Plastic Free Living
The challenge ends July 31. The habits you built this month are just getting started.
July A challenge
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August A routine
With July winding down, a quiet thought sneaks up on almost everyone who took on the Plastic Free July challenge: okay... can I go back to normal now? It is an honest question. Challenges have finish lines. That is what makes them work. For 31 days you had a reason to say no to the plastic bag, to remember the reusable cup, to try a new plastic free swap. But when the calendar flips to August, the challenge energy fades and the old defaults are waiting right where you left them, on the shelf at the store, priced to tempt you back.
Here is the thing though. The plastic problem still persists. And the swaps you spent a month testing? Most of them are not sacrifices you endured. They are upgrades you discovered. The goal now is simple: stop treating plastic free like a month and start treating it like the new normal.
You did not spend 31 days giving things up. You spent 31 days finding out what you never needed in the first place.
Why Most People Quit in August (and How to Not Be Most People)
The research on habit formation is remarkably consistent: habits stick when they are easy, automatic, and tied to things you already do. Challenges fail to become habits for the opposite reasons. They rely on motivation, willpower, and a countdown, all three of which might just expire with the end of the Plastic Free July Challenge.
So the trick to making plastic free permanent is not more motivation. It is removing the need for motivation entirely. That means three shifts:
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From decisions to defaults. In July, every swap was a choice. In August, the swap should just be the new normal from what lives in your shower, on your sink, and under your kitchen counter. When the plastic free option is the only option in the house, there is nothing to decide.
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From all at once to room by room. Trying to hold your whole home to a standard is exhausting. Locking in one room at a time is not. Finish a room, forget about it, move on.
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From restocking to refilling. The moment a product runs out is the moment old habits sneak back in. A refill system closes that door before it opens. Make sure to stock up when things are getting low so you don't have to grab for convenience when you run out and don't have your backup ready.
Let's walk the house.
Room One
The Bathroom: Your Highest Impact Room
The average bathroom is a plastic museum. Toothpaste tubes, floss containers, shampoo bottles, body wash bottles, disposable razors. It is also the easiest room to convert completely, because every single item has a bottle free or plastic free version that works as well or better.
If you tried toothpaste tablets in July, you already know the drill: chew, brush, done, and the amber glass jar on your counter never becomes a crumpled tube in a landfill. Pair them with mouthwash tablets, refillable dental floss, and a tongue scraper and your entire oral care routine is plastic free for good. In the shower, shampoo and conditioner bars outlast two to three bottles of the liquid stuff each. Pair with a reusable shower pouf + solid soap bar to complete the routine.
Make it stick: when your supplies run low, refill instead of rebuying. Our toothpaste tablet 3 month refill pouches pour straight into the jar you already own. Refill > Landfill.
Room Two
The Kitchen: Where Single Use Hides in Plain Sight
Kitchens leak plastic through the small stuff: cling wrap, sponge multipacks, dish soap bottles, produce bags. None of it feels like much in the moment, which is exactly why it adds up to so much over a year.
The permanent kitchen runs on solids and reusables. A dishwashing soap bar replaces bottle after bottle of liquid dish soap and cuts through grease just as hard. Compostable eco sponges and wooden dish brushes replace the plastic scrubbers that shed microplastics into your sink. And our plant based wax wraps, reusable and plastic-free, take over for cling wrap on leftovers, produce, and snacks.
Make it stick: do a five minute drawer audit this week. Anything single use goes on a "do not rebuy" list. You are not throwing things out, you are just deciding now, using it up and deciding to never rebuy the single-use-plastic.
Room Three
Laundry and Cleaning: The Bottles Nobody Thinks About
Detergent jugs and cleaning spray bottles are some of the bulkiest plastic in the house, and because they last weeks, they escape the scrutiny we give daily items. They are also some of the easiest to eliminate.
Laundry detergent sheets dissolve completely and ship in paper. A stain remover stick handles spot treatment without a plastic spray bottle. Toilet bowl cleaning sheets do the same for cleaning your toilets. And a single bottle of concentrated castile soap dilutes into counter spray, floor cleaner, hand soap, and about a dozen other jobs, which means one refill replaces a whole cabinet of products.
Make it stick: wait for each conventional product to run out, then replace it with the plastic free version. No waste, no big shopping trip, and within a couple of months the room converts itself.
A Note From Us
If you slipped up in July, or skipped the Plastic Free July Challenge entirely, none of this is off the table. We say it constantly because we mean it: progress, not perfection. A household that eliminates 50% of its plastic forever does far more good than one that goes 100% plastic free for a month and quits.
August is not the end of the challenge. It is the beginning of the part that actually matters. The lifestyle.
The Refill Loop
Every abandoned habit dies the same way: the product runs out, life is busy, and the old version is right there. So the single most powerful thing you can do in August is set up a system where running out is not a decision point.
That is exactly what refills are for. Your amber glass jars, your soap dispensers, your floss container... they stay. Only the product inside gets replenished, in compostable or paper packaging. Subscribe to the things you use daily, like toothpaste tablets or floss, and the plastic free version simply shows up before the plastic version ever gets a chance to argue its case.
It is a small shift with an outsized effect. You are no longer someone trying to stay plastic free. You are just someone whose house works that way.
Keep the Streak Going
Every Me Mother Earth product is vegan, Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free, and designed to arrive at your door plastic free, in July, in August, and every month after. Stock your routine once and let it run.
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