Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Just thinking about going plastic-free can be overwhelming. But the more we know, the more confidently we can take action to make a difference to our health and the planet.

Reading about why we need to go plastic free is a great first step. I’ve made it easier for you by reviewing this small collection of books to motivate you to start living a plastic-free lifestyle.

Borrow these books from your local library or click on the links to purchase the hard copy book format. Or enjoy reading them digitally.

Some links in this post are my affiliate partnerships. At no cost to you, I may receive a commission, thankyou!

Life without Plastic

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Life without Plastic is one of my most referred to books about plastics. Its straightforward and wholesome approach gives a thorough understanding of the enormity of plastic use.

The book starts with the history of plastic, with a comprehensive look into plastic’s ingredients and toxicity. This gives the framework for understanding why plastics are a massive problem for our health and our planet.

There’s a balance of colourful infographics, illustrations and tables to accentuate the content.

This is a thorough book that truly helps you remove plastic from your personal space and think more mindfully about what comes into your home.

There are alternatives for personal body care, laundry, home cleaning, shopping, food storage, clothing and home living.

It’s comforting to read that even though the authors have been on this journey for a while and have started an online business, Life Without Plastic, they often reassure us that it’s not possible to go absolutely plastic-free.

This is not a single-use book. It’s one you’ll refer to often to guide your everyday plastic-free actions.

Review of Life Without Plastic. The Practical Step-By-Step Guide to Avoiding Plastics to Keep your Family and the Planet Healthy by Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha; Page Street Publishing Co.; 2017

Living Without Plastic

Living Without Plastic. More than 100 Easy Swaps for Home, travel, Dining, Holidays and Beyond gives specific ways we can make a difference to our everyday plastic-free choices. The 30-day plastic detox plan is an excellent way to recap what we learn in the book.

This is a cover-to-cover collection of do-able, difference-making solutions with the right balance of photos and text. Separated into five sections, we can embrace a plastic-free lifestyle when we follow these stylish swaps.

Review of Living Without Plastic. More than 100 Easy Swaps for Home, travel, Dining, Holidays and Beyond by Brigette Allen and Christine Wong; Artisan Books; 2020

Plastic Free. The Inspiring Story…

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Plastic Free. The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why it Matters is a personalised story about Rebecca’s journey of going plastic-free.

Sharing her point of change about the amount of waste we generate, Rebecca and Joanna share how going plastic-free starts with personal responsibility. And how this progressed to taking more significant community action by starting the environmental movement Plastic Free July.

The book is an excellent reflection of the annual Plastic Free July journey and is truly inspiring. Interspersed with stories from the community and business about the impact the movement had to rethink and reduce people’s single-use plastics.

Plastic Free was published in 2020 and includes a postscript about the impact COVID 19 may have on the up-use of single-use plastics.

Author Rebecca Prince-Ruiz has a professional science background and is the founder of Plastic Free July, whilst co-author Joanna Atherford Finn is a freelance journalist.

This book is about how ordinary people can make extraordinary changes— an inspirational read.

Review of Plastic Free: The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why it Matters; New South Publishing; 2020.

Plastic Soup. An Atlas of Ocean Pollution

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Plastic Soup. An Atlas of Ocean Pollution is a brilliant reference book about the perils of plastic. Based on recent scientific data and insights, the book is filled with useful facts supported by large graphic images of plastic pollution.

The book shows how plastic pollution has become a soup and how damaging plastic is to our people and the planet.

Author Michiel Roscam Abbing is a political scientist who’s been active in stopping plastic pollution since 2011 with the Plastic Soup Foundation.

Science is at the core of this book, yet it’s easy to relate to and provides insight into the problem and gives ways to actively reduce, reuse, take positive action, get involved and turn the tide on plastic pollution.

Review of Plastic Soup. An Atlas of Ocean Pollution by Michiel Roscam Abbing; Island Press; 2019.

Low Tox Life

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Low Tox Life is a very readable Australian book that you’ll naturally want to take action. This is the book and podcast series that stopped me in my plastic-use tracks and made me think differently.

Living a more tox life is based on understanding how toxic plastics and chemicals are to our health. The book encourages us to be more mindfully active consumers who stop and read the ingredients we use every day.

Author Alexx Stuart of the established blog, podcast and low tox e-courses, Low Tox Life, encourages us to start small and switch one thing at a time. The book focuses on the four key areas of our everyday living – body, home, food and mind.

The book is an excellent balance of factual information and super simple DIY recipes without feeling guilty about needing to be a full-time homesteader.

This is the ideal keepsake book that you’ll want to share with family and friends.

Review of Low Tox Life by Alexx Stuart; Murdoch Books; 2018.

Quitting Plastic

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Quitting Plastic. Easy and Practical Ways to Cut Down the Plastic in your Life is a neat little book that briefly looks at the history and dangers of plastics combined with achievable personal solutions.

An easy to read writing style without getting bogged down in too many facts. Each practical solution has an author-ticked box to indicate the change difficulty. I like how personal preferences and whether the solution has room for improvement is also included in the tick-box system.

The book is filled with personal and home living based solutions, each with a personal author verdict and searchable terms to use when finding more information on the internet.

The book lives up to its name of sharing easy and practical ways to cut down the plastic in your life.

Review of Quitting Plastic. Easy and Practical Ways to Cut Down the Plastic in your Life; Allen and Unwin; 2019.

Turning the Tide on Plastic

Books to Motivate You to Start Living a Plastic Free Lifestyle

Turning the Tide on Plastic. How Humanity (and you) can make our Globe Clean Again is good for refreshing how we need to reduce our plastic consumption.

The second half of the book is the most useful, sectioned into the 8 Rs. This makes it easier to find and action all the things we can do to reduce our environmental footprint. The 8 R steps give practical ideas, tools and techniques to play our own part in turning back the tide on plastic.

Author Lucy Siegle is a UK journalist and broadcaster who shares her story in the first half of the book.

Review of Turning the Tide on Plastic. How Humanity (and you) can make our Globe Clean Again; Trapeze (The Orion Publishing Group); 2018.

I hope this review helps you filter your reading choices to the ones I’ve enjoyed and are most helpful with my own journey for living with less plastic. One of these books may just be the right book for you to make the switch from plastic to better, more sustainable options.

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