Carley Krudop

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.

Even just one to-go coffee or tea a week adds up to 52 trashed cups in a year! I will avoid sending 3 disposable cups to the landfill per day by using a reusable mug or travel cup.

The only thing worse than a single-use item is a zero-use item! I will use (and use up) what I already have in my home before buying something new.

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.

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.

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 spend 15 minutes learning about the costs of fast fashion and begin trying to practice sustainable fashion in my own life.

Using the action resource links below, my family will spend 15 minutes learning about environmental justice, causes of environmental injustice, and how plastic waste disproportionately impacts already vulnerable communities.

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 15 minutes learning what the care symbols mean and laundry best practices to make all of my textiles last as long as possible.

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

Greenwashing can fool even the most experienced eco-advocate. This month, I will spend 30 minutes learning what greenwashing is, how to spot it, and what I can do about it.

Eliminating 100% of all plastic from our lives simply isn't possible. Throughout this month, I will embrace imperfection in my plastic-free journey while exploring and testing new ways to reduce my plastic footprint.

Throughout its life cycle, polystyrene (styrofoam) can harm people, communities, and the planet. I will refuse styrofoam whenever I can, making sure to kindly let people know why I'm asking for alternative packaging.

Just because something is past its "expiration date," it might not actually be expired! I will spend 15 minutes learning about the difference between best by, use by, and sell by dates and how to tell if my food is actually expired.

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!