My personal #plasticfreejulychallenge: SodaStream vs. plastic bottles

Advertising in collaboration with SodaStream

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In my last post about how to add more sustainability to your everyday life I already wrote about the project „#plasticfreejuly“ challenge. Have you been able to implement your own #plasticfreejuly challenge and what measures have you been taking?

Personally, my challenge was to decrease plastic waste in my life and household, in particular something I use every day – plastic bottles. Did you know how horrifying the figures on plastic waste are in Germany?

• Every hour 1.8 million plastic bottles are being used
• That makes 43 million bottles each day
• Every year around 16 billion plastic bottles are being used
• On average every German uses 192 plastic bottles each year
• Nowadays plastic bottles are the most commonly used packaging when it comes to beverages and hold a market share of approx. 54 % per cent (source: dhu)

Wow, that is a lot of waste, right?

My parents used SodaStream when I was a child and I loved the concept back then already. You could produce your own sparkling water whenever you needed at the push of a button.

For me it was totally obvious that SodaStream will be my solution for my plastic bottle waste problem. Especially since SodaStream is now using glass bottles for the model Crystal 2.0 and was awarded a “very good” by Öko-Test.

And just to provide you some more facts:

• A SodaStream carbonation cylinder can produce up to 60 liters of sparking water. When the cylinder is empty it can be refilled and reused.
• By using one SodaStream bottle, around 2.000 bottles and cans are being saved per year.
• Freshly made sparkling water from tap water produces around 80% less greenhouse gas than store bought bottled water.

The use of the SodaStream Crystal 2.0 is just as simple as the use of other SodaStream models. Place the cylinder in the device, fill up your glass bottle with tap water and place it in the Crystal 2.0, lock it and use the button on top to add sparke to the water. No more carrying of heavy plastic bottles and you even reduce your very own “carbon footprint” in your household by decreasing plastic waste. In the SodaStream shop you can get the SodaStream model that is perfect for you. And if you want to add flavour to your sparkling water, you also find a huge range of syrups.

I also reduced other plastic waste in my household and will continue to try to use less plastic in general. The #plasticfreejuly challenge was a great opportunity to raise awareness of the plastic waste issue, but I believe that every month should become more #plasticfree.

I was just recently in Bali and did a day tour to Nusa Ceningang (you will find another Wanderlust blog post about it, no worries). I could not believe my eyes when I saw the huge plastic waste cluster in the ocean and I really did not feel like doing snorkelling at all anymore. You know I love the ocean and it is so important to me. So therefore it was sad to see this reality and how we destroy the ecosystem of the ocean by our way of living.

Just because we can’t see this issue in Germany we should not forget that it is happening – at beaches all around the world. Plastic waste is being washed onto the shore, animals eat plastic waste, because they mistake it for food. And in the end it is a vicious circle, because if you consume fish or fish products the plastic waste will be on your plate, if you like it or not. Unless you are vegan or vegetarian (I stopped eating fish before I turned became a veggie, just because of this).

I hope that you were able to make an impact in your own #plasticfreejuly challenge and thought about how you can decrease your plastic waste and become more sustainable for our environment. No matter if you use less plastic, make your own sparkling water like I do or attend beach cleanups. Most important is that you are doing something and start!

A Hawaiian quote says: if you change, the world changes. Kind of suitable right?

Mahalo and aloha from me – Malia