Michelle Davis

Get creative in the kitchen (or the garden)! Before tossing food scraps, I'll explore other ways to utilize the scraps and give them another life.

The plastic industry has convinced us that some plastic bags are "trash bags," while others are just "trash." Instead of throwing empty bags away (such as bread bags, pet food bags, etc.), I will reuse them as trash bags.

I will swap out my single use plastic bags for a pooper-scooper.

Help us make the Plastic Free Ecochallenge the best it can be! Take the challenge pre-survey (and look out for the post-survey at the end of the challenge!) so we can better understand the impact the challenge has and how we can improve in the future. Plus, you'll earn points for completing it! Thank you!

Although a long-standing festive tradition, balloons are harmful for animals and the environment. I will spend 5 learning about the dangers of balloons and find eco-friendly alternatives to use instead.

I will only buy cloth, wooden or plant-based natural rubber toys. Or make our own toys from recycled items found in our home!

I will spend 10 minutes educating my family on the basics of living a reduced/no-plastic lifestyle.

Whenever possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when shopping, including produce bags. I will either use my own reusable bags, or keep my items loose.

Just because something is past its "expiration date," it might not actually be expired! I will spend 10 minutes learning about the difference between best by, use by, and sell by dates and how to tell if my food is actually expired.

I will find secondhand sources for my pet's water/food dishes, collars or leashes.

Science has shown that focused time in nature calms our over-worked frontal lobe and gives space for the areas of our brain associated with emotions, pleasure, and empathy to take over, providing a sense of calm that is measurable in brain scans and even blood tests. Each day this month, I will spend 30 minutes outside in nature, and share my observations, reflections, and learnings on the Participant Feed.

While most stores offer lenient return policies, what actually happens to all of those returns? I will spend 10 minutes learning about what happens to returns and how I can make better purchasing decisions to avoid returns in the future.

Every single textile ever made will, at some point, become worn out - and dealing with that waste costs millions of tax dollars every year. I will spend 5 minutes learning about the different types of textile recycling and creating a plan for what I'll do with my clothes and other textiles when they are too worn out to use anymore.

Using the action resource links below, my family will spend 10 minutes learning about environmental justice, causes of environmental injustice, and how plastic waste disproportionately impacts already vulnerable communities.

Every time we tumble dry our laundry, our clothes' lifespans get a little shorter. The lint trap is evidence of the shedding fibers and our clothes slowly losing their quality. The less time our clothes need to be in the dryer, the longer they'll last. So this month, I will clean my dryer's interior and exterior air vents to help the dryer work more efficiently (and extend the life of the dryer!).

The simple, necessary, daily act of washing our clothes slowly degrades the quality of our clothes due to the friction involved in the process. To extend the life of my clothes, whenever possible, I will wear items multiple times before washing.

Plastic sheets coated in softeners, lubricants, and fragrances, dryer sheets just aren't great for the planet or our bodies. Instead, I will use wool dryer balls or another plastic-free alternative to dryer sheets to keep my clothes static-free.

I will spend 10 minutes learning about the costs of fast fashion and begin trying to practice sustainable fashion in my own life.

Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will spend 10 minutes researching which materials are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community and recycle only those items.

While it can be tempting to throw away (or drop off at Goodwill) any and everything that no longer brings us joy, there are so many options that are better for the planet! This month, I will declutter my home and properly dispose or re-home the things I no longer want.

I will spend 10 minutes finding out where landfills and/or toxic waste sites are situated in my region and which communities are most impacted by these sites.

Pinterest may want you to think that you need a cupboard full of matching mason jars, but reusing what we already have is one of the best ways to reduce our waste. This month, instead of recycling glass jars (such as pasta sauce, pickles, and salsa jars), I will save them to reuse for food storage.

I will conduct a waste audit of my trash and recycling to understand how much waste I create and create a plan for where I can reduce the most.

I will calculate my ecological footprint, and from the results brainstorm and take action on ways I can reduce my annual footprint.

Instead of buying new plastic highlighters, I will simply use colored pencils instead for all of my highlighting needs.