This morning, I woke up. I looked at my plastic watch and changed out of my plastic pyjamas.

I had a shower standing in a plastic bath, washed my hair with shampoo from a plastic bottle. Then I cleaned my teeth with a plastic toothbrush and toothpaste from a plastic tube.

I fed my daughter breakfast from a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon with her plastic bib in her plastic highchair. There were some leftovers so these were covered with plastic cling wrap.

And the story of plastic domination continued for the rest of the day.

Everything for babies seems to be made of plastic and that’s the worst thing. We’re exposing them to a product which didn’t even exist a century ago (the first fully synthetic plastic was invented in 1907).

Plastic is EVERYWHERE. It seems to breed. Tupperware, baby toys, toothbrushes, coffee makers, water bottles, takeaway containers, plastic bags, packaging… The thought of reducing its presence in our lives is overwhelming. So like the rest of this project, we will have to focus on one step at a time.

Luckily, it is not a groundbreaking adventure. Plenty of Eco Crusaders before us have embarked on a journey to eliminate plastic from their life. Below are a couple of sites to provide extra inspiration.

In the USA, the plastic free ‘movement’ is quite strong. My Plastic Free Life (USA) is a blog by Beth Terry. She started it in 2007 after realising what a huge plastic footprint we are all creating. I’ve got her book (which is fully compostable) on my Christmas wish list.

Annemieke from The Netherlands began a blog, Plasticminimalism in 2013 to recount her journey towards less plastic waste. In 2014, she created  Plastic Free Tuesday to try and encourage others to reduce their plastic consumption on one day a week. Follow the Plastic Free Tuesday intstagram account to get tips on ways to cut back on plastics.

In Western Australia, there is a growing trend to have a Plastic Free July which I hope to join in 2016.

In the meantime, I took my first step towards reducing plastic in my life last week by purchasing some bamboo toothbrushes from The Environmental Toothbrush company!