14 Best Plastic Free Books to Read in 2024
Plastic has become a part of our daily lives, but many of us are unaware of the consequence of using so much plastic. Plastic is non-biodegradable and many types of it are non-recyclable, which means it accumulates and pollutes the environment. Every year millions of plastic wastes end up in landfills and oceans, 80% of ocean plastic is coming from rivers, destroying the natural habitats of multiple species and causing severe damage to the ecosystem. It is high time we think about avoiding single-use plastic and going for reusable, plastic-free alternatives to make our lives and environment healthier, cleaner, and more sustainable.
Increasing plastic pollution is a serious concern for our environment, and we must take some conscious steps to address this problem. Some changes in our habits and lifestyles can significantly reduce the use of plastics and create a huge impact in improving our environment.
This article discusses top plastic free books written by expert columnists and environmentalists that provide helpful tips on reducing plastic use in all areas of life. Whether you’re preparing for the Plastic Free July campaign, or you’re simply increasing your knowledge, the informative and analytical views and interesting facts make these books worth reading and guide us about implementable solutions to deal with the problem of plastic pollution.
14 Best Plastic Free Books to Read in 2024
This list of books about plastic pollution and particularly guides on how to live a “plastic free life” (at least single-use plastic-free!) is not exhaustive, in recent years there has been a huge amount of titles about these topics, but it’s a good start towards your plastic free journey!
Please note: the books are not ranked in any partucular order, we enjoyed them all and will list more as we come across more titles.
This post contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. This helps us continue the hard work we put into researching products and solutions.
1. How to Live Plastic Free: a Day in the Life of a Plastic Detox
This is a brilliant plastic free handbook written by the Marine Conservation Society to share some practical experiences of their struggle and success in maintaining a plastic-free lifestyle. This book is a good read, full of advice on how to go plastic free in our daily lives. It gives insights into some interesting ways to go plastic free with little steps that can make a big difference. Starting with a typical morning routine, it will then take you through your day, giving you tips and practical advice for removing unnecessary plastic at every possible opportunity.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
2. Plastic Free – How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too
This book is written by one of the pioneers of the plastic free movement: Beth Terry who in 2007 started a blog called Fake Plastic Fish, which then evolved into My Plastic Free Life. She is an activist, author, and public speaker. Her book “Plastic Free” is one of the most comprehensive books on plastic-free living and one of the first we read. She shows you how you can also reduce your plastic footprint, providing personal anecdotes, stats about the environmental and health problems related to plastic, and individual solutions and tips.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
3. Plastic Free – The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why It Matters
This book provides insights into how the world’s leading environmental campaigns took off and the lessons learned from these activities. Rebecca Prince-Ruiz describes the Plastic-free July movement involving a 250-million-strong community across 177 countries, empowering people to reduce single-use plastic consumption and create a cleaner future.
It narrates the marine-debris research expeditions and opinions from participants, activists, and experts. This book tells the inspiring story of how ordinary people have created change in their homes, communities, and workplaces to keep the environment free from plastic pollution.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
Related: 45 Catchy No Plastic Slogans
4. How to Give up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time
This book is written by Greenpeace activist Will McCallum who provides some straightforward ways to identify disposable plastic items in our everyday use and replace them with sustainable alternatives that are recyclable or biodegradable.
After reading this book, you will be motivated to pursue businesses and leaders in your community to take effective steps to eliminate single-use plastics and develop more eco-friendly alternatives. This book guides us about the changes we can make to avoid disposable plastic and save lives on land and the ocean from plastic waste.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
5. The Plasticology Project
I’m Plastic Free was invited to participate in the homonymous podcast by the Dr. Paul Harvey and then we kindly received a copy of the book as a token of appreciation for the work we are doing in the space of solutions to plastic pollution (hence my own image). This books depicts the chiling reality of our plastic pollution crisis and what we can do about. Dr. Harvey is an environmental scientist, and has written this environmental book in an easy and engaging way, with plenty of science based facts about plastic pollution but also plenty of personal anecdotes, which makes it even more interesting to read! You won’t be disappointed after reading it and you’ll discover new things you didn’t know about plastic!
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
6. Turning the Tide on Plastic: How Humanity (and You) can Make our Globe Clean Again
This book is written by the journalist Lucy Siegle, sharing some real-life experiences and examples of dealing with the plastic menace in everyday life and how to overcome it. She motivates everyone to look around to see the extent of plastic use and find simple ways to eliminate it. This book is a good resource about plastic-free alternative products, recyclable and reusable materials, and how we can use those for our benefit, making it one of the most positive plastic free books on the market.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
Related: Could Technology be the Answer to Saving our Oceans from Plastic Pollution?
7. F**k Plastic: 101 Ways to Free Yourself From Plastic and Save the World
We received this tiny but powerful illustrated book (own image) as a present from a friend and read it all in one day, it’s quick and it can be used as a reference book to go back, and then back again to find more inspiration. It was written by “The F Team” which also wrote F**k Flying: 101 eco-friendly ways to travel & F**k Fast Fashion: 101 ways to change how you shop and help save the planet, you got the idea… right?
In this book you’ll find 101 little things that you – as an individual – can do to avoid single-use plastics and help save the world, all split into three categories: 1) Food & Drinks, 2) Around the House, 3) Your Lifestyle. It’s perfect for anyone who is at the start of their plastic-free journey.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
8. I Quit Plastics
Kate Nelson is much better known as “Plastic Free Mermaid” with over one hundred thousand followers on Instagram. She is an icon of the plastic free movement. She started her sustainable journey in 2008 when she volunteered at Jean Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society. Since then she has lobbied government, pitched to corporates, spoken at schools all over the world, and founded an education and advocacy not-for-profit called “Save the Mermaids” to spread the sustainability message. She has been plastic-free for 10 years and continues to run workshops and educate her followers. This book is an inspiring and practical guide on how to reduce your use of plastic. It’s packed with information, how-to’s and tips to help you cook, clean, shop, wear, and live plastic-free. It also includes over 60 recipes — covering nutrition, bodycare, hygiene and cleaning.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
9. A Zero Waste Life: In Thirty Days
This book by Anita Vandyke tells about how to live a zero-waste life and gain more time, money, and life in return. The author provides a practical guide to changing your daily habits that can help eliminate plastic in your life in 30 days.
It is a guide to making small lifestyle changes to reduce your waste radically. Based on 30 lifestyle rules and handy tips, this practical book offers some new yet practical approaches to reducing waste and living a cleaner life.
Warning: while the book is very helpful with a lot tips and useful recommedation, per experience, we will say that you won’t go zero waste in 30 days! That’s impossible as it takes at least 21 days to form a habit. So, don’t go cold turkey! However, it is a very good start to read the book at least!
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
10. How to Save the World for Free
In this book, the writer Natalie Fee puts her views and suggestions for making positive changes in the world around us by managing habits and choices relating to all areas of your life. The suggested ways are completely free or require a small initial outlay and should save money in the long run by avoiding pollution. She emphasises how small actions can lead to effective results in saving the world from the impact of plastic pollution. A great read.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
Related: The Ultimate Plastic Free Living Checklist for your Home
11. No More Rubbish Excuses: How to Reduce your Waste and Why you Must do it Now
In this book, Martin Dorey drives us to introspect and analyse how much rubbish we generate daily. He explains the problem of plastic pollution that is caused by items we use and consume regularly without even noticing it. He offers some simple solutions to implement in our everyday lives to reduce plastic use and make the environment cleaner.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
12. Waste Not Every Day: 365 Ways to Reduce, Reuse, Reconnect
This is a wonderful book by the Australian author Erin Rhoads with 365 suggestions to repair, reduce and rethink before using a product to reduce the impact of plastic pollution. She talks about recycling which should be the last stage and encourages making in-house products with plastic-free components that aim to reduce waste and pollution. This book is a lighter, easier approach compared to her first and more in depth book, “Waste Not”. It also makes a great gift for friends and family looking for a simple introduction to the concept of zero waste.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
Related: Plastics in the Ocean (Fact Sheet)
13. Save the World: There is No Planet B
This famous book by Louise Bradford states practical suggestions for living a more sustainable lifestyle, reducing the impact of environmental pollution on the earth. This book guides avoiding unnecessary plastic use and leading a minimalist life.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
14. Clean Green Tips and Recipes for a Naturally Clean, More Sustainable Home
This illustrated book by Jen Chillingworth is full of practical and simple suggestions to make our environment cleaner and greener. It focuses on making homemade products for daily use, replacing chemical combinations with natural materials like plant-based ingredients. It would help reduce single-use plastic consumption considerably and avoid exposure to the toxic effects of chemicals daily.
Available on Amazon USA – Canada – UK – Australia
Downloadable Plastic Free Living Checklists
At I’m Plastic Free we have not written a book yet, however, we have compiled two workbooks to help you reduce your plastic footprint, lower your microplastic exposure and learn how to use less plastic in an easy way.
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- The first workbook that will help you achieve this goal is a FREE Plastic Free Living Checklist for Beginners. It includes the first 10 single-use plastic items to give up, and then a checklist of plastic items to replace with more eco-friendly alternatives room by room.
- The second workbook has been created as a guide for those people who are more advanced in their sustainable journey. If you are an eco-warrior and would like to bring your sustainability journey to the next level, this is the checklist for you. Support our hard work by buying Ultimate Plastic-free Living Checklist for Your Home. It is a 25-page printable workbook to guide you on your zero waste / plastic free journey around your home, step-by-step, without being overwhelmed. We put a lot of efforts in compiling this room-by-room plastic-free checklist.
Conclusion
Plastic pollution is increasing, and before looking for big corporations to clean up the environment, we as a community have a duty to do our best to save the planet by reducing the use of plastic products. These “plastic free movement books” can guide us to take small actions that can lead to big differences toward a positive outcome.
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Browse the I’m Plastic Free platform to discover plastic pollution solutions.
