There are 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste on Earth. David Attenborough as warned us that “the oceans are under threat now as never before in human history”.

If you watched Blue Planet II, you will have been moved by the tragic and destructive impact plastic is having on marine life.

Eliminating plastic is not going to happen overnight but we can all make some changes to help our planet.

Swap a bottle of shower gel for a bar of soap

Bathrooms are often full of single-use plastic bottles and tubs of lotions and potions. Instead of bottles of shower gel, why not swap to a solid bar of soap which are often made with natural ingredients and come without the plastic packaging?

Make your own cleaning products

Cleaning products can be harmful to the environment and they also tend to come in plastic packaging. Making your own cleaning product can eliminate both problems. Mixing 1 part vinegar and three parts water makes a great multi-purpose cleaning spray.

Use plastic-free brushes

Kitchen sponges with scouring pads shed microplastic so they are not very eco-friendly but there are plastic free alternatives available such as wooden dish brushes and biodegradable dish scrubbers.

Don’t use plastic bags

A single plastic bag can take 1000 years to degrade and they often end up in our oceans, damaging marine life and the food chain. Reusable canvas bags are environmentally sound and longer lasting.

Store your sandwiches in tupperware

Replace your sandwich bags with reusable containers. Not only will this go some way towards saving the environment, it will also save you pennies because you won’t need to buy sandwich bags anymore.

Buy a travel mug

Instead of buying disposable takeaway coffees and bottles of water at a few pounds a pop, invest instead in a travel mug or flask which you can reuse each day.

Swap your laundry detergent

Avoid buying laundry detergent in plastic bottles or boxes. It is also available in cardboard boxes which is not only friendly to the environment but friendly to your bank balance too.

Drink loose leaf tea

Plastic can even be found in your brew. Polypropylene is a sealing plastic which makes sure teabags don’t fall apart in the box or in your cup. It only takes a small amount to seal the bag but, in the UK,, we Brits gulp down 160 million cups of tea every day – that is a lot of plastic. However, loose leaf tea has one tenth the carbon footprint of teabags and does not usually use plastic packaging. All you need is a teapot and an infuser.