In the month of July, you’ll hear about a global campaign and challenge to avoid single-use plastic. Here is why Plastic Free July matters and what Green Century is doing to urge companies to cut their plastic dependence.
Wherever we go, we are surrounded by plastic. While the form plastic takes varies, it wraps most of the food we buy and is woven into our clothing, toothbrushes and our children’s toys. That pervasiveness has consequences: microplastics are now found in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and throughout the human body. Scientific studies have also identified thousands of plastic additives that are hazardous to human health.
Plastic Free July is a global movement that encourages people to reduce their single-use plastic consumption. The challenge is for people to forgo one type of single-use plastic such as plastic bottles, plastic cups or produce wrapped in plastic for the month.
Photo credit: Frank Mckenna, Unsplash
What can you do?
Tackling plastic waste is a monumental challenge and it can feel overwhelming, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You could join in this challenge by choosing one type of single-use plastic to avoid in July. For example, you could select reusable, bamboo, or paper cutlery and plates for an Independence Day celebration. Here are some actions you can take to protect you, your family and our planet in July and beyond:
- Choose products that have less or no plastic packaging
- Tell the stores where you shop that you want to buy products without plastic packaging or that have reusable or refillable packaging: Consider completing these petitions for Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Amazon
- Heat causes plastics to release harmful chemicals and shed more microplastics so do not heat your food in plastic containers. Teflon pans are coated in plastic. Replace them with safe non-stick alternatives.
- Choose non-plastic materials for young children’s bottles, cups and cutlery.
- Avoid products for young children that contain BPA and phthalates.
- Let your kids protect the environment from plastic too!
- Urge your representatives to support effective legislation to cut plastic, including:
- Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, which make companies pay for the plastic waste they create;
- Bottle bills, which pay customers to bring back bottles and have been shown to increase recycling rates;
- Plastics bag bans, which have also been found to significantly reduce the amount of plastic bags found in the environment.
What is Green Century doing about plastic?
Individual choices matter — but people also need companies to offer products with less packaging and more reusable options. That is why Green Century has been engaging corporations on cutting plastic for over 5 years.
- Green Century convinced Costco in 2023 to disclose how much plastic it uses and commit to a reduction plan. – In 2025 alone, Costco cut its plastic use by 1.5 million pounds — the equivalent of enough plastic water bottles, stacked end to end, to wrap nearly halfway around the Earth.
- Green Century convinced Ulta Beauty, the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., to disclose its’ plastic footprint for its brand packaging in 2026 and set a new sustainable packaging goal.
- Green Century pressed Mattel – maker of Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher Price – to provide more information on how it protects children from the toxic chemicals in its plastic toys and packaging. Several months after Green Century raised these risks to management, the company updated its disclosure of the number of substances it monitors, limits, or does not allow from 3,000 to 15,000.
You can explore Green Century’s 2026 plastics highlights here.
If you would like to learn more about Green Century, you can find more information here.
Frances Fairhead-Stanova, Shareholder Advocate