Sandra McAllister

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.

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.

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.

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.

There's value in our old electronics! This month, I will properly recycle any old laptops, tablets, cell phones, or other electronics I have lying around so the raw materials can be reused and reduce demand for virgin materials - thereby also protecting critical wildlife habitat for animals such as gorillas and forest elephants.

The chasing arrows symbol we associate with recycling doesn't always actually mean something is recyclable. I will spend at least 30 minutes learning the different meanings the symbol can have.

Single-use plastics are everywhere, but that wasn't always the case. I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about the history of single-use plastics and how it became ubiquitous in our daily lives.

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.

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!

Whether I'm at work, on the go, or having food delivered, I will keep 3 plastic cutlery out of the landfill per day by using my own reusable cutlery.

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.

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.

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.

I will plant an herb or vegetable garden using as little plastic as possible and to save from the plastic used buying herbs and veggies.

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.

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.

Each year, the International Coastal Cleanup reports that plastic straws and stirrers are one of the Top 10 most-collected items from their cleanups (top 5 in the US!). I will keep 2 plastic straws and/or stirrers out of the landfill each day by refusing straws or using my own reusable straw.

Bottled water corporations make plastic bottles, not water. If the tap water in my area is safe for consumption, I will use a reusable bottle instead and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 1 disposable plastic bottles a day.

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 numbers #1-7 on plastics tell us a lot - and can help us be better recyclers. I will learn what these numbers mean and which types of plastics are accepted for recycling in my area.

Does your savings account, retirement account, or investment account support the fossil fuel (and plastics) industry? This month, I will spend 60 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.

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 spend 30 minutes educating my family on the basics of living a reduced/no-plastic lifestyle.

Using the action resource links below, my family will spend 30 minutes learning about environmental justice, causes of environmental injustice, and how plastic waste disproportionately impacts already vulnerable communities.

Just because something is past its "expiration date," it might not actually be expired! I will spend 30 minutes learning about the difference between best by, use by, and sell by dates and how to tell if my food is actually expired.

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.