Ally Maye-Bloom

Surface cleaners, glass cleaners, floor cleaners, oven cleaners, toilet cleaners...there's a whole lot of plastic waste involved in cleaning our homes - plus ingredients that can be harmful to aquatic ecosystems and our health. This month, I will make my own cleaning products or choose plastic-free, refillable options.

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.

Most conventional shower curtain liners are made from polyvinyl chloride (or PVC), which contains chlorine, phthalates, and plasticizers, and typically need replaced often. When it's time to replace my shower curtain liner, I will replace it with a plastic-free option and research the best ways to care for it.

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.

Using your dishwasher doesn't just save water! I will use my dishwasher whenever possible to extend the life of my sponges and dish cloths, and shed less microfibers from them.

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.

Plastic production, not just disposal, pollutes communities and harms people. I will learn about the impacts of plastic production on humans, animals, communities, and the environment.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 20 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.

Our tax dollars are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, making the cost of plastics artificially low and encouraging further plastics production. I will spend 10 minutes learning about oil subsidies and how I can advocate for their elimination.

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.

Globally, packaging manufacturers make about $25 billion each year on plastic beauty and personal care packaging. That's a whole lot of plastic - nearly all of which ends up in landfills. When it's time to buy more, I will replace my beauty products with refillable, sustainable, and/or DIY options.

I will hang-dry my laundry to use the sun as a natural bleach alternative, or use another natural bleach alternative.

Does your savings account, retirement account, or investment account support the fossil fuel (and plastics) industry? This month, I will spend 15 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.

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!

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 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!).

To extend the life of my ink cartridges, I will set my printer default to draft mode to use less ink or toner per print job.

When I'm ordering takeout, I will bring my own containers for the restaurant to fill.

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.

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

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.

I will swap out my cat's litter for sawdust, mulch, or dirt with baking soda.

In the UK, the average person creates 512kg (1,129lbs) of waste in the bathroom over the course of their lifetime - 50% of which ends up in a landfill. As they run out, I will replace my soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and lotions with sustainable, unpackaged, or refillable options.