If there is one person you want to teach you about giving up plastic, it’s the Head of Oceans at Greenpeace UK, Will McCallum.

He starts the book with a shocking story of Greenpeace discovering plastic contamination in the Antarctic, a place with no permanent inhabitants, which means there are is no place on Earth that hasn’t been affected and that we all share collective responsibility for the matter.

So what can we do about it and why do we need to bother?

He provides you with detailed and useful advice on how to banish plastic from your life step by step and how to use your voice as a consumer to influence companies and manufacturers to improve their ways. The book is highly informative, easy to read and won’t take much of your time. I highly recommend it.

However, if you are really short on time and don’t think you will find a few hours to get through it, I’d like to quote you Will’s Top Five Steps for Getting Rid of Plastic.

1. “Go on a plastic-free shopping spree. Who would have thought in a book about reducing the amount of waste we produce the top advice for getting rid of plastic was to go and buy a few things? Essential items for a plastic-free life include: a nice water bottle, a reusable coffee cup, a tote bag (or even just a backpack) for your shopping, a lunch box and some kitchen storage containers.
2. Go on a plastic-free purge. Start in your bathroom, work your way to the bedroom and then into the kitchen. Have a look at ingredients lists on the back of your cosmetic products to check there aren’t any microbeads; empty your cupboards of single-use plastic straws and cutlery. Don’t know what to do with it all? You could always send it back to whoever you bought it from with a message that, in your household, single-use plastic is no longer welcome.
3. Do some plastic-free preaching. All of us are way more likely to take advice if it comes from our friends and family, rather than just reading about it in a book or watching it on the television. Pass on handy tips to your friends and neighbours. Spread the good news that a plastic-free life is easier than they think, and every little bit helps.
4. Make some plastic-free plans. It’s true that getting rid of plastic takes a bit of planning. Use a rainy day to sit down and work out which shops near you already use less plastic. Do you have a local greengrocer that lets you pack your fruit and veg however you want? If there are only fast-food outlets near your place of work, spend some time making food for a week of packed lunches. Start thinking about your plastic-free routine and write it down in your diary.
5. Start you own plastic-free campaign. Go out in your neighbourhood and see what businesses are using too much plastic, and which ones are the local champions. Talk to business owners about what they could be doing to use less plastic. Why do they only use plastic cutlery and single-use coffee cups? Have they ever thought about using cardboard trays instead of styrofoam? Ask your friends to join you in asking these businesses to change their ways – after all, the customer is always right!”

For more advice, information and details, please do get the book – I’m finding my copy a bit hard to part with as I’m coming back to it every now and then, but eventually I would surely give it to someone else to spread the word.