to take a deep dive in to the issue of excessive plastic use and what small changes you can make - starting today - to reduce plastic use over time. In part this series is timed to coincide with Plastic Free July, but also because there is an emerging desire for change that wasn’t apparent even this time last year. Mostly people are just overwhelmed and confused by where to begin, and that’s where this series comes in.

Today Ben and Brooke offer you some simple ideas to stop using the Big 4 single use plastics altogether, with just a few easy swaps and a couple of habit changes. This includes saying no to:

• drinking straws
• takeaway coffee cups
• plastic water bottles
• plastic shopping bags

In today’s show they offer reusable solutions to each of these products, as well as ideas on how to re-train your brain to remember to use them!

There’s a great list of resources and links over at http://www.slowyourhome.com/170 as well as the full blog post so be sure to head over there.

Enjoy!

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