This summer, Fashion Takes Action invites you to reduce plastic waste and support our environmental education fundraiser at the same time! Take the #PlasticFreeJuly Challenge, or set your family and friends up for a #ZeroWasteSummer by shopping online with our partner, Givalry. We aim to raise $4000, which will bring our programs to 600 students in Toronto and southern Ontario.
The first step is to refuse single-use plastic. The next step is to make smart swaps for those items by making or purchasing alternative products that are much healthier for the planet. That is where Givalry comes in. When you buy your smart swaps from the amazing brands on Givalry through this FTA campaign link, 25% of every purchase will go towards our student subsidy fund for next school year. These grades 4-12 students will be learning about reducing fashion waste with our 7Rs of Fashion framework.
Together we can decrease plastic waste, enjoy a #ZeroWasteSummer, and support the next generation of sustainable fashion leaders! Sounds good, right?!
Why is plastic so bad?
Plastic is a material made to last forever, yet 33% of all plastic – water bottles, bags and straws – are used just once and thrown away. Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.
There are thousands of landfills in North America. Buried beneath each one of them, toxic chemicals from plastics drain out and seep into groundwater, flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
Only 8% of our plastic gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfill, is burned or becomes litter.
Chemicals in plastic which give them their rigidity or flexibility (flame retardants, bisphenols, phthalates and other harmful chemicals) are oily poisons that repel water and stick to petroleum-based objects like plastic debris. So, the toxic chemicals that leach out of plastics can accumulate on other plastics. This is a serious concern with increasing amounts of plastic debris accumulating in the world’s oceans.
Wildlife become entangled in plastic, they eat it or mistake it for food and feed it to their young, and it is found littered in even extremely remote areas of the Earth. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1.
Even plankton, the tiniest creatures in our oceans, are eating microplastics and absorbing their hazardous chemicals. The tiny, broken down pieces of plastic are displacing the algae needed to sustain larger sea life who feed on them.
Everything suffers: tourism, recreation, business, the health of humans, animals, fish and birds—because of plastic pollution. The financial damage continuously being inflicted is inestimable.
If these facts are not enough for you to break up with plastic, then we don’t know what is! To help you in your endeavour to reduce plastic waste, consider making zero waste swaps with Givalry — and support FTA’s My Clothes My World youth education program at the same time!
Every purchase you make on Givalry this summer (not just the zero waste purchases) will support our subsidy fund for schools in Toronto and southern Ontario that need extra financial support for environmental programming during the school year. Twenty five percent (25%) from the total in your shopping cart (using the customized link above) will go to this fund. There are many many schools in need so we need your help! Our goal is to raise $4000, which will allow us to reach 600 students!
And now here are some great alternatives to plastic products!
1. Stop using plastic shopping bags
According to research, somewhere between 5 billion and one trillion bags are used each year. And let’s be honest, these thin and easily rippable bags don’t have many uses. #PlasticFreeJuly is a great time to start using tote bags or reusable produce bags for your fruits, vegetables, and bulk products at the store.
2. Bring your own thermos to the coffee shop!
Coffee lovers, you can reduce your waste by taking your own to-go thermos to the coffee shop! While disposable coffee cups look like paper, they are actually lined with plastic resin. JOCO creates beautiful, barista-approved travel mugs that will keep your drink piping hot while reducing your single-use waste.
3. Make that time of the month waste-free
There are a lot of non-disposable options when it comes to decreasing period waste.
Replace your monthly feminine hygiene waste with the DivaCup: a reusable menstrual cup. This reduces a lot of plastic waste from packaging tampons and pads.
4. No more bottled water 
Plastic water bottles cause a lot of waste. Pick up a reusable S’well or S’ip water bottle at Givalry! Keep your drinks the same temperature for hours and avoid condensation with these fashionable bottles.
5. Brush your teeth – with bamboo!
Switch out your usual plastic toothbrush with a Brush with Bamboo alternative! Instead of filling up landfills, the bamboo handle of this toothbrush can be composited!
6. Re-think your food storage
Say goodbye to plastic baggies and plastic wrap! Wrap up your leftover food and cover open bowls or cans with Abeego, a reusable beeswax wrap that can be easily rinsed and reused for over a year. At the end of your Abeego’s life, it’s biodegradable!
7. Get rid of sponges!
Plastic sponges can get really gross after a couple of uses. Skoy’s fast-drying, dishwasher-safe scrubbers, cut down on plastic waste and make your kitchen more hygienic.
8. No more paper towels
Replace your paper towels with reusable Skoy cloths. One cloth can replace up to 15 rolls of paper towels, and at the end of its life, it can be composted.
Just select the items you’d like through this link givalry.support/fta-zero-waste and Givalry will GIVE BACK to Fashion Takes Action!! Your support will go a long way to grow the next generation of environmental leaders!
