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Plastic Free July is a global event helping millions of people give up single-use plastics. Are you ready for the challenge?

2 min read

We’re challenging staff, students and the local community to give up single-use plastics for at least one week of July, as part of our Revolution Plastics initiative. 

What is Plastic Free July?

Plastic Free July provides resources and ideas to help you reduce single-use plastic waste. In 2020, around 326 million people from 177 countries took part.

Professor Fletcher, Revolution Plastics Lead said: “It would be great to get as many people as possible involved in Plastic Free July by pledging to give up single-use plastics. A small change can collectively make a massive difference and may help form new habits forever.”

 

Follow our staff who are going plastic free 

Several members of University staff have pledged to go plastic free from 1-7 July. We’ll be following their progress to discover how easy, or difficult, it is to avoid single-use plastics in our daily lives.

Head to the Revolution Plastics Twitter account to find out who’s taking part, see their video diaries, and discover tips and advice for going plastic free.

What are single-use plastics?

Single-use plastic is designed to be used once and then thrown away. 50% of all plastic becomes waste within a year of being made. 

And only 9% of plastics are recycled

One million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute and 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme

Single-use plastic is one of the main reasons why we have a global plastic pollution crisis. 

Examples of single-use plastics include:

  • plastic bags
  • plastic water bottles
  • takeaway coffee cups
  • takeaway food containers
  • crisp packets
  • snack wrappers
  • balloons 

Take up the challenge 

Think about the single plastics you use regularly. Are there any you could avoid or find eco-friendly alternatives? 

If you’re going to go plastic free in July, let us know over on Twitter