Plastic Free July: What can we achieve in a month?

In July 2025, 174 million people across 190 countries found out that it can. Together, they eliminated 290,000 tonnes of plastic in just 31 days. It all started with 40 people in Perth with a simple idea: what if we just... stopped?

That idea became Plastic Free July. And we think it's one of the most exciting things happening on the planet right now.

What is Plastic Free July?

Every July, millions of people commit to refusing single-use plastics for the month. Plastic bags, takeaway coffee cups, straws, cling wrap, pre-packaged snacks — the everyday stuff most of us grab without a second thought.

Founded in 2011 by the Plastic Free Foundation, the movement has grown from a small Perth experiment into an international, award-winning campaign now active in 190 countries. 29% of global consumers — over 316 million people — are aware of it, and it's spread well beyond households into schools, businesses, and local councils around the world

The best part? It's designed to be approachable. The Plastic Free Foundation offers free resources to help you get started, and you choose your level. Start with the "Big 4": bottles, bags, straws, and takeaway cups, or go further. There's no pressure to be perfect. Just to try.

Why it matters

Here's the honest truth about plastic: the problem is much bigger than most of us realise, and much closer to home than we'd like.

• Plastic accounts for at least 85% of all marine litter worldwide, and production is expected to nearly triple by 2040.
• Right now, there are over 170 trillion plastic particles floating on the surface of our oceans.
• Every single minute, a garbage truck's worth of new plastic enters the sea.

The toll on wildlife is heartbreaking.

• Around 50% of all studied sea turtles have ingested plastic.
• Roughly 90% of seabird species now ingest plastic — up from fewer than 5% in 1960.
• About 136,000 seals, sea lions, and large whales die every year from entanglement in discarded fishing gear.

And it doesn't stay out there.

Plastic generated 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 — more than aviation and shipping combined.

Microplastics have been found in human blood, lungs, and food. It's in all of us now. Which, honestly, is a pretty compelling reason to stop adding more.

The real impact one month can make

Here's where it gets genuinely exciting.

86% of Plastic Free July participants say the changes they made during the month became lasting habits. They also took 15% more actions to reduce plastic than people who didn't take part.

Over seven years, participants have collectively avoided 15 million tonnes of waste — more than the total collected by the 10 largest cleanups in the world combined. That's the equivalent weight of over 100,000 blue whales.

In 2025 alone, participants reduced:

• 1.4 million tonnes of non-recoverable landfill waste
• 900,000 tonnes of recyclable waste
• 290,000 tonnes of plastic consumption

The ripple effects reach policy too. In 2025, Lisbon became the first European capital to introduce a city-wide reusable cup system. New York State declared July a Plastic Free Month for the eighth consecutive year. New bans on single-use plastics came into effect in Western Australia, Oman, and Delaware.

One person makes a change. Someone around them notices. A conversation starts. That's how 40 people became 174 million.

How to get started: right now, with us

75% of people globally say they support action to reduce waste. The desire to do good is already there. Plastic Free July just makes it easy to act on it and we're here to help.

At All of the Good Things, everything we stock is chosen with exactly this in mind. Beautiful, practical, planet-kind swaps that make it genuinely easy to ditch single-use plastic for good. Here are a few of our favourites to get you started:

• Plant Fibre Brushes: plastic brushes leak micro plastics in the water, making the switch to plant fibre brushes keeps you plastic free
• Cotton Produce Bags: Make going plastic free easy by switching single us plastic produce bags for cotton ones you can reuse
• Tote bag: takes care of plastic bags at the shops, stylishly
• Beeswax wraps: a gorgeous swap for cling film that actually works
• Plastic-free shampoo bars and solid soaps: ditch the bottles entirely

You don't need to do it all at once. Start with one swap. One change has a way of leading to another, and the habits you build in July have a way of sticking around long after.

Browse our full range of plastic-free swaps and register for the challenge at plasticfreejuly.org.

Let's do this.

References

[1] Plastic Free Foundation, Plastic Free July 2025 Impact Report

[2] UNEP, From Pollution to Solution: A Global Assessment of Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution (2021)

[3] Eriksen M et al., A Third of All Ocean Surface Microplastics Come From Tire Wear, PLOS ONE (2023)

[4] UNEP, Ghost Gear: The Abandoned, Lost or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (2021)

[5] Schuyler Q et al., Risk analysis reveals global hotspots for marine debris ingestion by sea turtles, Global Change Biology (2016)

[6] Wilcox C et al., Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing, PNAS (2015)

[7] OECD, Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options (2022)