Plastic Free July at Home of Feast. If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know all about our motivations behind starting Feast. We want to help both the local, and wider community by reducing the amount of waste we create. This is why we want to introduce you to the Plastic Free Foundation, and there Plastic Free July initiative.
The Plastic Free Foundation is a non-profit, independent organisation founded in 2017. Started by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and her team in Western Australia, their aim was and remains to clean up our world. We can see this by looking at their core values:
- Honesty and integrity
- Inclusivity of people, visions and approaches
- A focus on providing solutions
- Authenticity and collaboration
- The small changes that add up to a big difference
These different values are what have led to the creation of the Plastic Free July initiative, and we are taking part at Feast!
So, what exactly does the initiative involve? Well Plastic Free Foundation have set out the challenge of not using any single-use, plastic items for the whole month of July and find alternatives. And this is at any level! From just getting yourself started, to work, schools, events, businesses and your local communities. They are full of ideas that we can all use to help improve the environment we live in. While the initiative is for July, they aim to turn these alternatives into habits that extend beyond the 1 month.
We know that this can be a difficult challenge, with people easily stuck in their ways. However, you can see the success of the initiative through their accolades. In 2018, the Plastic Free July campaign managed to win 2 awards! These awards were the ‘Infinity Award: Avoid, Recover, Protect – Community Waste Award’ and the ‘Environmental Action Award, United Nations Association of Australia WA Division’. They also were finalists for another 2 awards in 2019, to recognise their impact.
The impact we have seen is huge! Out of 177 countries, 326 million took part in Plastic Free July last year. With this many people taking part in 2020, as well as all the years prior. The initiative has contributed to a total saving of 940 million kg of plastic waste each year. The participants who have made this contribution also follow the Plastic Free Foundations wishes by turning these alternatives in to habits! From those who take part, around 8.5/10 people do this, and manage to reduce household waste and recycling by 21 kg per year, that’s approximately 5%!
We can help you with this challenge at Home of Feast. Like the Plastic Free Foundation, we strive to reduce the amount of waste people create. One way we do this is through our refill store! At Home of Feast, you can find our shelves stacked high with pastas, grains, flours and even treats. Our customers pick and fill up with whatever they fancy and can even take them away in one of the bags that are also made of recycled plastic! Everything we do and sell here at Feast is focused on improving the environment, so please come and take a look around!
If you would like to learn more about Plastic Free Foundation, then click here.
Or you take a look at our website here.