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How to Live Plastic Free: A Day in the Life of a Plastic Detox

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This book will teach you everything you need to know about living a plastic-free life.
Thank you for choosing this book - it shows that you care about the future of our planet.

Whether you decide to go plastic free for an hour, a day or a year, this book will equip you with little steps we can each take to make a big difference.

Let's turn the tide on plastic now - our oceans will thank you for it.



Choking. Starving. Poisoning.

This is what plastic litter is doing to marine life. Our oceans are, quite simply, facing environmental disaster. Yet by taking some simple steps and making a few changes to your daily routine, you can help to change this.

How to Live Plastic Free will teach you everything you need to know about reducing your plastic usage on a daily basis. The chapters start with a typical morning routine and take you through your day, giving you tips and practical advice for removing unnecessary plastic at every possible opportunity.

From the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed, you will learn how easy it can be to use plastic-free cosmetics, how to have plastic-free mealtimes, how to change your shopping habits and how to consider your use of plastic items at work.

These simple, practical methods will show that small changes to your lifestyle can make a huge change to the future of our planet.

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 7, 2018

22 people are currently reading
381 people want to read

About the author

Marine Conservation Society

3 books1 follower

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5 stars
51 (20%)
4 stars
92 (36%)
3 stars
88 (34%)
2 stars
21 (8%)
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3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
Profile Image for J.R. Dodson.
196 reviews2 followers
January 29, 2019
An admirable daylong look at plastics in our lives that too often says, “Google it!” and largely ignores the reasons we use plastics in the first place.
Profile Image for Jacolien.
88 reviews
May 8, 2023
The book is written to raise awareness about the fact that plastic is all around us nowadays (after reading this book I see plastics literally everywhere) while it can destroy lives, particularly marine life. Besides, the writers give tips on how you can detox your life from plastics. The book is full of simple things you can do today to change your plastic addiction. It's all about changing your perspective on consuming and thinking in possibilities when it comes to 'reduce, refuse, reuse and recycle', the four R's.
The book is not just negative about plastic, though. They dedicated one chapter to explain that some innovations based on plastic save lives in e.g. hospitals, where plastics and single-use items have made the hospitals more clean and hygienic.

I think the way the chapters are organized, the book covering a whole day from breakfast to leisure time, is very unique. It makes the book, which contains much information, more fun!

I'm happy I've read this book and definitely learned new things, even though the book is particularly written for people living in the UK (and I do'nt). I think the book comes in handy when you are thinking about reducing your use of plastics in a certain area of your life and you want some inspiration and motivation - you can easily find the particular thing you are looking for to make plastic free as the chapters are organized based on a day, e.g. breakfast, work, sports etc. Let's go plastic free!

Oh, and I absolutely love the bookcover!
Profile Image for Kim.
375 reviews22 followers
September 5, 2018

I picked up this book in the hopes that there would be many scientific facts mixed in about how plastic truly effects our oceans. If that is what you were looking for this is not that book. The title is 100% the book "How To Live Plastic Free (A day in the life of a plastic detox)." I think (and this could be my American brain talking) it should say in your EVERY DAY life. It's essentially a lifestyle book with some scientific facts here and there.


This book is actually brilliant in the fact that I think it's geared more towards the general public and not those with scientific backgrounds. This was probably the Marine Conservation Society's intention quite honestly. It gives you a wide range of activities that you already may do in your daily life. These range from how to exercise without plastic to celebrating a Holiday without plastic.


As I am from the U.S. I found that some suggestions throughout the book would not transfer over to the U.S. For example it talks about Juice and Milk delivery (which I'm not 100% sure, stopped sometime in the 50's or 60's.) and then there was a suggestion of putting fruit in ones pocket while cycling. I've never cycled but I can't imagine you'd want a mushed banana in your pocket. The suggestion was to be used in lieu of packaged protein bars or energy gel. Personally in my daily life I work out avidly, though my sport is running. I typically eat before I go not while on the go.It would be awkward carrying a packaged snack and I'm not about to carry a fanny pack.


I did find some things rather helpful. I had no idea that wrapping paper (Christmas/Birthdays) for instance has plastic in. Or that there are now shampoo soap bars. That in itself is something I'd love to try! The last few chapters talk about how some plastic helps saves lives. It was quite informative and historical. This chapter mainly focused on hospitals. Finally, the appendix gives you a really useful tool (chart) labeled 1-7 with the recycle symbols. It tells you what can be recycled and can't be recycled. Again the chart in this book is mainly U.K. based. So if you live in the U.S. or anywhere else you can use your internet search engine to get that information.


The Marine Conservation Society is doing some really awesome things and I commend them for all their hard work and research. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in improving the environment not only for themselves but for the future of our world and everything in it.

Profile Image for Anel.
90 reviews5 followers
July 19, 2018
That book really surprised me.

It isn’t just written of boring facts. The problems are divided into chapters depicting our everyday thoughts and actions. I never felt bored reading the book and often found myself laughing at the clever jokes. The book was filled with practical tips and recipes.

What I especially loved were the references. They were easy to find at the end of the book. Just an another example of a well-researched book.

The people of Great Britain do find more help from this book, but these handy notes pages are perfect for local recycling research!

I feel really inspired by the book and highly recommend this even to people who don’t feel that the plastic problem is a subject close to their heart.
Profile Image for Jen Surname.
151 reviews4 followers
March 4, 2019
A decent starting point

I guess this book is aimed at people who are just developing an awareness of the need to reduce our plastic use. The idea of going through a day and highlighting the plastic we use and suggesting alternative options is a good one, but not always executed well. It’s a decent introduction, and a well worthy cause, but it’s not all I hoped it might be. It sometimes felt a little like I was back at school being patronised and spoken down to.
On the upside, it’s made me want to seek out other [better] books on the same subject and that can’t be a bad thing.
Profile Image for Laura.
80 reviews
June 26, 2019
3.5 stars. This is a good starting point if you're beginning your journey to cutting out plastics and/or looking for a quick read. For a deeper dive into cutting out plastics and waste in general I suggest Waste Not by Erin Rhoads.
Profile Image for Quang Quấn Quít.
141 reviews17 followers
May 1, 2019
Sống tối giản đang là một xu hướng. Nhưng không phải ai cũng đang sống tối giản đúng cách. Bởi nếu mình cứ vứt đồ vô tội vạ thì mình đang vô tình thải ra tự nhiên rất rất nhiều rác bằng nhựa mà sẽ không tái chế được. Đời không plastic: How to live plastic free sẽ là cuốn cẩm nang đầy đủ và chi tiết nhất cho mình thực hành Zero watse life - lối sống xanh, nói không với đồ nhựa dùng một lần.

Cá nhân mình đánh giá thì đây là một cuốn sách rất dễ thương: bìa dễ thương, những lời đề tâm huyết rất dễ thương, và cách sắp xếp nội dung cũng rất dễ thương. Nếu có một cuộc thi hoa hậu sách thì cuốn này mình sẽ vote giải Hoa hậu thân thiện.

Nếu bạn đang có con nhỏ thì mình nghĩ bạn nên biết điều này. Các thống kê cho biết, một em bé trung bình có thể sử dụng hết 6000 miếng tã trong cả quãng đời thơ ấu. Những miếng tã đã qua sử dụng này sẽ được vứt ra bãi rác và rồi hoặc là người ta sẽ chôn nó hoặc nó sẽ được một chuyến đi du lịch biển thú vị trước khi nó kịp phân hủy.

Làm sao mà một đứa trẻ bé bỏng lại cần lắm thứ lặt vặt đến vậy? Đồ chơi, tã lót, các thể loại bình đựng, xe đẩy, xe nôi: bé yêu ơi, chào mừng con đến với xứ sở nhựa! – Trang 72

Chưa hết, có một món đồ vật quan trọng và phổ biến dùng để xác nhận đứa trẻ có thực sự xuất hiện trên đời này hay không, và món đồ vật này cũng lại làm bằng nhựa và chỉ dùng được đúng một lần. Bạn nghĩ đúng rồi đấy, đó chính là que thử thai.

Dù là bạn quan tâm hay đang thực hành lối sống nào, mình tin Đời không plastic là cuốn sách bạn nên đọc, rồi chia sẻ lại cho người thân và bạn bè của mình để cùng đọc. Mình không đủ sức làm những điều to lớn, vĩ đại với những phát minh, sáng kiến khoa học tái chế hay xử lý và giải cứu đại dương trên trái đất này khỏi plastic, nhưng mình tin bằng cách thực hành những điều nhỏ trong cuốn sách này, chúng mình sẽ góp phần vào việc hạn chế tra tấn mẹ thiên nhiên bằng những thằng plastic bướng bỉnh, sống dai này. Sống không plastic thôi mà, dễ mà hé!

Review chi tiết của mình: https://ntquangg.wordpress.com/2019/0...
Profile Image for Chi – cuddle.thereader.
497 reviews67 followers
April 18, 2019
Cuốn này thực sự dễ đọc, không hề khô khan và quan trọng là đi đúng chủ đề mình đang quan tâm.
Chắc hẳn mọi người đều biết tới ảnh hưởng của rác thải nhựa tới thiên nhiên cùng các loài sinh vật, đặc biệt là sinh vật biển rồi nhỉ? Hình ảnh xác chú cá nhà táng trôi dạt vào bờ, bụng ngập những túi ni lông và đồ nhựa, hay chú rùa bị ống hút chèn ngay mũi đau đớn, đáng thương và cũng thật đáng sợ. Không thể phủ nhận sự tiện ích mà nhựa đem lại cho đời sống hàng ngày bận rộn của con người cũng như đóng góp đáng kể cho y học của nhựa, nhưng những hệ quả tác động lên hệ sinh thái môi trường đã như một hồi chuông cảnh báo con người đang quá lạm dụng nhựa rồi.
Vậy nên việc hạn chế sử dụng các sản phẩm từ nhựa hẳn sẽ là một việc mỗi chúng ta nên làm rồi.
Trong cuốn này, ở mỗi chương, chúng ta sẽ được tiếp cận với những ứng dụng vô cùng tiện lợi mà nhựa đem lại, nhưng kèm theo đó cũng là những hậu quả mà chính chúng ta đang dần phải gánh chịu, cũng chính từ nhựa mà ra. Cuối mỗi chương, các tác giả sẽ đưa ra những cách để chúng ta có thể giảm thiểu tối đa việc sử dụng nhựa ngay từ những điều nhỏ nhất. Từ việc hạn chế sử dụng túi ni lông bằng cách sử dụng giấy gói hoặc túi vải (hoặc tái sử dụng chiếc túi ni lông bạn được đưa cho), sử dụng những vật dụng tái chế, mua đồ ăn bằng hộp cá nhân cũng như luôn mang theo bình nước cá nhân khi ra ngoài. Những điều tưởng chừng nhàm chán ấy được các tác giả lồng ghép rất hay, khiến cho mình cảm thấy một sự thúc đẩy bản thân cố gắng thực hiện càng nhiều càng tốt.
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Các anh chị bên công ty nhựa hãy mang hàng đi kiểm định hàm lượng các chất trước khi xuất ra thị trường đến tay người tiêu dùng nha, bên em CTIC là phòng lab thử nghiệm bên thứ 3 rất uy tín ạ 🤩

Profile Image for Van Anh.
11 reviews2 followers
September 6, 2019
Mặc dù ở Việt Nam, có nhiều thể loại sách viết về môi trường, về biến đổi khí hậu và về vấn nạn rác thải nhựa, song tớ phải thú thật rằng, đây là cuốn sách đầu tiên tớ đọc được, mà trong đó đã hướng dẫn một cách tỉ mỉ, chi tiết nhất những điều mà chúng ta phải làm để hạn chế rác thải nhựa, cứu lấy môi trường và những sinh vật biển ngoài kia.

Sách viết khá dễ thương và 90% của cuốn sách thiên về những tips, những ứng dụng mà bất kì ai trong chúng ta cũng có thể làm để giảm bớt sự hiện diện của plastic. Tớ đã ngạc nhiên khi biết rằng, nhựa nay đã có sẵn trong thực đơn của mỗi chúng ta, tớ càng ngạc nhiên hơn nữa khi biết rằng, chỉ tầm chục năm nữa, nếu với thực trạng lạm dụng nhựa của con người như hiện nay thì đại dương của chúng ta sẽ hoàn toàn chìm ngập trong rác.

Đọc cuốn sách này, tớ đã có động lực để làm những điều giúp trái đất xanh hơn, như việc dũng cảm đem theo túi vải riêng đi chợ thay vì ôm về nhà một mớ nilon, như việc chịu đầu tư hẳn hoi một chiếc cốc giữ nhiệt để đem đi mỗi khi mua trà sữa hay đồ uống bên ngoài. Như việc, tớ bắt đầu tái chế đồ cũ thay vì cứ việc mang nó bỏ vào thùng rác và mua cái mới. Rất nhiều tips hữu dụng mà bạn có thể tìm thấy từ cuốn sách này.

Nếu bạn yêu môi trường và lo lắng cho chính tương lai của nó, nếu bạn là một gã nghiện ��ồ nhựa dùng một lần thì chắc chắn, cuốn sách này cần được bạn tìm đọc ngay lập tức. Sách dễ đọc và đáng yêu vô cùng.

Rate: 4,5/5
Profile Image for Adrianna Long.
66 reviews1 follower
April 5, 2021
Super easy read and makes you aware of all the plastic we use in our daily lives. While it’s a bit overwhelming, knowledge and awareness is a step in the right direction!
Profile Image for Felicity.
533 reviews13 followers
February 20, 2019
Not a book to baffle you with deep science, on the contrary, it's full of easy to implement changes we can all try and introduce in our lives. My mantra to myself this year - reduce single use plastic items wherever possible.
Profile Image for Marijo.
185 reviews4 followers
January 17, 2024
A short but excellent read from 2018. It illustrates how our addiction to the convenience of plastics impacts nature and the steps we can take to reduce our dependency. Although giving up plastics is virtually impossible in our society, the book outlines steps you can take to simplify your life and reduce your consumption that go beyond saying no to obvious sources such as plastic straws and synthetic clothing, including some great recipes to help you reduce the plastic bags that wrap your snacks.
Profile Image for Pam Cummins.
62 reviews2 followers
January 8, 2019
This books goes through a day and how we can reduce plastic in our daily lives for example in the bathroom and those £3 meal deals that are so wasteful. Well worth a read for everyone.
Profile Image for Sofia7Oficios.
67 reviews1 follower
September 18, 2018
It is refreshing because of the clever way they organised and aproached the issue. Simple writting not too cientific but with all the numbers to give you some perspective of the reality of the problem.

Basicaly it follows the habits of an average person what opens your eyes to consider how addicted or how your daily normal steps toward living and organising your life is filled with plastic content. And when you actually notice it, you really cant unseen it again. Your morning and evening routine, your selfcare, your cleaning routine, your cooking routine, everything it has something with plastic. And getting to open your eyes to that is really the FIRST step to actually start doing something about it!

Happy to stumble on this book! I highly recomend for everyone that want to have practise more awareness, or perfect to give to friends and family and see what they think about it!
Profile Image for Siddharrth Jain.
142 reviews1 follower
August 16, 2019
'We consume a million plastic bottles every minute ' - Euromonitor International

'18 billion pounds of plastic ends up in the ocean each year' - National Geographic

I want you to read the above again. Once again. Is it possible for you to decipher the figures? Do we understand the gravity of this heinous crime we have committed? I am taken to the book 'Sapiens' by Yuval Harari, where he has talked about how 'Humans' have, historically and habitually, ruined the entire Ecosystem.

The amount of Plastic we consume in our daily lives is astonishingly brutal, unhealthy, imperishable and forcefully dumped and fed to the ocean and its inhabitants. Shame. I am in my personal capacity, gutted and much depressed. I should not have read this book and should have continued to live in the dark.

But, I choose to evolve and whatever steps (small or big) are required to be taken, I will. This is not my planet but OUR planet. The African 'Ubuntu' culture says, "I am because we are". How can I be happy when others are sad?!

I can only recommend you all to read, take corrective steps and thereafter, SPREAD the message. Let us all stop this nonsense. 🙏🏻📚
Profile Image for Heli Malm.
104 reviews
August 14, 2019
The book seemed intriguing in the first pages and in the introduction part and it didn’t disappoint me. It was exactly as “advertised”-gave some insight to the world around us that contains loads of plastic without saying anything bad about people/organizations etc. using plastic on their products.
It has opened my eyes more of what I am consuming, how little bits of plastic can be found inside the living organisms and therefore consumed by us humans, gave some suggestions of what to do differently, what kind of alternatives are out there, to make various economically friendly choices among clothes, food, cosmetics etc. The given statistics was also interesting to read. I do agree that little steps make the big difference. And if we all did at least something to decrease the amounts of plastic, also tried to pick up trash that’s laying around (especially in the nature and oceans), the whole wildlife and us too, would win from that.
Profile Image for Micci.
81 reviews
August 6, 2018
A really important read for anyone.
I must admit I was a little worried buying this book because I thought it might be overly preachy and totally unrealistic. I'm so glad that fear was unnecessary.
The book is written in a really friendly, conversational manner, with a variety of (mostly) practical suggestions on how to reduce your plastic footprint. Although it does seem heavily geared towards city dwellers, which is understandable considering that were the majority of people live in the UK, there was still enough in there for someone who lives in regional Australia. More importantly this book has increased my understanding of the plastic crisis.
76 reviews1 follower
April 30, 2025
Een top boek om je na te laten denken over je plastic gebruik. Je krijgt heel veel tips over gewoontes te veranderen zodat je geen plastic hoef te gebruiken in het dagelijks leven. Ook zitten er recepten in zodat je geen plastic-houdende producten hoeft te kopen.
Het is een erg fijn boek om bij je te houden, zodat je altijd even terug kan kijken bij de verschillende hoofdstukken die op volgorde van de gemiddelde dag staat.
Wel vind ik dat het leven meer geld gaat kosten om alle tips toe te passen, maar het is fijn om te weten wat je kan doen en je kan zelf kiezen wat je daadwerkelijk gaat doen.
Als je maar weet hoe belangrijk het is om minder plastic te gebruiken
Profile Image for Trang's World.
36 reviews12 followers
July 15, 2019
Cuốn sách đầu tiên về giảm nhựa mình mua, có tư duy theo mình là đúng đắn. Rằng cuộc chiến đang xảy ra này không phải chỉ là về loại trừ plastic, mà sâu hơn là thay đổi thói quen hành vi sống tiết kiệm, hài hoà với môi trường sống hơn.

Dù vậy sách vẫn nói nhiều hơn về cách thức, tips sống xanh giảm nhựa. Đọc có hơi chán do đa phần phạm vi áp dụng là cho các nước phát triển, phương Tây. Nhưng vẫn quyết định mua vì biết sẽ moi móc được nhiều thứ có thể áp dụng cho mình, và ủng hộ thì sau này mới có nhiều sách kiểu này để mà đọc tiếp.
Profile Image for Alan.
206 reviews1 follower
December 26, 2022
This is an intensely practical book. It does present an 'ideal' that will be a hard struggle for many but any movement to reduce plastic is worth doing.
What also emerges is the advantage that plastic products have had for us in terms of convenience and safety but at what cost.
It will be hard to make changes but that is not an excuse for inaction. Certainly, for the likes of me as a retired and financially secure individual, there is no excuse not to!
"Rome wasn't built in a day" and, although the matter is urgent, it is going to be a process to press on with.
Profile Image for Nalia.
405 reviews44 followers
June 17, 2024
I was so hesitant at first to read this. When you work at the hospital, you'll find plastic in every corner, but the last section of this book tells me that there is plastic that saves lives. Anyway, that's not the point, we know or probably don't want to admit the level of plastic in this world is already problematic. We pretend to forget the life beyond the sea, every aspect or our decision could affect marine life and we need to start somewhere to fix this problem. By reading this book, you begin to be aware of your act and the necessity to use plastic in your daily life
Profile Image for Lucy.
11 reviews
March 15, 2019
3.5 stars! 🌟
This book is something different to what I usually read, fiction books, but it was engaging and written with statistics from many sources. It was really interesting focusing on the different aspects of daily life where plastic actually appears, and giving tips on reducing plastic. Not all of them were relevant to me personally, but was definitely a good addition in the book and not just stating out facts.
I like how it's aimed at what we can do ourselves as individuals to learn about and reduce our plastic waste, and highlighting the issues surrounding plastic in our world now.
I picked up this book as I was leaving the library as it caught my eye, and I'm glad it did! I definitely learnt more about both the negatives and positives of plastic, its various forms and recycling it.
16 reviews1 follower
March 2, 2020
Ý tưởng tốt nhưng thiếu thực tiễn và cách trình bày ý tưởng rất nghèo nàn. Không có quá nhiều sự phân tích một cách chuyên sâu về vấn đề plastic mà chỉ giống như một mớ thông tin kéo trên google về. Hữu ích đấy, nhưng bạn có thể tiết kiệm tiền và thời gian bằng cách vào thư viện hay hiệu sách nào đó và đọc những mục đề được gạch chân, in đậm trong sách là đã nắm hết được thông điệp sách muốn truyền tải rồi.
Profile Image for Melissa.
Author 2 books
March 30, 2019
A different take. Chronological i.e. what plastic we use throughout the day, rather than the usual organised by space i.e. what plastic we use in the kitchen. And ideas for eliminating plastic. But nothing really new. I did like that the book acknowledged where and when plastic IS useful or necessary.
Profile Image for Kirsty .
181 reviews58 followers
January 28, 2020
A short but useful guide to how to limit plastic uses in every day life. Some things are common sense, others are less so.
The information about plastic, it’s properties, and how it affects us and the environment was scary but interesting too.
Recommend for people who want to give up plastic but don’t know where to start.
3.5/5
13 reviews
March 13, 2022
Very insightful! I had recently started my journey into becoming more plastic free (started with bathroom products - shampoo bar, toothpaste tabs, body wash in a reusable container). I am eager to start looking at other areas of my home and how I can reduce plastic waste so this book had a lot of facts and helpful information. Excellent book!
11 reviews
June 18, 2022
Very interesting read. It was written in the UK so that was interesting with the terminology a few times. Lots of good suggestions to treat the planet better, not sure how some would work in the US since we seem to recycle differently. I will certainly try to look and use less single use plastic more in the future. And, who knew that shampoo bars were a thing. Always love to learn.
Profile Image for Hannah.
61 reviews7 followers
May 3, 2019
Good 3.5 star book.

It contains a lot of useful information for readers who are completely new to the idea of reducing their plastic usage. I already knew a good half of the information mentioned so couldn't give it a higher rating.
Profile Image for Elise Le.
27 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2019
How to Live Plastics Free is a book about meticulous ideas and plans about how to get rid of plastics and microplastics from our lives in order to save the environment and later generations. Everyone should read it at least once with an open mind and a commitment to change.
Profile Image for Xanthippi.
7 reviews
November 7, 2019
Neither particularly helpful, nor addressing the main reasons of plastic pollution. It reads as if in an attempt to not inconvenience the reader it evades the biggest factors associated with plastic pollution: our rampant consumerism and our “entitlement” to convenience.
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