A month ago I announced I was giving up plastic for the whole of August.

ittle did I know that what seemed like a simple, if somewhat extreme, idea would lead me into such intricate areas as whether apples sold loose are more wasteful than those in bags, the environmental pros and cons of a wooden toothbrush and whether bicarbonate of soda is an effective deodorant (it is - at least on the one day I tried it).

My aim was to try to live for a month without buying anything new made from plastic or wrapped in plastic. I was able to keep and use the plastic I already owned but if anything ran out I would have to buy a plastic-free replacement.

Plastics are hugely useful and versatile and the goal of the experiment was not to demonise the material itself.

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