Sarah Thompson

Vegetable broth cartons are not easily recycled and often not accepted for recycling at all. To avoid or reduce my use of these cartons, I will save my vegetable scraps and fresh herb stems to make homemade vegetable broth instead.

Does your savings account, retirement account, or investment account support the fossil fuel (and plastics) industry? This month, I will spend 30 minutes investigating where my investments (and where my bank's investments) are going, divest from the fossil fuel industry, and reinvest in ways that are more in alignment with my values.

I will use a rubber glove to remove pet hair from clothes, carpets and furniture.

In addition to refusing and reducing my consumption of single-use plastics, I will pick up 3 piece(s) of litter each day of the Plastic Free Ecochallenge.

Don't forget to celebrate the good! This month, I will give shout-outs on social media, my office's internal communication channels, or the Participant Feed to a local company, coworker, friend, or family member for their sustainable efforts.

I will spend at least 30 minute(s) touring (virtually or in person) a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about our local waste and waste recovery streams.

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.

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 30 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.

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.

While most stores offer lenient return policies, what actually happens to all of those returns? I will spend 30 minutes learning about what happens to returns and how I can make better purchasing decisions to avoid returns in the future.

An estimated 50,000lbs (23,000kg) of contact lenses end up in sewage sludge in the US each year. This month, I will learn how to recycle used contact lenses and packaging or switch to wearing glasses instead.

I will spend 30 minutes finding out where landfills and/or toxic waste sites are situated in my region and which communities are most impacted by these sites.

All those symbols on our clothes, sheets, and towels actually have meanings! To ensure that I'm caring for my clothes properly, I will spend 30 minutes learning what the care symbols mean and laundry best practices to make all of my textiles last as long as possible.

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.

There are many benefits to enjoying meatless meals - including reducing our plastic footprint. Most meats and dairy products are packaged in plastic, so this month, I will reduce my animal product consumption and enjoy 1 vegetarian or vegan meals each day.

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

Natural cork is a sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable material, but many wineries are switching to synthetic corks for their wine bottles. Using a database like CORKWatch, I will choose wines with a natural cork closure, and properly compost or recycle them after enjoying my wine.

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 15 minutes outside in nature, and share my observations, reflections, and learnings on the Participant Feed.

Using the action resource links below, my family will spend 60 minutes learning about environmental justice, causes of environmental injustice, and how plastic waste disproportionately impacts already vulnerable communities.

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!