Like all good things, Plastic Free Julio must come to an end eventually. Over the course of this past month, we did our best to speak up, speak out, and do our part to move towards a future without plastic’s harmful impact!

We held community trainings on the “false solutions” put forward by the plastic industry, created videos and posts covering Houston’s messy attempts to reduce its plastic waste, participated in an audit to see how much plastic our local grocery stores use in their packaging, and talked to dozens of people about the importance of reusing materials instead of just relying on imperfect recycling systems. 

Speaking of reuse, we closed out Plastic Free Julio with a fun internal challenge that started at the beginning of the month: Over the past few weeks, staff members collected all the plastic they had used in the office, as well as some from home, and placed it in a corner for something special.

This week, we counted up all the plastic. Surprisingly, even for an environmentally conscious office of just over a dozen staff, we managed to fill several big bags with plastic! As we looked through the bags, we saw the results of some personal decisions that could have been done differently. For example, we found several single-use plastic water bottles. While some of these can be recycled, a more environmentally friendly solution might have been to use boxed water made out of cardboard. Or, even better, reusable water bottles!

But we also saw the results of many decisions that are harder for individuals to impact. Plastic packaging and plastic bags were some of the most frequent items we found in our collection. While an individual consumer can bring reusable bags to the store, this isn’t doable in every store. Plastic packaging, meanwhile, is incredibly hard to avoid. Decisions like these are made by companies much higher up, and it’s sometimes hard for an individual to influence them. This is why it’s so important to encourage your local elected officials to research and pass reuse- and reduction-friendly ordinances.

But what did we do with all this plastic? Well, we made a monster! We were inspired by the “reuse sculptures” that various artists around Houston, especially at the Orange Show and the Art Car Parade, specialize in, and we gave it a try ourselves. 

Check out the build process below: