Reduce, reuse and reset – four national campaigns looking to change our behaviour in 2019

It’s the new year; a time for resolutions and fresh starts. And to capitalise on this revised sense of purpose, the big change campaigns are out in force, hitting the headlines and vying for our attention to be the ones that we back.

From the pudding tax to going vegan, from cutting back on plastics to going dry in January, news outlets and social media feeds are dominated by messages encouraging us to change our behaviour in 2019 and adopt a more wholesome lifestyle. But which campaigns will win us over?

Go vegan

This January has seen a raft of stories relating to the consumption of animal products, or rather the lack of consumption, which could inspire lifestyle changes for those who like their two veg served with a healthy portion of meat.

The big campaign that seems to have really got traction this year is Veganuary – a movement encouraging people to embrace plant-based diets during January. It started five years ago, and participant numbers have more than doubled each year. This year has seen record numbers sign up, with 14,000 people committing to going vegan for the month on just one day at the end of December – that’s a rate of six people signing up every second. With statistics like that, it’s little wonder why organisers of the initiative are calling 2019 the year of the vegan. And whether you reach for the highly-feted Greggs’ vegan sausage roll, opt for Marks and Spencer’s newly launched ‘Plant Kitchen’ range, or take matters into your own hands by following the lead of Dirty Sanchez star, Matt Pritchard, who is fronting the BBC’s first vegan cookery show, embracing a vegan diet is easier now than ever before.

Limit sugar

We all know that consuming less sugar is better for our health and after a festive period spent indulging in the sweet stuff, few of us would argue with cleaning up our diet. If you’re considering cutting back on sweet treats in 2019, Public Health England’s recent revelation that children in the UK exceed the maximum recommended sugar intake for an 18-year-old by the time they are 10 provides plenty of food for thought. In fact, the body’s chief nutritionist suggested a sugar tax on puddings if companies did not reduce the sugar in their products. Wales has its own campaigns encouraging parents to give their child a happy and healthy start in life, with Public Health Wales’s Every Child Wales providing a step-by-step guide for parents, arming them with all the information they need to make healthy choices for their family.

Reduce plastic use

You’d have to have been hiding under a rock to have missed media coverage of the devastating impact plastic waste is having on our oceans and the many rallying calls for change that have come from the public, politicians and celebrities alike.

From the tiny bits of plastic in our clothes to plastic straws and cotton buds, news outlets are crammed full of stories highlighting the need for us to reduce our plastic use.

We’ve had a long history of ‘doing our bit’ in this country to reduce plastic consumption, with Wales becoming the first country in the United Kingdom to introduce a minimum charge of 5p on all single use carrier bags way back in 2011.

And thankfully this interest in aspiring towards a plastic-free existence shows no signs of abating, with a noticeable rise in zero-waste shops in Wales – with stores now open in Cardiff, Crickhowell and Tenby. The concept is simple – customers take their own packaging to the stores and weigh out what they need before paying, meaning they have control over the quantity they buy (less food waste) and don’t pay more for fancy packaging and branding. As Wales has the best household waste recycling rates in the UK, second in Europe and third in the world, there’s never been a better time to commit to a more sustainable lifestyle.

Give up alcohol (for January)

After the inevitable excesses of the holiday period, Dry January is a charity initiative the UK public embraces wholeheartedly. Run by Alcohol Change UK, of which our chief executive, John Underwood, is a trustee, Dry January involves abstaining from alcohol for a month, enabling people to reset their drinking habits. In December, Dry January made national news when a YouGov poll revealed more than four million people had pledged to stay off the booze for this year’s event, a rise of 35% on those who committed to giving up alcohol last year. Furthermore, research from the University of Sussex was released claiming that people who take part in Dry January report more energy, better skin, improved sleep and weight loss – all enticing prospects.

So there we have it. Four different campaigns and initiatives that are encouraging us to change our behaviour in 2019. But, as ever, only time will tell which campaign had the key ingredients to capture our imagination and persuade us to make long-term, lifestyle changes.

This article was written by our Group Managing Director, Angharad Neagle, and appeared in the Western Mail newspaper on 14 January 2019.