Refill your own container with bulk items. It reduces plastic and I think it saves you money, too!
Join the #5DayChallenge to reuse. World Refill Day is June 16, but let’s make reuse a habit all week long and beyond.
Choose a new reusable plastic-free swap each day or stick with one that works for you. Whether it’s refilling your coffee cup, reusing containers for takeaway food, or shopping packaging-free options—every swap counts.
What is World Refill Day? World Refill Day is a global awareness day spearheaded by City to Sea, an award-winning UK-based environmental charity working to stop plastic pollution at source. The day asks individuals, businesses, and policymakers to choose reuse over single-use, whether that means refilling a water bottle, bringing a reusable cup to the coffee shop, or shopping at a packaging-free store. It sits alongside the Refill app, which now lists hundreds of thousands of free water refill points across more than 30 countries.
But FIFA just decided late last week to no longer allow any reusable water bottles at World Cup stadiums, so sports fans can’t beat the heat without resorting to wasteful disposable plastic bottles.1
Access to water is critical to fans’ comfort and safety — especially in sweltering summer weather. And spectators should be able to stay hydrated without producing plastic waste that will stick around as pollution for centuries.
FIFA had originally said that some types of reusable bottles would be allowed, before suddenly reversing course.2
It’s a move that will only create more plastic trash at a time when plastic pollution is already out of control. Every 16 hours, Americans throw out enough plastic to fill a sports stadium up to the brim.3
Every disposable plastic bottle we use and toss has the potential to pollute our environment and even threaten our health.
A lot of the plastic we throw away ends up in landfills, where it can break down into tiny, polluting particles and leach harmful chemicals into our soil and water.4
And some is incinerated — a process that emits toxic chemicals into the air. Air pollution from burning plastic can emit chemicals known to cause cancer, reproductive harm, birth defects and other health problems.5
Why pollute our world and risk our health with disposable plastic bottles, when a reusable solution is right in front of us?
Allowing reusable water bottles in stadiums is the right thing to do. Add your name and ask FIFA to allow reusable bottles.
Some sports stadiums have already demonstrated that allowing fans to bring their own reusable bottles is a safe, simple way to prevent pollution.
Every World Cup spectator should be able to do the same.
1. Scott Thompson, “FIFA bans refillable water bottles from World Cup stadiums despite original rules stating otherwise,” Fox News, June 4, 2026. 2. Scott Thompson, “FIFA bans refillable water bottles from World Cup stadiums despite original rules stating otherwise,” Fox News, June 4, 2026. 3. Celeste Meiffren-Swango and James Horrox, “Trash in America,” PIRG, December 9, 2025. 4. “Plastic planet: How tiny plastic particles are polluting our soil,” United Nations Environment Programme, last accessed April 28, 2026. 5. Celeste Meiffren-Swango, James Horrox, Grace Vickers & Carol Li, “”Chemical recycling”: What you need to know,” PIRG, July 14, 2025.
Below is from the Plastic Pollution Coalition: Plastic “recycling” is a false solution to plastic pollution. How do we know this? Since the 1970s, businesses making and selling plastic, governments, and some organizations have overwhelmingly told the public that it is essential to recycle plastic. Recycling messages have been communicated to us across all types of media and in many different ways: in advertising campaigns, imprinted recycling symbols on plastic products, and much more. Yet, despite this major push for recycling plastic, plastic pollution and its toxic impacts continue to grow. There is plenty of evidence that plastic recycling is not only failing to live up to its promises, it is also making plastic pollution worse. In contrast, by focusing on plastic-free reuse, we can tap into a solution that ends wastefulness at the source.
Recycled Plastics Are Toxic
How can an activity we’ve been told is right actually be wrong? Turns out, plastics were never designed to be recycled. “The future of plastic is in the trash can,” one packaging industry executive said at a plastic industry meeting in 1956—not in the recycling bin. In other words, plastic was designed to be wasted, despite the heavy toll that its full existence—from the extraction of fossil fuels to plastic’s eventual disposal in landfills, incinerators, or the environment—has on people and the planet.
Plastics are Not “Circular”
Today, the plastic and fossil fuel industries continue to perpetuate the myth that plastics are recyclable by promoting the idea of “plastics circularity”—that plastics can somehow be reused endlessly without creating harmful costs. But this idea is false: Plastic recycling as it is today is harmful and cannot be considered “circular,” because plastic recycling processes continue to drive plastic pollution and its dangerous and toxic impacts—including the climate crisis, environmental injustice, chemical pollution, and more. And while we may need to engage in some kinds of recycling of the less toxic plastics we already have in order to mitigate plastic pollution, recycling on its own cannot be seen as the sole solution to plastic pollution. Instead, recycling must be coupled with a drastic reduction in plastic production in order to be more helpful than harmful.
“Recycled” Plastics are Actually Downcycled
Additionally, even when plastics are recycled, they are most often “downcycled,” or made into items of lesser value and quality (like turning plastic water bottles into plastic fleece jackets or carpet fiber), and continue to cause considerable pollution. When collected for traditional “mechanical” recycling, plastics must be sorted by color and type, washed, and shredded up. These processes burn large amounts of fossil fuel energy–emitting chemicals and greenhouse gases, waste and contaminate water, and create microplastics and nanoplastics. The small plastic particles are then melted down, and manufacturers must mix in a large amount of newly made (virgin) plastic and/or toxic additives to restore some of its useful properties. Recycling increases the toxicity of plastic; there are hundreds of additional toxic chemicals, including pesticides and pharmaceuticals, in recycled plastic. And that’s in addition to the mix of more than 16,000 chemicals in newly made plastic.
“Recycled” Plastic is Not Suitable for Food and Beverage Packaging
The toxicity of plastic and recycled plastic presents serious dangers to the environment and public health, and drives environmental injustices. Research has indicated that recycled plastic is not suitable for many uses, particularly when it comes to packaging of food and beverages, as it contains a wide range of dangerous chemicals. Drink bottles made of recycled plastic are even more contaminated than drink bottles made of virgin (new) plastic, and these chemicals easily leach into the beverages they contain.
Plastics Create Environmental Injustice
Today, most plastic that is discarded as “waste” is never recycled. The global waste industry is more likely to landfill, incinerate, or ship plastic—often to the Global South—where plastic is dumped and sometimes open-burned, driving pollution and injustice as waste colonialism. Meanwhile, these industries only continue to increase plastic production, worsening plastic pollution.
Communities near plastic recycling sorting centers, often called materials recovery facilities (MRFs), and recycling plants are often the most underserved, and face increased risks to their health. People who find employment by picking through plastic pollution as part of the informal waste sector, who often live in the Global South, face serious health hazards and poor working conditions. Plastic recycling infrastructure and activities can cause polluted air, soil, and drinking water; bring constant truck, train, or barge traffic as well as scavenger animals who are attracted to eating waste; and there are often fires or intake of radioactive and other hazardous materials.
We need to do more to protect our beautiful planet!
Mother Earth, we love you.
Our Earth is so beautiful, especially in May! On Mother’s day we should be thankful for our mothers’, but also for our Mother Earth
Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, have affected millions of people. If we all do one thing like stop idling our cars or driving less, we can make a difference!
There are so many wars going on. We need to stop all this destruction which has such a negative effect of people and planet!
Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet.
Everyone needs to play a part in protecting our planet. We need to buy less plastic junk, we need to drive less, and plant native plants. We need to expose ourselves and our Earth to less harmful chemicals. These things protect our health and the health of our planet. Protecting clean water and clean air need to be priorities. Everything else relates to that!
Plant bee balm, purple cone flowers, blazing star and rudbeckia. They attract pollinators and need no chemicals!
This is from the Story of Stuff. I hope you will give it some thought and make thoughtful purchases for the holidays and all year. “This time of year, the pressure to buy more — and waste more — is everywhere. Black Friday doorbusters, holiday flash sales, limited-time offers: overconsumption during the holidays isn’t an accident. It’s by design.
And the consequences are massive. Americans generate 25% more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s — an extra one million tons of trash every week. From impulse purchases tossed by January, to mountains of packaging, the holiday season has become a pipeline of extraction, production, shipping, and disposal.
What we rarely see are the impacts hidden upstream. Most of a product’s environmental footprint happens long before it reaches your door — through rapid mining of raw materials, energy-intensive manufacturing, and global shipping emissions that fuel the climate crisis.
Fast fashion hauls and holiday overbuying only accelerate the damage. Every second, a garbage truck’s worth of clothing is landfilled or burned. Electronics, toys, gadgets, and seasonal “stuff” flood into toxic e-waste dumps around the world.” Story of Stuff
Trying to be more climate friendly with gift giving this year? This holiday gifting guide will help you get in the spirit while saving you money and deepening the meaningfulness of your holiday season.
On July 24, we had used all the resources that the Earth can generate in a year. We are using more resources than we can replace, or living on borrowed time. The day we want to reach is December 31.
How can we use ;ess resources
From the Carbon Almanac. On July 24 we hit Earth Overshoot Day for 2025. Earth Overshoot Day is noted every year and the date is announced on World Environment Day. It marks the day when “humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services … exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year”. Global Footprint Network, a research organization focused on the operation of the human economy within the Earth’s ecological limits, hosts and calculates when Earth Overshoot Day will occur, with this year showing that humanity is using the planet’s resources 80% faster than ecosystems can regenerate. July 24 is the earliest in the year that Earth Overshoot Day has fallen, with past dates going back to 1971. In those 54 years, humanity reached its overshoot day on December 31 once, in 1972.
Calculations for overshoot day are based on the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, and this year’s calculations revealed that due to the ocean’s reduced capacity to store carbon, an increase in per capita Footprint and a reduced per capita biocapacity, Earth Overshoot Day fell eight days earlier than it did in 2024. In addition to Earth Overshoot Day, Country Overshoot Days are also calculated each year, seen here. These dates represent when the planet’s ecological resource budget would be used up if every place on Earth consumed at the same level as residents in that particular country.
A campaign working to reduce the strain on the Earth’s resources and bring humanity’s consumption into better balance is #MoveTheDate. The goal is to move the date of Earth Overshoot Day to December 31 or later every year, ensuring that the resources taken from the planet can be sustainability regenerated by the ecosystems. Solutions range across five major areas: planet, cities, energy, food and population. This solutions map tracks solutions being implemented across the world. Check it out to see if there are any near you.
Visit the Earth Overshoot Day website to learn more about how it is calculated, as well as the economic and ecological implications of humanity’s continued overuse of resources.
My Five things you can do:
Strive for zero waste–Reuse, Reuse, Reuse and Refuse!
Drive Less
Reduce your plastic footprint–No single use plastic!
Plant native plants and raingardens without chemicals!
We are in a climate crisis, a waste crisis, and a plastic crisis. The last thing we need is for people to purchase more landfill junk. Everyone has a right to clean water and clean air. Buying less stuff, and producing less waste helps keep our water and air clean.
Purchase items of quality and things you really need this holiday. Also, become aware of the plastic that you send to the landfill.
Zero Waste is moving from our throw-away and overconsumption culture to a more sustainable way of reusing and refusing.
Food waste in landfills produces harmful methane gas.
The EPA reports that garbage increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Here are new ways to reduce your waste.
Six ideas to help you reduce your plastic this Thanksgiving from my friends at Beyond Plastic
1. Choose Scratch Over Store-Bought
Most store-bought dishes from supermarkets and restaurants will be packaged in plastic containers. To avoid the unnecessary plastic, focus on cooking from scratch. Ingredients like vegetables, flour, butter, and nuts can be commonly found in non-plastic packaging. For items like nuts and dried fruits, see if your local market, co-op or health food store has a bulk section and bring your own bags to fill up! When faced with a choice of packaging, choose glass or paper over plastic. If you’re looking for inspiration, see our (newly expanded) recipe suggestions below.
2. Shop Local
Shopping locally not only reduces your meal’s carbon footprint, but you can bring your own bags and containers and you’re less likely to encounter plastic packaging than at your grocery store. Small businesses also need our support more than ever during the pandemic. Give your community your thanks by supporting each other!
If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie from scratch, check your local bakery. While you’re there, pick up the bread you’ll need to make your stuffing and bring it all home in your reusable bags. Visit your local farmers market to pick up potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, greens, and more. If your farmers market is closed for the season, many CSAs (community supported agriculture) also offer a special one-time Thanksgiving share of goodies to anyone, even if you’re not a subscriber.
3. Use Sustainable Decor
Forget the dollar store, make the perfect fall decor for your table setting with things from your backyard and local farm stand. Pressed leaves and pumpkins make for great wall and table adornments! Check out some DIY ideas here. And don’t forget to get the kids involved!
4. Serve on Reusable Dishes & Dinnerware
Plastic utensils and cups end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways where they can pose a threat to wildlife. Set your table with a beautiful tablecloth, ceramic or metal plates, cups, serving platters, metal utensils (got a set of silverware from your parents or grandparents you can bust out?), and cloth napkins. This can also include glass pitchers or bottles for drinks. If your family enjoys seltzer, consider investing in a SodaStream or other carbonation machine (tip: choose the model that comes with glass bottles over plastic). If you have kids, assign them the task of polishing silver—they may find it deeply satisfying. Sticking to reusables only will not only reduce your waste but also save you money. Get family or friends to help wash anything delicate that can’t go in the dishwasher and toss all your cloth items in the washing machine afterwards. No muss, no fuss, and, more importantly, no WASTE.
5. Provide or Bring Reusable Containers for Leftovers
Going to family or friend’s home for dinner? Bring your own glass or metal containers to cart home some delicious leftovers. There are also some great beeswax-coated fabric wraps out there these days that can take the place of plastic wrap or tinfoil. If you are hosting the dinner, remind guests to bring reusable containers with them. If you have extras to spare (say from all those take-out containers you saved during COVID lockdown), you can offer them to guests who’ve forgotten to bring their own. If you haven’t yet invested in glass or metal containers, don’t let that stop you – just bring plastic tupperware or clean yogurt containers, etc., but make sure not to heat anything up in those containers later to avoid the chemical leaching that occurs when hot food comes into contact with plastic. If you do use aluminum foil, when you’re done, don’t forget to gently clean and dry it and save it to use again.
6. Compost!
Compost any scraps from cooking or leftovers that aren’t being saved, as well as any compostable decor you’ve put up or used on the table once you tire of it. Reminder, if your Thanksgiving dinner includes a turkey, make stock out of the carcass before you compost it—you can make an excellent, very flavorful turkey soup or freeze it for months. If you’re not sure what can and can’t be composted, check out this helpful list. If you don’t have a backyard compost, see if your city or town has a local composting system. If they don’t, look into how to start one. HINT: This could be a great project for a Beyond Plastics Local Group or Affiliate to take on.
Plastic is a problem not just because it becomes litter but because it poses a real and immediate threat to human health. We must reduce the plastic we consume! Please sign the petition below from Earthday.org
Please sign the petition calling for a strong global plastics treaty
Plastics have a huge impact on human health, leaching harmful chemicals into our food, water, and air leading to hormonal issues,2 increased cancers risks,3 and developmental issues.4 As the plastics breakdown into micro and nano-plastics they are able to penetrate every aspect of our lives and their production pumps emissions directly into the atmosphere further exacerbating the climate crisis.5 That’s why Earth Day 2024’s theme is Planet vs. Plastics, which we believe embodies the struggle we all face for human and planetary health. We must demand action from world leaders to address the issue. The Global Plastics Treaty is the first step to united global action6 — but we need to make sure that they commit to effective measures instead of just do lip service. Please sign the petition calling for a strong Global Plastics Treaty. SIGN NOW
As with any international treaty, success is impossible without strict enforcement and commitment by participating countries.
Here are our demands to the United Nations and World Government Organizations:
-Support a highly ambitious Global Plastic Treaty that binds all to the same standards -A 60% of reduction of all fossil fuel-based plastic production by 2040 -Require producers and retailers of plastics to be liable for the cost of any environmental or health-related damages in accordance with the “producer pays” principle -Public and private sector investments in innovation to replace all fossil fuel-based plastics -Ban all plastic-related tobacco products including, but not limited to tobacco filters and e-cigarettes -Ban the export of plastic waste -End the incineration of plastic waste -Support innovative solutions and alternatives to plastic in all sectors -Fully finance education and public awareness campaigns to inform the public about reasons and strategies for ending plastic pollution
Plastic pollutes our Earth and is harmful to our health!
Plastic is made from fossil fuels with many toxic chemicals added.
This post has nothing to do with Greenpeace. I liked this logo
If plastic were a country it would be the 5th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Plastic pollutes our planet at every stage of its life, it also causes disease and death.
Plastic is made from fossil fuels and also toxic chemicals. Many thousands of unregulated chemicals are added to make plastic soft, hard; fire resistant or whatever chemicals are needed to create the plastic product. These harmful chemicals leach into the food and drinks of the products they package.
Just knowing this about plastic do you really want to package your food or drinks in it? Not only is plastic leaching into our food, but it is also shedding particles everywhere. These particles, called microfibers, can be found every place on Earth and these microfibers carry with them the toxic plastic chemicals contained in plastic. Many of us consume a credit card of plastic particles a week.
More bad news about plastic! Plastic is difficult to recycle. All the chemicals and different types of plastic make it hard to recycle and hard to turn into new markets. Recycling plastic makes it more toxic. Only about 5 to 9 percent of all the plastic produced has ever been recycled.
Every person on our planet needs to reduce their dependence on plastic, most of all our children. We don’t know what the long-term effects will be, but many of the chemical additives in plastic are known to cause cancer and other serious diseases. PFAS, phthalates and bisphenols and many others, added to plastic, should be taken seriously, and the producers and manufacturers of plastic need to be held responsible for the harm they contribute to our health and our planet.
Please sign this petition calling for the US to join the Global Plastics Treaty encouraging the White House to commit to end the production and sale of single-use plastics, combat plastic pollution, and require producers and retailers of plastics to be liable for the cost of any environmental or health-related damages.
Most important, start this moment to reduce your plastic exposure/ footprint.
Always carry a reusable glass or metal water bottle, and reusable shopping bags with you.
Learn to refuse single-use plastics, such as plastic water bottles and coffee cups, straws, plastic bags and plastic utensils.
Purchase fruit and produce in the bulk section, and don’t place items in plastic bags.
Always search out products in glass jars instead of plastic containers.
When you must buy plastic products, choose ones that you can recycle rather than ones you must put in the trash.
Bring your own containers and shop the bulk section of your local food coop.
Please sign the petition calling for the US to join the Global Plastics Treaty, you can help encourage the United States to end the production and sale of single-use plastics by 2030, introduce measures to combat plastic pollution by regulating the entire life cycle of plastic, and requiring producers and retailers of plastics to be liable for the cost of any environmental or health-related damages.
#5DayChallenge to reuse.
Choose a new reusable plastic-free swap each day or stick with one that works for you. Whether it’s refilling your coffee cup, reusing containers for takeaway food, or shopping packaging-free options—every swap counts.
Health4earth 