Text by Judi Harrington TMNCPC member who coordinated the chapter’s participation in Plastic Free July (this blog is condensed from an article in the September 2021 Courier). Logo image from Plastic Free July news release and photo from Judi Harrington
Fourteen Texas Master Naturalist Coastal Prairie Chapter members participated in a global event—Plastic Free July—to inspire individuals, businesses, and communities to reduce single-use plastic waste throughout the month.
Plastic Free Foundation, which started in 2011, issued a news release saying that the Plastic Free July campaign is the result of years of hard work and grassroots efforts.
TMNCPC members were encouraged to find new ways to participate in Plastic Free July by using reusable water bottles and by finding new uses for plastic containers. They tracked the volume of plastics they reduced, reused, and recycled. Those statistics can be found in the September Coastal Prairie Chapter Courier.
Members reported many reuse actions, such as saving plastic jars to refill at farmer’s markets, reusing kitty litter buckets to pick up trash at SCNP, and even saving plastic packaging for future use. One volunteer reported keeping butter in a dish rather than a plastic container. This was TMNCPC’s first year to participate in the event.
We hope to see more volunteers participate next year and beat this year’s average! It’s never too later or too early to start, either. And, while the problem of single-use plastic pollution can seem daunting, it’s truly small actions that ripple out into big impacts!