Plastic free July: cutting down single use plastics is easier than it seems

Plastic seems inescapable but there are easy ways like quitting junk food, carrying your own cutlery and using up leftovers that will make a difference

By now, we all know the horrors of plastic. The way it hangs around without biodegrading for centuries, the way it's clogging the stomachs of birds, how it creates islands in the ocean for marine life to get stuck in, how it pollutes our riverways and motorways as non-biodegradable rubbish.

Yet it's everywhere. If you want a takeaway coffee, there's plastic lining in about 99% of disposable cups. If you want a sandwich at a deli, it's more than likely going to be wrapped in plastic. Even when you're doing your very best to be healthy, a two litre milk comes in a plastic container and most major supermarkets produce is wrapped or bagged in plastic.