We’re coming to the end of #PlasticFreeJuly, a global campaign to draw attention to the pervasiveness of plastic in our lives and encourage us all to break free from single-use plastic and embrace sustainable living. It’s prompted us to reflect on our personal responsibility as well as that of the businesses and brands we work with.

My family has been weaning itself off plastic for while…eco-friendly toilet roll, reusable cloth face wipes, refills for our cleaning products. We challenged ourselves to push harder and live totally plastic free for a month, but if truth be told, we failed hard and fast.

Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, founder of the Plastic Free Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind Plastic Free July, says, ‘The plastic out there in the environment is our plastic and we can all do something to make a difference and leave behind a different legacy. Do one thing in your daily lives to reduce your use of single-use plastics.’ Getting people to make even small sustainable actions in their lives makes sense. Behavioural scientists call it the “foot-in-the-door technique” - if you can get someone to agree to one request, it’s easier to get them to say yes to later requests. At home, our one thing has been to finally make the switch to shampoo bars. On behalf of our clients, we refuse to send product samples to media in anything other than biodegradable packaging and via green delivery services. It doesn’t always feel like much but it’s something and little things add up to big impact – which is the ethos behind Little Fires and the work we do.

However, consumer behaviour alone will not solve a problem as big as plastics. Evidence shows that plastic pollution is outpacing the efforts to stop it. Research released this week predicts that plastic waste entering our oceans will nearly triple in 20 years. What’s more, only 9% of all plastic waste has ever been recycled effectively with most plastic still ending up in landfills. Covid-19 has increased plastic use with PPE polluting the streets and increased take-away only services resulting in more plastic packaging use. Many cities, towns and states have decreased their recycling provisions to cut costs, while some businesses which had been betting on refill models hit pause on these initiatives.

So, what can be done? It’s clear we need urgent and systemic change. A good place to start to develop or evolve your company’s transition to a circular plastics economy is by looking at the three R's – reduce, reuse and recycle:

Reduce: The best solution is to rapidly reduce the plastic we use and deliver products to customers with reusable or no packaging. This requires commitment, investment, and innovation but it’s clear we cannot just recycle our way out of this problem.

Reuse: We need business to design reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging. Companies such as CupClub and RECUP allow you to get a reusable cup at the point of retail and drop it off at convenient drop spots. We need the infrastructure to support such systems, but we also need to motivate people to use them. The new App, Helpful, encourages sustainable living by offering rewards to nudge behaviour.

Recycle: We will only reduce plastic waste if we can encourage people to change their habits and behaviours. Messages matter and too often, sustainability messaging plays on fear and guilt. The truth is that sustainable living can be expensive and inconvenient. Taking the time to understand these barriers and what will motivate people to overcome them is key when designing your sustainable brands and practices.

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