Every year in July, Plastic Free July offers a personal challenge for people to decrease the amount of single-use plastic they are using in their daily lives. This personal challenge is part of a global effort for the oceans, for cleaner streets, and for the planet as a whole.

Plastic Facts

  1. Worldwide, approximately 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced per year. 
  2. Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments​.
  3. Of all collected plastic waste, only 16% is recycled, but only 2% of plastic waste can be recycled effectively. In addition, 14% of the plastic waste gets burned, and 4% ends up in a landfill.

What is Plastic Free July?

Plastic Free July is a global movement to encourage people to be part of the solution to plastic pollution. The concept is simple: the participants are challenged to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic. 

The movement has already inspired an estimated 326 million participants in 177 countries. And this is great because anyone who makes a small change in their surroundings is making a contribution to a collectively massive difference to their communities. 

Everybody can join the movement and Plastic Free July will help you to find alternatives for the single-use plastic that can become a new future habit. By making one small change, you can make a real difference already.

Join Plastic Free July! 

You can still join the Plastic Free July by subscribing to the challenge on their website.

Plastic Free July also conducts research. You can help them to track the trends in the common plastics that households use by doing the Pesky Plastics Quiz (5 minutes). You will not only deliver data for their research, but you will also discover for yourself all the plastics that ‘sneak’ into your shopping: Start the quiz.