This Earth Day, Changing Tides Foundation launched it’s very first Plastic Swear Jar Challenge. The aim of the challenge is to bring awareness to the amount of single-use plastics waste individuals create on a daily basis. For purposes of the challenge, each time a person uses or purchases an item of single-use plastic counts as a “swear.” Think of all the little plastic wrappers, plastic straws, cups, lids, utensils, and bags we use on a daily basis. So the rules are simple:
1. Designate a container and decorate it as your “Plastic Swear Jar”
2. Keep track of your “swears” each day.
3. For each “swear,” put $1 in the jar.
It’s that simple. After seven days you have the option of donating your funds to Changing Tides Foundation’s Plastic Swear Jar Challenge fundraiser for use on environmental initiatives.
When we introduced the challenge, hundreds of people announced their participation, kept track of their “swears” and shared their progress using the #PlasticSwearJar tag on social media. Athletes like Stephanie Gilmore, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Elena Hight, Robin Van Gyn, Helen Schettini, Rosy Hodge, Leah Dawson, Rochelle Ballard, Dax McGill, Samantha Sibley, Liz Clark, Lea Brassy, Bec Gange and Sian Hurst and plenty more spread the awareness across social media and made their own donations.
It was incredible to see the support and participation for the challenge from all around the globe. It has shown us that so many others are ready to step up to the plate to make a change and start paying more attention to our plastic use. The challenge wasn’t about perfection, it was about awareness. Personally, it made me realize that so much of what we consume is unnecessarily wrapped in plastic. If you buy hummus, you can maybe reuse the hard plastic container, but not the plastic film around the top that you have to peel off, so that’s a swear. I thought I was being good by buying kombucha that comes in a glass bottle but soon realized that most brands cover the lids with a piece of plastic – another swear. I did manage to avoid plastic utensils, cups, bags and water bottles, but my arugula bag and the baby carrots that come in a plastic bag and my toilet paper rolls are all wrapped in single-use plastics. Swear, swear, swear. It added up quick but it served its purpose. $39 later and my eyes are wide open to how often single-use plastics find their way into my daily life.
We plan to do several more group challenges throughout the year at Changing Tides Foundation, with our next one starting sometime in August. But we still encourage others to start their own challenges at any time, setting their own start and end dates. The Plastic Swear Jar Challenge is something you can get started in your family, at the office, and in your local community, to spark healthy competition with others and see how they progress on reducing their use of single-use plastics. Awareness is the catalyst to change, and together we have the power to create change because together we are better.
Note: If you start the challenge, be sure to tag #plasticswearjar and @ChangingTidesFoundation on social media.
