plastic pollution – Page 5

Erase Plastic Pollution

Do we want water that looks like this? — Do we want waterways that looks like this?

My series on less waste continues:

We can all do something about this tremendous influx of trash and I will be posting ideas for 31 days on how to reduce trash and waste:

Plastic, what an amazing and awful product at the same time.! It is cheap and it is light. Unfortunately, it has become an enormous environmental problem. Many lack the personal responsibility to get single-use plastic bottles and bags to the recycle bin. Many developing nations I visit seem oblivious to it, except in tourist areas! Days 6 through 11 of #31daysofreducingwaste are going to focus on how we can have less plastic pollution.

So what is the problem with plastic? Many say the materials in plastic cause cancer. Plastic will never dissolve, but will break into thousands of pieces of litter. The plastic in the oceans will be here on earth for hundreds of years and it will be found in the intestines of many fish, turtles and birds. Plastic creates a terrible waste and litter problem. According to the http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/tag/plastic/ If left unchecked, there could be 250 million tons of plastic in the ocean by 2025 — about one pound of plastic for every three pounds of fish. We can’t let this happen.

Avoid plastic, fill your glass or metal bottles with liquid

** The best way to reduce plastic trash is NOT to drink bottled water. Bring a reusable water bottle to work, school, and for all your adventures.

**Avoid plastic bags. Always bring your reusable shopping bags.

Shopping bags made from recycled plasstic — Shop with reusable bags

** How can you avoid baggies? I love these compostable wax paper bags

** Reuse and recycle all plastic bags.

Please recycle plastic bags at grocery stores!

* Reduce packaging: Try to purchase items with no packaging or packaging that can be recycled.

** Never purchase items that contain microbeads : https://health4earth.com/2014/07/16/what-products-contain-microbeads/

From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)

http://washburn.mpls.k12.mn.us/washburn_green_team_video.html This is a great video made by my local high school students on reducing trash.

Single-Use is Ocean Abuse

Below is from Plastic Pollution Coalition: http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/

Take The Pledge to Use Less Plastic Every Day http://actnow.surfrider.org/app/sign-petition?0&engagementId=58936

Change Begins Onshore

Plastic lasts forever… our oceans are turning into plastic soup.

It doesn’t biodegrade and no naturally occurring organisms can break it down. Plastic photodegrades, which means that sunlight breaks it down into smaller and smaller pieces. Those small pieces drift in the ocean and are mistaken for food by fish and birds.

It is undisputable that plastic pollution is killing marine life through ingestion and entanglement in plastic marine litter.

Up to 80% of the plastic in our oceans comes from the land – us. Single-use is ocean abuse. So, make a pledge today to make these simple 5 changes, which will have a huge impact on our oceans health:

1) Use cloth shopping bags. For each reusable bag you use, it’s estimated that another 400 plastic bags will be kept from being used.
2) Forget bottled water and carry a reusable canteen. Every reusable water bottle will keep another 167 plastic bottles from entering the environment.
3) Bring a reusable mug when you go to your local coffee shop.
4) Skip the straw, which are one of the top 10 items found on beaches.
5) And, of course, Recycle!

TAKE THE PLEDGE: COMMIT to Rising Above Plastics! http://actnow.surfrider.org/app/sign-petition?0&engagementId=58936

http://www.organicgardening.com/living/5-key-strategies-plastic-free-life

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2015/02/13/trashing-the-ocean-new-study-provides-first-estimate-of-how-much-plastic-flows-into-the-ocean/

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/great-pacific-garbage-patch-is-destroying-the-oceans/

Talking Trash Tuesday

Avoid plastic, fill your glass or metal bottles with water or other liquid

Talking Trash Tuesday

Please take a reusable bottle with you today, and say “No” to plastic!

Today I start my new series on trash that should be recycled! In 2015 there is no excuse that recyclables fill our landfill trash cans. I am guilting everyone into recycling more. Because this is World Water Week, I am worried about the plastic that fills our water bodies. Plastic makes up 80% of the trash found in the ocean. This plastic could be part of the ocean forever breaking into little tiny fragments ingested by fish and other sea life and eaten by us??

From our homes to our workplaces, schools, supermarkets, shopping centers and places in between, plastic is everywhere. But what happens to all that plastic when it reaches the end of its useful life? Some is recycled, while the rest ends up in landfills, incinerators and the environment. A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme — Valuing Plastics: The Business Case for Measuring, Managing and Disclosing Plastic Use in the Consumer Goods Industry — encourages us all to take a more holistic and sustainable look at this most ubiquitous of materials. http://ensia.com/infographics/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-plastic-pollution/

This is an excellent video about the marketing of plastic:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153735969475884&fref=nf The story of bottled water

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/19/prince-charles-calls-for-end-to-dumping-of-plastic-in-worlds-oceans

http://storyofstuff.org/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pick-up-One-Piece-of-Trash-a-Day/267910856667805