How Realistic Is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July started in 2011 as a small Australian challenge and has since grown into a global movement. The idea? Go 31 days without single-use plastics. Sounds simple—until you start counting every straw, wrapper, and takeout container. For businesses especially, it feels like everything comes wrapped in plastic… sometimes wrapped again in more plastic. So, how realistic is going plastic free, even for a month?
Where does one start, or how can a business begin to say they want to make a difference when it seems like the world of packaging and presentation is fighting you every step of the way.
Hard numbers show that small actions can make a big difference.
While it may feel like an uphill battle, the numbers tell a hopeful story. Canadians toss over three million tonnes of plastic every year, the vast majority from households and commercial settings, and nearly all of it heads straight for landfill. Producing a single tonne of virgin plastic releases roughly 2.9 tonnes of CO₂‑equivalent emissions. Energy Transitions Commission
Do the back‑of‑the‑napkin math: if the commercial sector trimmed just 1 % of that national plastic pile, we’d keep about 30,000 tonnes of plastic out of the waste stream and dodge 87,000 tonnes of CO₂—the annual exhaust of nineteen thousand passenger cars. US EPA Double that cut to 2 % and you’ve basically emptied all of the parking lots of a mid‑size Canadian town. Not bad for swapping a few products, means of packaging or making a solid commitment to consistently recycling.
The hopeful‑but‑realistic
A Perfect plastic‑free July is about as likely as a glitter‑free kindergarten, but every piece of plastic you skip shrinks your greenhouse‑gas footprint and that matters.
Here are a clean dozen ways to ride the Plastic Free July wave without capsizing your entire operation.
Hospitality Fixes
Hotels shift laundry/dry-cleaning services to use cloth bags.
Hotels use soap dispensers instead of mini bottles of soaps and lotions
Replace single use plastics with reusable alternatives (swap disposable coffee cups for ceramic mugs.
Workplace Habits
Package your lunch with reusable containers and washable cutlery…no ziplock bags.
Develop a waste collection and recycling infrastructure.
Install water refill stations.
Provide employee training on sustainability.
Create a green team to over see sustainability initiatives.
Use waste-tracking apps to measure your office’s plastic footprint.
Create monthly reports to share progress with employees and stakeholders.
Waste & Recycling Tools
Install a battery collection box to process those for recycling instead of disposal
Because we’re organics nerds at heart—make sure every banana peel makes its way to a Davidson Environmental bin instead of a landfill.
Building a Better Future
Plastic Free July isn’t about perfection—it’s about progress. Start small. Start now. The planet will notice—and so will your customers.