Anna Dougherty

Who says saving money and saving the planet don't go together? Using an app like Too Good To Go or Flashfood, I'll help rescue food from local bakeries, restaurants, and grocery stores that would otherwise go to waste.

Travel-size toiletries aren't just more expensive per ounce, they also have a higher plastic-to-contents ratio, and result in over 980 tonnes (2.2 million pounds) of plastic waste each year. If traveling this month, I will reuse my old travel tubes to refill with my soaps or only bring bar soaps with me.

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 host or participate in a beach, highway, river, or other cleanup effort in my community.

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!

Conventional deodorant tubes are typically made from plastics #4 and #5, which are rarely accepted for recycling - especially together. When it's time to replace my current deodorant, I will replace it with a plastic-free option.

Most toilet paper is wrapped in plastic #4, or low-density polyethylene - a thin plastic film that cannot be recycled back into more plastic film. To avoid this plastic wrapping, I will purchase toilet paper wrapped in paper instead, or use a reusable toilet paper option.

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.

Prioritizing whole foods is one of the most effective ways to avoid single-use plastic in the kitchen, since most whole foods can be purchased without any packaging. This month, I will prepare 1 whole foods-based meals at home each day.

I will purchase unpackaged produce at the grocery store or at the farmer's market.

In the US, about 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away each year. And because plastic is designed to last, nearly every plastic toothbrush ever created still exists. When it's time to replace my current toothbrush, I will replace it with a plastic-free bamboo option.

Nearly all toothpaste tubes are made from multiple layers of different types of plastic and aluminum, making them impossible to recycle and destined for landfill. When it's time to replace my current toothpaste, I will replace it with a plastic-free option.

We've all got it - that thing in the back of our closet we keep saying we'll fix "one day." I will make today that day by learning how to mend or repair ripped or broken items in my home - or by finding a local offering to do it for me.

While most stores offer lenient return policies, what actually happens to all of those returns? I will spend 15 minutes learning about what happens to returns and how I can make better purchasing decisions to avoid returns in the future.

I will purchase dry goods from the bulk section of my grocery store, and I will use my own containers whenever possible (cloth bags, mason jars, even reused Ziploc bags will do!). When it's not possible to use my own containers, I will wash and reuse the containers offered by the store.

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.

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.

In addition to refusing and reducing my consumption of single-use plastics, I will pick up 5 piece(s) of litter each day of the Plastic Free Ecochallenge.