Cheryl White

I will prepare my own pet food and/or treats to avoid plastic packaging.

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.

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.

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impacts of bioplastics and how to properly dispose of them in my city, and I will share this information with 4 friends, family, and/or colleagues.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Instead of buying new plastic highlighters, I will simply use colored pencils instead for all of my highlighting needs.