Plastic Free July

Plastic Free July asks people to refuse single-use plastics in July and beyond. It began in 2011 in Western Australia, started by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz with a small team in local government. The Plastic Free Foundation, an independent not-for-profit charity, was set up in 2017.

The organisers now report more than 170 million participants in 190 countries. They say that over the past seven years participants have together avoided more than 15 million tonnes of waste, including 1.7 million tonnes of plastic.

Thailand has seen what one habit can do. From 1 January 2020, department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores in a national partner network stopped giving out plastic carrier bags. Thailand's Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning reports that by the end of 2021 this cut 14,349.6 million bags, about 81.5 million kilograms, and that factory output of these bags fell by 43 per cent.

To join in, carry your own bag, cup and bottle, bring your own cutlery, use your own containers when you buy in bulk, and make a plastic free pledge for the month.

Refusing waste and reusing it go together. More than 50,000 tonnes of green mussel shells are discarded in Thailand each year. From Waste to Wonder at AVALON Artisan Gallery means giving them a second life as MyraShell and MyraGem.