The average Australian uses 4.8 times as many resources as our planet can provide.

In the last 10 years, we have produced more plastic than over the course of a whole century.

5 trillion plastic bags are produced yearly (that’s enough to fit around the world seven times).

Over 100 million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean.

It’s not something that we can just keeppretending to live harmoniouslywith anymore. In fact,plastic micro beads have been found in almost one third of caught seafood, which means that it’s even eventually ending upon our dinner plates and in our stomach!We have to take action and that’s what this week’s blog post is all about. Starting with something that may be on a lot of people’s radar and something here at Dreamers and Drifters we are very excited about...Plastic Free July!

We realise that plastic isn’t going to be going away any time soon,but ahead of this month’s awareness we’ve been looking into ways to reduce our plastic footprint and wanted to share some of our findings with you…

You may or may nothave heard of ‘Plastic Free Byron’, an online platform in Byron Bay that encourages positive action and allows you to see how environmentally sustainable the local businesses that you supportare. We are extremely proud at Dreamers and Drifters to be featured on Plastic Free Byron as a company that is taking steps to reduce in every way possible our single use plastic. Everything from not using plastic bags, tags or wrapping in store to making sure that the tea that we drink is biodegradeable or compostable.

To get you started for Plastic Free July, here are some simple every day items you can swap today to start making a huge change!

Single use plastic bags >> reusable cotton bag.

Single use plastic straws >> metal reusable straw.

Single use coffee cups >> reusable coffee cup.

Single use plastic bottles >> thermal reusable bottle, perfect for hot and cold drinks (double whammy!).

One really hard thing that I found was making this living work whilst travelling. I know it’s definitely not easy but planning ahead for your travels and even making one change can really make a huge difference.

So here are some top tips from my recent travels around South East Asia...

Keep a reusable knife and fork in your bag (chopsticks are great for plane journeys).

Fill up your water bottle where possible (this is a hard one, especially in countries where access to clean drinkable water is limited because obviously health and drinking clean water is the number one importance, but remember, every little helps).

Keep a reusablemetal straw with you at all times – sososo important, straws are everywhere!!

Use canvas tote bagsin stead of shopping bags (711 and your double packaged bags I’m looking at you!)

Take your own earphones and blanket for those long haul plane journeys so you don’t have to unwrap theirindividually packaged items.

Same goes with plane food, take your own snacks in containers to avoid plastic wrapped microwave meals.

Easy toiletriesto switch to on the go - bamboo toothbrush, stainless steel razor and bar of soap (this is great as it can also be used to wash clothes).

Lastly, think about the next time you pick up some ‘cute’ mini toiletries...reality is they will last you a couple of days whereas the packaging will last for hundreds of years.

It might seem a little overwhelming or you might even think ‘I’m just one person, how can I really help to make any change in the world’ but now is the time that we have to take action. Now is the time that we can not ignore it for any longer.

Use plastic free July as a way to explore options and get excited about discovering new ways to live life without the guilt of killing our wonderful, magical, beautiful planet along with it.

Plan ahead - write down everything plastic that you use that immediately comes to mind.

Try to think of sustainable alternatives.

Look at your rubbish over a week period and see where you can make swaps to sustainable alternatives, you might even discover where you can make some healthier changes for your physical body as well as the planet!

Look to blogs/workshops/friends if you need any encouragement.

Most importantly - Setyourself achievable goals, every change that you make will go towards helping our lovely little planet.

Oh and finally...stop chewing gum (yep, it contains plastic).

Keep your eyes peeled throughout July for some super exciting events in store to get involved with and some Q&A’s with our favourite local businesses on how they support plastic free July.

Love Y xo