This July saw the annual celebration of the globally recognised and practised Plastic Free July - with over 2 million people taking part in the challenge of changing the way they use plastic in their day to day lives. From simple, small-scale hacks such as changing lunchtime dieting habits and swapping single-use plastic straws for environmentally-friendly paper straw alternatives, to large-scale beach clean up expeditions, July saw all of this and more in its bid to become the most plastic-free and eco-friendly month of the year. 

There’s no reason, however, why this brilliantly sustainable concept shouldn’t be maintained and further explored - well throughout the summer and autumn months and into winter and spring - within your own business. Whether you’re a cafe owner looking to get rid of plastic takeaway cups in favour of re-usable coffee cup alternatives, or a retailer who’s finally had your fill of plastic waste cluttering up your stockroom, at R+R Packaging, we’re here to prove that reducing your business’s plastic is easier than you may think. 

Let’s look back...

Since Plastic Free July’s inception in the summer of 2011, businesses all of over the world have begun changing the way they view plastic in a bid to encourage their customers to do the same. 

In 2015, a supermarket in Australia chose to reduce the amount of plastic food waste that their customers would be able to contribute to by supplying many of their shelves with long-life food products, eliminating the plastic packaging of fresher substitutes. Alongside this, the store ensured their customers were equipped with the right knowledge and plastic-free products - such as reusable steel straws, biodegradable cups and other environmentally-friendly packaging - to minimise their plastic-footprint in shops elsewhere. 

What can I do?

For coffee shops

If your business relies on the thirst for cold morning coffee or summertime fruit juice from tired, early morning office workers, then take-away, biodegradable cups offer the perfect solution to your business’s plastic-free mission.

Our paper cups, held in biodegradable carry trays, ensure that plastic misuse is significantly reduced in your establishment. Coupled with novelty edible straws, your customers are invited to see the fun side to going plastic-free in an effort to help them curb their own plastic habits.

For the office

While environmentally-friendly packaging wouldn’t be out of place in a cafe environment, who’s to say this can’t be implemented in an office space? Improve your office-based business by ridding your water tank of disposable plastic cups, and supplying your employees with biodegradable or wooden stationery tools. 

If you can’t commit to regular plastic reductions in your office, why not boost team spirit by hosting a monthly or quarterly CEO-clean up in your kitchen? Invite your colleagues to bring in their own lunch instead of buying one-use plastically packaged lunchtime snacks and watch as their CEO cleans up their dirty - but environmentally sustainable - dishes after them.

For lunchtime hot spots

If your business sells quick, ready-made lunchtime meals to workers who are constantly on the go, you’ll know the importance of having your food freshly kept in a suitable container that allows your customers to run off with their tasty goods. 

Swap your plastic bags for paper sacks, get rid of your plastic pasta boxes and replace them with cardboard packaging alternatives and pop a paper recycling bin by the door, in a bid to decrease the amount of plastic waste your lunchtime den produces, all while encouraging those who visit to follow by example.

After the recent emergence of the shocking images showing a ‘sea of plastic’ off the coast of the idyllic Caribbean island, Roatan, never has there been a better time to get involved in the fight against plastic than right now. Whether you’re thinking of integrating paper straws into the environmentally-friendly packaging of your best-selling smoothie, or confiscating plastic rulers and 99p pens for wooden and biodegradable alternatives, when it comes to transforming your business to plastic-free, it’s the little things that count. Check out our range of environmentally-friendly, plastic-free packaging, today.