The environmental impact of plastic is an issue you simply can’t ignore. Clea Grady shares her top tips for playing your part in banishing it

PLASTIC HABIT

When you stop and look around you and really see how much plastic we use, it’s a bit like when you first go vegan: overwhelming. Instead of it being “Why on earth has this got milk in it?”, it’s “Why on earth is this wrapped in plastic?” and it’s easy to feel that reducing your own use won’t make a difference, so monumental is the problem. But just as I’d argue that every single person who goes vegan makes a difference, so too does every single person who reduces their reliance on plastic.

In my years as a vegan advocate, one of the most powerful forces I’ve witnessed is the ripple effect. That effect made by positive people within their social and wider spheres. We each have the power to be influencers and enable change, and that’s why I believe it’s so important that we all do whatever we can, whenever we can, in whatever ways we possibly can. Can we turn back time and repair the insane levels of damage we have inflicted upon our planet? There is only one way to find out: give it our very best shot. We owe her that at least.

Plastic is literally everywhere. In our homes, in our workplaces: our food comes wrapped in it, our drinks come held in it and so much of what we use and rely on is made from it. (Challenge: count up the things around you right now that are plastic. You’ll be shocked.) The keys that I’m typing on right now, for example… that’s right: plastic.