A big part of our mission here at TruTravles is to not only focus on giving you awesome experiences, but to give back to the people & places who make these experiences happen. A focus we have at the moment is on single use plastic and the fight against plastic pollution. This is what lead to our recent Challenge ‘Do One Thing Different.’ The Challenge ran for 7 days across our social platforms, mainly being on Instagram. Each day we had different challenges where there would be one, random lucky person to win any of our trips of up to 12 days. From entries all the way from South Korea to the small island of Guernsey, the reach we had was incredible! Have a read below to see how the week unfolded...

 

MONDAY 22ND JULY: 'RESUEABLE COFFEE CUPS'

We all know the best way to kick start the day is with a warm cup of coffee. In fact, Brits alone are drinking approximately 95 million cups of coffee everyday. You can only imagine how much plastic this is using when adding up everyone getting a takeaway coffee on their way to work!

Every day of our challenge individuals were to post on their Instagram / Facebook a picture or video and and tag @trutravels & #DoOneThingDifferent. Today's was with a reusable coffee cup. Being the most popular day of entries, this proves the importance to make this change and the little effort that is actually involved. Have a look at some of the entries below:

TUESDAY 23RD JULY: 'REUSEABLE BAG'

Whether you use an old shoe box or your grandmas old handbag. Using anything but a plastic bag for your shopping will make a huge difference to help fight single use plastic.

Before you know it, people will be looked down upon if seen with a plastic bag. So with most shops selling reusable shopping bags, make sure you get your own!

 

WEDNESDAY 24TH JULY: 'REUSEABLE TUPPERWARE'

About 40% of plastic produced is packaging, used once and then discarded. Although many supermarkets are getting on board to minimise selling products in plastic packaging, products such as a meal deal from Sainsbury’s still causes extensive amounts of plastic waste. Today we had a great number of entries, including inspirational companies like @blackbumdesigns and @Planetbox.

 

THURSDAY 25TH JULY: 'REUSEABLE WATER BOTTLE'

Nearly a million plastic beverage bottles are sold every minute around the world. With unfortunately in the UK alone 150 plastic bottles of litter being found every mile across our beaches. With companies such as @chillibottles and @___ producing reusable bottles, we really have no excuse not to use these throughout our daily routine.

FRIDAY 26TH JULY: 'BEACH CLEAN'

Plastic pollution can now be found on every beach around the world, from busy tourist beaches, to uninhabited tropical islands, nowhere is safe. Although we appreciate that not all of us are lucky enough to live by the beach, today was all about having a little clean up, no matter where you live. Many of our groups on our tours already embark upon regular beach cleans, however this helped many more get involved. From Germany to Australia, and even here in the U.K. Your efforts were hugely appreciated!

SATURDAY 27TH JULY: 'HOUSEHOLD ITEMS'

From make-up wipes to plastic containers. The amount of plastic that is in our household that you may not be aware about is endless. Buying alternative such as biodegradable items and plastic alternatives at not much of a price difference, is for sure worth it.

SUNDAY 28TH JULY: 'SAY NO TO PLASTIC STRAWS'

Calls to ban plastic straws is dramatically increasing, with straws in particular being so difficult to recycle as they are so small and light. Finding alternatives has never been so important! Here at TruTravels we have banned att plastic straws in our hostels, but there is still a long way to go before they are completely minimised. With cardboard and metal straws now becoming highly available, remember when you next go out… say no to plastic straws!

 

 

Overall we are so grateful for everyone who got involved with our challenge. With reaching to 15+ countries and half a million peope, we hope to continue with your help, the flight against plastic pollution!