Plastic stays around for a very long time, and it’s not helping our environment, landfills or our wildlife either which is why it’s very important we cut down on our plastic usage as best we can.

There are some really simple swaps you can make during your school day that will help stop the contribution to landfills, so we’ve shared some below in honour of Plastic Free July.

Use a Refillable Bottle

Did you know that plastic drinks bottles can take 450 years to completely break down? Instead of buying plastic drinks bottles from the shop, invest in a good, sturdy, refillable bottle that you can wash at the end of the day and refill again tomorrow.

Carry a Reusable Bag

If you need to use an extra bag for things like your food technology ingredients, your PE kit or anything else, use a reusable bag instead. We don’t mean the giant bags for life that your parents might use for the food shop, but instead a small, fold-up reusable bag that you can have handy in your school bag. Plastic carrier bags can take over 20 years to decompose, so by the time you’ve left school, sixth form and university, the bag you first used will still be around.

Switch-up Your Lunch

If you have packed lunches, there are some really easy swaps you can make to stop your plastic usage. Firstly, instead of using cling film, try using reusable containers or even beeswax wrappers (which are known to actually keep your food preserved too!). When packing your snacks for your lunch, a piece of fruit is a really simple one to pack that requires no packaging. You could also have a go at baking, and bring in a baked good in a Tupperware box for your snack instead of something out a packet.

Recycle

Although we’re encouraging you to stop using as much plastic, it’s inevitable that some plastic will be used as we adjust to the different swaps. If you are to use plastic, or you see someone else using it, make sure it’s recycled in the relevant bins so that it can be made into something else and not just discarded onto landfill.

We can all do our bit when it comes to our plastic usage, so get stuck in to some of our swaps now!