Going absolutely plastic-free can be so daunting (especially when grocery shopping) that it is easy to give up. A few summers ago, we tried our first Plastic-Free July and had an absolute meltdown in the grocery store when we realized that you can't buy much of anything without plastic. I don't think we had ever realized before just how dependent we are on plastic for our food shopping.

The amount of plastic we bring home with our food is a big problem. Plastic food wrappers are one of the largest sources of plastic overtaking our oceans (plastic will outnumber fish by 2050) and our land. We need to clean up our oceans, but we also need to turn off the tap of all of this plastic. Businesses and brands need to take the lead to turn away from plastic, but we can hold them accountable as consumers by refusing plastic-wrapped products and by speaking up. This helps us too- we know that plastic packaging is connected to a host of health problems with our endocrine system, our hormones, and may even lead to cancer. We need single use plastic out of our lives, and soon.

I love people who manage to be zero waste- that is freaking awesome! For me, the goal is to get through the grocery store with 3 plastic-wrapped items or less. This wiggle room gives us freedom (and keeps us from falling off the wagon completely), because we don't have to be perfect. I think perfection is a trap (on that note, we fail pretty often. Then we try again the next time we go. The real trick to making a positive impact on the environment is to just keep trying).

We all have what we can do, and what doesn't make sense for our lives. I try to think of it as a plastic diet- doing a fad or cutting completely probably won't last. Instead, I try to make pretty good decisions most of the time. You can only do what makes sense for your life, so pick a number you feel comfortable with.

So, this is my challenge for you- the next time you go shopping, count how many pieces of plastic you leave with. Could you cut that number in half? How about by a third?

I know that low waste shopping can seem intimidating. It keeps us from our normal routine and does sometimes require some planning. But plastic is absolutely overtaking our planet, so it is worth doing. Here are my best, simplest tips for getting a bunch of plastic out of your shopping trip.

1. Be Prepared and Bring Our Bags

The biggest step is to show up prepared. When we are on point, we have cloth grocery bags, our Colony Co produce bags (love these), and containers for the meat and deli counters.

 If you need tips on how to shift to reusable bags, I have a whole post on that here.

2. Let Our Produce Swing Free

Ok, now if you are like me, you may have some emergency grocery runs mid-week (we are always running out of milk and apples... it doesn't matter how much I buy). If I wasn't planning on coming, I may not be as prepared, but I can usually still make my goal happen. I either dig up a bag in the car somewhere or I ask for paper.

For the produce, I just let my produce roll around in the cart, and then I wash them when I get home. There is truly no reason for plastic produce bags- your apples and oranges get along just fine in the cart.

3. We Shop the Outside Edge of the Store

Most everything on all those aisles in the middle are wrapped in plastic. We just have slowly gotten the hang of mostly just skipping the whole section. We stick to a lot of fresh produce, so we can use our plastic credits for bread, milk, and something else.

4. Eat Less Meat and Processed Food

Meat and processed foods tend to be wrapped in a lot of plastic. If you go absolutely zero waste, you will be buying lots of mushrooms and other plastic-free proteins!

Some meat and deli counters accept containers, but not all. But the truth is, most meat or seafood you buy has already had a pretty high plastic cost. Fishing nets are the number one source of plastic in our oceans and large farms use a tons of plastic for their farming and shipping. Best case scenario, environmentally-speaking, is that we all go vegan. But if you aren't ready for that leap you can still do a lot of good by eating less animal proteins. So we now eat more Meatless Monday meals and tend to choose meals where we can spread one package over several meals (I call them Less Meat Meals).

But yeah, the bad news is that if you are avoiding plastic waste, the cookie aisle is basically going to be a heart breaker. Our regular grocery store has donuts in the bakery you can take away in paper, so we do that. There is also usually a baker at the counter, so in theory you could ask for your favorite item before it hits the packaging. It's all about being strategic and not being afraid to ask questions! Same for the freezer aisle (we make our own popsicles- so easy).

5. Shopping our Local Farmer's Market and Bulk Stores

Unlike grocery stores, farmer's markets won't use fruit stickers and tend to be much more open to using whatever bag you happen to bring. I also love farmer's markets in the summer, because we can get berries without any plastic clam shell.

I am also obsessed with grocery stores with bulk spices, pasta, candy, and grains. We can get a ton of what we need in our own containers so we skip a bunch of plastic containers (this is really great for everything from filling our pantry to filling our Easter baskets). We also can buy these dry goods (and cleaning supplies) in pretty big quantities, so we don't have to do it all of the time. Think you don't have a bulk store near you? Check again! Even our tiny hometown has one 10 minutes away now. Do some research!

6. Beware of Paper Cartons

Pretty often, paper milk cartons are still lined with a thin layer of plastic that keeps the whole thing from being recyclable. You are better off buying one jug, which can be reused for water storage or recycled.

7. We Don't Buy Bottled Water. Ever. 

If you want to kill a bad habit, the first step is to just stop buying it. Just stop with water bottles.

We are lucky to live in a place where our tap water is perfectly drinkable with a healthy filter. I would never, ever buy bottled water, because you are really just paying for tap water wrapped in plastic garbage. It makes tons of sense if you live in Flint. The rest of us just need to stop.

8. We Order Our Paper Goods Online (and Wrapped in Paper)

We mostly use reusable options like unpaper towels and cloth napkins, but if we do need toilet paper, we buy it in bulk and wrapped in paper. THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN GETTING IT FROM THE GROCERY STORE. This post gives you a big list of places you can buy toilet paper without plastic, but the short answer is to just fall in love with Who Gives a Crap, because they are awesome.

9. I Stopped Buying Pads

I have a menstrual cup. It is a freaking game changer, and if you haven't tried yet, look into it. Thinx is another option that people love, but the bottom line is that disposable pads and tampons have huge amounts of plastic in them, and no one needs them. If you want more plastic-free tips for your menses business, I have a whole post for that.

10. We Eat What We Buy 

I am not the best at using everything in our fridge, and we used to throw a lot of food out. My partner in grocery crime has become a pretty committed meal planner, and we throw away a lot less. It's so simple, but using what we have creates less waste. Less food and packaging wasted for nothing.

11. We Use Bar Soap and Refillable Shampoo Bottles

We have been using bar soap for a few years, and I wouldn't go back. It's just as easy, but everything comes wrapped in paper. I think bar soap is sorely due for a big comeback, because you can buy beautiful, local, paper wrapped soap that will last you so much time!

For shampoo, we use refillable shampoo bottle from Plaine Products. They send me a full metal bottle of shampoo every three months, and then I mail them back my empties in the same box. Bar shampoo didn't work for me, but this really does, and it is so simple to do.

That has been the big things that have helped us! Do you have a specific item that you can't figure out? Write me in the comments and I will try to help you find a plastic-free solution!

12. We Skip Boxed and Bagged Salads

Lettuce from the produce aisle takes a few minutes to clean and works just as well.

13. We Grow it Ourselves

We have parsley, basil, green onion, and chives growing in our yard all of the time, so we don't have to buy the little (way overpriced) plastic pouches of herbs. We also grow blue berries, strawberries, and raspberries in our yard. It isn't going to stop all plastic, but it is the most healing and fun way that we cut down on plastic.

14. We Skip Individually Wrapped

Just because you can't cut plastic out completely doesn't mean you can't cut out a whole lot of it. We will never buy those American cheese slices that are wrapped in plastic again. Even kraft sells their cheese slices without all that extra packaging, so we can even get American cheese without so much plastic.



Want more ideas for getting plastic out of your life? Check out our crazy long list of easy ways to cut plastics out! Happy Plastic-Free July!

We can see that our planet is hurting. From climate crisis to plastic waste, many of these problems seem so huge that we couldn't possibly make a difference. It's not true. By getting involved, using our voice, and supporting the people on the front lines, we can help. 

Each week, we share a few simple ways to get involved and help. None of these steps take a ton of time, but they do make a difference. 




Microplastics have transformed our oceans and our own diets. Tiny pieces of plastic, about the size of one piece of glitter, shed off of our plastic-based synthetic clothes every time we wash them by the thousands. These fibers are washed out into our water sources and the oceans. These pieces may seem insignificant, but in such overwhelming numbers (trillions), we now eat and drink about the equivalent of a credit card every week.

This is a huge environmental crisis that most people have never heard of. But rest assured, all that plastic consumption will effect our health and our lifespans. But we can do something about it.

There are lots of things we can do as individuals- STOP buying any clothes made of synthetic fabrics, use a cora ball or filter in the washing machine we use, and tell your friends about microplastics! These are all important.

That said, we know that collective action makes a big difference. Here are some quick and easy ideas to help fight microplastics in the system, not just in your home.

1. Embrace the Filter or Cora Ball 

(and Ask your Washing Machine Company to Do it too)

There are now filters and balls out there that are meant to collect these plastic mircofibers in your washing machine before they move out into the water sources. A few recent studies have shown that these do work, so if you have any plastic in your wardrobe, this can help. We all need to work towards the goal of the plastic-free wardrobe, but this is a good first step to take for yourself (and maybe everyone you have to give gifts to in the near future).

That said, if we can now see that filters and balls can make a difference in keeping microplastics out of water sources, it is time to put pressure on washing machine companies to incorporate something like this into every washing machine they manufacture. Even better, they could retrofit something and send it out to the people who have bought their machines.

So, this week might be a good time to write the company that made your washing machine and ask them to add microfiber filters to their designs. Need some help doing it? Just use this letter as a template.

2. Join up with the Story of Stuff Project

The Story of Stuff is amazing, and you may have seen their video about microfiber pollution. They are pushing for legislation in California to stop microfiber pollution, and they can use your signature. You can sign their petition here.

Sign up for the Story of Stuff Project updates and to hear when you can help with a signature or getting the word out. This group is one of my favorites, and they are doing all sorts of good work. They are one of the only major groups to address this problem so far.

3. Make a Helpful Suggestion to Greenpeace

As I mentioned, most of the major environmental groups aren't dealing with microplastics yet. We need a few things to happen:

- Ban the manufacture and selling of plastic fabrics
- Require all washing machines to be made with a plastic filter

You could try to do this through the companies first, but if they aren't willing to do the right thing, this is urgent enough to require legislation.

This, to me, sounds like the perfect job for Greenpeace. They are currently on a plastic mission, specifically confronting the major corporations contributing to the problem (looking at you, Nestle and Coke). In all that awesomeness, they haven't touched on the microfiber problem yet. You can write them to ask where that investment is at. If you are a member or already give them money, you should definitely speak up and help get this on their radar.

4. Write your Favorite Brand

As companies try to keep up with the constant demand and low prices of fast fashion, they use plastic-based clothing more and more. This is unacceptable. If you notice that you can't shop your favorite brand and avoid plastics, write to tell them how disappointed you are. Tell them they have to stop using plastic fabrics.

Need a template to do this? I wrote you one! Switch up the wording to fit the brand you want to approach, and send it on their facebook, twitter, or email. Call customer service. Just put a stink up, and relatively little effort can have a major effect!



How are you stopping microplastics in our water this week? Every little step or action we take creates ripples. Every positive ripple can turn into a wave. Help us save the world!

LG, Whirpool, Kenmore, Samsung, AEG, Bosch, Electrolux, and Maytag,

You are at the center of a growing and disastrous environmental crisis, and you have the power to solve this problem. Not many industries have the ability to quickly and easily end an environmental disaster, but you do.

You can end the microfiber crisis.

Our ocean is being overtaken by tiny, microscopic pieces of plastic by the trillions. These plastic pieces are shed off of plastic-based synthetic fabrics in our washing machines. Washing machine filters do not currently stop these microfibers, so these tiny fibers exit our homes and head to water treatment plants. Some settle into sewage sludge, but most head out with the treated water into our water sources.

You can now find microplastics in samples taken from most bodies of water, rivers, and streams. Researchers from The Ocean Conservancy have found over 100 microplastics in one fish. Other researchers have found that these microplastics have reached the most remote corners of the ocean.

This kind of pollution is particularly disturbing because there is no real way to clean it up once it reaches our water sources. It is like filling a bathtub with glitter; you will never be able to clean up every single piece. Until a method for cleaning arrives, all of our water becomes more and more overwhelmed with plastic.

This has a significant effect on humans. Microplastics have become part of our food chain, being found in everything from our table salt to our drinking water to most of the animals we eat. We are now eating plastic with enough frequency that it could have a significant negative effect on our health; we know that plastics can effect hormones, disrupt our endocrine system, and has even been connected to cancer.

You have the power to solve this problem.

Small companies have already developed filters to stop these microfibers from ever leaving the washing machine. The technology and research is out there to filter these microfibers, leading to products like the Cora Ball and others. Some people are starting to use these products, but most are not.

These products wouldn't be necessary if it was standard to have a microplastic filter in every new washing machine sold. You have the power to stop this problem completely by shifting your product to serve this need.

No washing machine manufacturer is doing this yet, so if you did it first, you could get all the positive press from blazing a trail that could save our water and save lives. We can assume that with a little time and common sense, microfiber filters will be common practice, but you can make that day come sooner, and you can keep trillions of pieces of plastic out of our oceans.

Your company has the chance to do something heroic here, to help save our water and our people. Please develop microplastic filters for your washing machines and make it standard that they be included.

When we think of plastic waste, we picture plastic bottles, bags, food packaging, and straws. We notice those single use plastic items, which are a huge part of the problem, but are not the only issue by far. Our approach to clothing (especially fast fashion) is a major part of the plastic crisis.

If you want to stop the plastic waste taking over our planet, you have to start looking at your closet.

You may be thinking "Ok, but I don't have any sweet plastic rain coats or polyester leisure suits. This is not my problem." I guarantee you, this is your problem. Let's go over some of the ways your closet makes plastic waste:

-The Shipping

It costs companies less to put their product in plastic envelopes than to cover the cost of damaged items. Hence, everything now ships wrapped in plastic, unless the company explicitly takes another route.

- The Fabrics

Plastic-based synthetic fabrics are one of the biggest environmental crisis that no one is talking about. Any of your clothes with spandex, lycra, polyester, elastene (and so many others) is made of plastic, and thousands of tiny pieces of that plastic shed off every time you wash them. This plastic washes out into our water sources, so most animals (including humans) now ingest a significant amount of plastic. This plastic can't be cleaned- unless something changes, your grandchildren will be drinking your leggings. Is it worth it?

- The Upkeep

Dryer sheets, dry-cleaning bags, and detergent all add more plastic to the mix. You can side step all of these, but only if you are ready to pay attention.



Ok here are my best ideas for having a plastic-free wardrobe where you still look like the beautiful, fantastic person that you are:

1. Just Buy Less Clothes

We all have too much clothes. Fabrics and textiles are one of the largest sources of waste and chemical pollution in the world, and it makes sense, because each American, on average, throws away 65 pounds of clothes a year. We are buying way too much, and all those deals come at a huge environmental cost.

Our huge collections of clothes mean we are creating more plastic waste too. When you are buying a lot of clothes, you are more likely to be investing in cheap pieces, which are now mostly made of plastic fabrics like spandex and polyester.

Investing in fewer pieces (and making the wonderful clothes you already own shine, you beautiful person) will do the most good. It avoids the plastic new clothes are packaged in, shopping bags, synthetic fabrics, and all the invisible plastic we don't even notice anymore. If you like having a concrete plan, look into capsule wardrobes. If you have way too much already, do a swap with friends or offer items on Buy Nothing. Do not toss your clothes in the garbage!

The best you can do is wear the hell out of the clothes you already have. It's the one mindset shift that can do the most.

2. Know your Synthetic (see: Plastic) Fibers

Our clothing is creating one of the biggest plastic crisis our planet is facing- microfibers. Plastic-based synthetic clothing sheds microfibers of plastic (about the size of one piece of glitter) every time you wash them. They come tout in your washing machine, and then they are washed out into water sources. These microfibers, though tiny are major problems.

First, because they have reached every corner of our water sources and oceans.

Second, because these microscopic pieces end up in our water and food (maybe up to a credit card's worth of plastic a week), potentially messing with our hormones or causing cancer.

But most importantly, these microfibers cannot be cleaned. Have you every tried to clean up a glitter spill? How about in a full bathtub? That's the challenge our planet is facing now. The first step is to stop pouring glitter into the bathtub, and that means no more synthetic fibers.

The first step is to just increase your awareness and vocabulary around plastic-based fabrics. Check out this post for all the information you need. 

3. Stop Buying Plastic Clothing

Once you know what to look out for, you just have to stop buying things that use synthetic fabrics in them. This can be tough to do, but you just get the hang of checking tags or the details tab when you shop online. If something is made with plastic fabrics, just don't buy it. Even if it is just what you wanted, it isn't worth it.

This is true of secondhand shopping as well. Try to focus on shopping for items that don't list plastic materials. If there isn't a tag anymore, sometimes you can identify by feel. If the fabric is particularly shiny or stretchy, it likely has plastic in it.

You also learn with time that certain companies are less likely to use plastic-based synthetics. Companies that tend to be earth-conscious also tend to avoid these fabrics. Pact, Reformation, Gustin, and so many others mostly avoid it. It feels particularly good to invest companies that are already looking out for the environment.

But really, it's as simple as just not buying something if it is made with plastic fabrics. As you slowly replace things in your closet, you will slowly remove all plastic fibers as well.

4. Embrace a New Kind of Legging

Certain items, like fleece, activewear, and leggings, are particularly loaded with plastic. It can be tough to find plastic-free or plastic-light alternative to active clothing that still gets the job done (and makes your butt look good), but companies are working to make activewear with minimal plastic.

This is ONE area where I will not recommend secondhand or recycled. If you buy leggings made of spandex secondhand, they will only shed more plastic the longer they get use. Another trend is to make activewear out of recycled bottles; while I know their heart is in the wrong place, what this actually does is turns recyclable plastic into tiny pieces that can never be cleaned. Skip it.

If you love your leggings, but you don't want to fill our oceans with plastic, check out this post with my favorite companies that are using as little plastic as possible. If you are only using a tenth of the plastic, that's a tenth of the waste too. If you wear a lot of leggings, this is a change worth making.

5. Fall in Love with Secondhand Clothing

One of the best ways you can protect the environment is to buy as much of your clothes as you can secondhand. Have you ever bought clothes online? You know how they come in that little plastic envelope? All new clothes ship in one of those! So if you buy your next 10 items of clothing secondhand, that is 10 fewer plastic envelopes in the world. Simply by shopping secondhand as a rule, you can keep thousands of those envelopes out of the landfills.

If you don't live somewhere with good thrift shops, you can still switch to secondhand amazingness. Try Thred Up, which sells everything you can dream of AND they ship wrapped in paper, not plastic. I love them so much, and you can get great deals on top of everything else.

6. Return the Plastic to your Dry Cleaner

If you use a dry cleaner, you will get your clothes back in those big plastic bags. The easiest way to sidestep this is to just give them back immediately. They can make it back to your home just fine without the bags, so when you show up to the dry cleaners, take the minute to take the bags off and leave them there for them to use again on the

7. Invest in a Plastic Filter (And Pick up an Extra for a Friend)

Companies have now developed products that filter the microplastics out of your washing machine before they are washed out into water sources. Current studies suggest that they aren't perfect (so not as good as eliminating plastic completely) but they do make a difference.  You can try a filter, a bag, or a Cora Ball. The most important thing is that you do SOMETHING.

Also, my new goal is to just buy one of these for everyone. Everyone should be used to having one of these in their washer until plastic fabrics are banned completely. The less plastic we send to our oceans, the better.

8. Switch up your Detergent

The detergent we use also tends to create a lot of plastic waste. There are a few ways to avoid the big plastic bottles of Tide:

First, think about refillable options. Is there anywhere near you that you can refill your detergent bottles that you already have? We have refills at our co-op grocery store. If not, you can still buy refills from online stores like The Refill Revolution. They sell giant pouches that you use to refill, and then you send it back when you are done.

You second option is to make your own. There are tons of great powder and liquid options on Pinterest, so you can kind of pick what fits what you already like. It saves money, and you can avoid a lot of plastic this way.

9. Think Vintage, not Vegan

This is a controversial one. If you are trying to minimize your negative impact on animals, you will do more good buying secondhand leather boots than brand new pleather ones. Many of the fake alternatives to leather, wool, and other animal fabrics are 100% plastic. Plastic that will become extremely harmful to animals.

Leather, if cared for, can last a lifetime. So even if you are vegan, buying secondhand leather items (where you did not pay a company to kill an animal) has a better impact on animals longterm.

10. Write Companies that Still Use Plastic-Based Fabrics

Want to do a little more? Write the companies that are still manufacturing clothes with synthetic fabrics. If we don't tell them that we aren't ok with it, they assume that everything is fine. If you are at a loss on how to word it, check out this post with my letter to the Gap. You can use the same note and just switch the details to match your favorite companies that need to stop with the synthetic fabrics.

You could also write the washing machine manufacturers to pressure them to include microplastic filters in all of their machines. They knew about this problem and should have done something to solve it long ago. But doing something now is still a better option than doing nothing.


How have you gotten plastics out of your wardrobe?



Check out the Little Green Dress page for more resources on how to transform your wardrobe into something greener!

We can see that our planet is hurting. From climate crisis to plastic waste, many of these problems seem so huge that we couldn't possibly make a difference. It's not true. By getting involved, using our voice, and supporting the people on the front lines, we can help. 

Each week, we share a few simple ways to get involved and help. None of these steps take a ton of time, but they do make a difference. 



This week is the start of Plastic Free July, and we are so excited here. That said, it's important to remember that your personal changes can only have so much impact. We cannot stop plastic pollution without also speaking out to leaders, lawmakers, and businesses to do the right thing.

This can be intimidating to do, and it is hard to know where to start, but there are so many ways you can get involved to stop plastic not only in your own life, but to speak out against the throwaway culture that created this problem in the first place.

1. Join a Plastic Free Challenge

One of the best ways to exponentially amplify your Earth-saving efforts is to combine your actions with others. Plastic Free July is partially magical because you have multiple opportunities to do this. Joining a team or taking a pledge adds to their numbers, gives you a sense of community, and becomes collective action.

My favorite is this Plastic-Free Eco-Challenge from the Coalition of North American Zoos and Aquairums. What I think is most cool about it is that you can join a team or act as an individual, and then you get points depending on the actions you take. It seems pretty addictive.

I also love the pledge you can take on the Plastic Free July Challenge's website, though I really wish they gave more info about how many people have signed up with you! I find that kind of info encouraging, but I know it is growing, which is pretty exciting all on its own.

Signing one of these is a nearly effortless way to combine your plastic-free commitments with others. It makes things add up that much more, and hopefully businesses will take notice and suck less.

2. Fight Back Against Fishing Nets

Fishing nets are the largest source of plastic in the oceans. The fishing industry is absolutely out of control. Step one is to dramatically decrease how much fish you buy and to know exactly where and how what you buy was fished.

Step two is to get involved with the groups that are standing up to the fishing industry or cleaning up fishing nets. Here are two you can get involved in or donate to- it makes a big difference!

Ocean Voyages Institute just made the news this week for pulling 40 tons of fishing nets out of the oceans using technology to find the nets easily. We know this is the tip of the plastic iceberg, but this group has found a system that works, You can donate to their mission here.

Surfrider is a grassroots program based out of California, and they have 127 campaigns going right now to fight ocean and beach plastic, including things that consider fishing nets. Check out their campaign page to read about what they are doing and to get involved.

The Olive Ridley Project is also specifically targeting ghost nets and helping with clean up and education around the issue. Check out their super interesting website with really helpful descriptions of the problem.

3. Join Greenpeace's Plastic Initiatives

Right now, environmental justice titan Greenpeace is taking on plastic production and distribution, and they are going HARD. If you are worried about the plastic in our water (and you really should be), sign their current petition to stop grocery stores from using so much unnecessary plastic. You can also read their scorecard on which supermarkets are doing the best at limiting plastic waste.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. They are currently confronting companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola, who are responsible for millions of pieces of plastic waste a day. They recently put "plastic monsters" outside of Nestle's offices, and they have started their own petition and call chain to fight Target on their plastic bag policy. You can sign their petition to these corporations here.

If you want to give some money to help the environment and specifically our oceans, consider becoming a Greenpeace member or donating specifically to their plastic campaigns.

4. Stand up Against Nestle

Bottled Water companies are consistently the worst, but no one is worse than Nestle, who steals water from poor rural areas and even indigenous communities. Nestle absolutely needs to be stopped. You can start by signing this petition.

If you want to learn more, check out the Story of Stuff website. They have tons of excellent information, and you can get involved in their "Unbottle Water" campaign by simply signing up.




Happy Plastic Free July! So glad you are here and fighting this battle with us. We will have more actions to take next week so you can let your inner activist shine!