What happens when you give up plastic, and is it a lifestyle option for the lucky few?

Reducing plastics when shopping for food, toiletries and travel products should be easy – so why is it so difficult?

• Stephanie Convery
• The Guardian

A few months ago, my partner and I went snorkelling off the coast of Indonesia.

We dove off tiny deserted islands and swam in the deep with giant manta rays, but what I remember most vividly about that trip was not the stunning coral or dazzling array of colourful, curious fish; it was the sheer amount of garbage in the water.

Shopping bags, plastic cups, toothpaste tubes, orange peel, all manner of human debris followed the…

• What happens when…