Plastic Free July is a month long challenge to try and go without single use plastics. This can be anything from take away containers, coffee cups, and straws to party decorations, make up, and skincare.

It can be overwhelming thinking about how to help the environment and lessen our impact, but each individual choice no matter how small can have a huge impact on the planet, like being aware of how much plastic we are using and intentionally seeing if we can reduce it.

Beyond recycling, that can look like:
Refusing plastic bags when offered
Remembering to take things like your KeepCup or stainless steel straw out with you
Re-using plastic you already have
Reducing the amount of plastic items you buy – like skincare in glass bottles rather than plastic!

Making a conscious change doesn’t have to feel like a burden, and it’s challenges like Plastic Free July that can bring more awareness to how much plastic we see in our lives. Take the beauty industry for example – most items come in plastic packaging and most people will go through tubes, bottles, pots, jars and bottles at least once a month.

Did you know that globally, the packaging industry for beauty and personal care products, which primarily reflects plastic packaging, makes up nearly $25 billion in sales in the US? That’s a lot of money on something that we see time and again pollute our oceans and waterways.

When The Botanical Store first opened, our founder Kim wanted to create a space where being more eco-minded was simple, fun and easy. Which is why we use amber glass jars and bottles that are refillable. When you come into store you can pick out the size you’d like, as well as the scent, and when you’ve finished you can bring the empty bottle or jar back in and we can refill it!

We hand-make our natural deodorants as well and blend our oils and teas in store – the process is very transparent and our ingredients are simple, organic and as close to nature as possible.

As Kim said in her recent interview in Sowing Seeds magazine “We’re fed the message that natural doesn’t work as well as chemical based formulations but with skincare that is definitely not true. Plant oils and essential oils are incredibly nourishing and have amazing benefits that can treat a whole range of skin conditions. We don’t need the extra chemicals, fancy formulations and the 20 different product types that the beauty industry tells us we do.”

Start with one thing and build on that. Keeping it simple and fun is what makes it easy.