C an you imagine a life without plastic? It’s permeated our lives like the air we breathe, like water we drink. The convenience of plastic, its durability and inability to deteriorate, is exactly why it is one of the biggest problems we now face. Not only has it clogged up our landfills and we now need to clear more precious land to store it, it also percolates in the form of micro-plastics in our waterways, and ultimately our ocean. Did you know that there are 4 major garbage patches in the world’s oceans? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an island of plastic between Hawaii and Oregon that is three times the size of France. Scientists predict that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean (in weight) by the year 2050. Let’s help do our part and reduce plastic. Avoid single-use plastic at all costs. Any plastic is harmful to our ecosystem, but styrofoam is the worst of it all, use plastic-free alternatives whenever available.
Here are some other plastic facts and tid-bits:
- Did you know that plastic is created from fossil fuels? Big oil companies depend on making NEW plastic to keep up their BIG profits. Now that the world is switching over to electric cars, these oil companies are even more desperate for us to continue our plastic consumption. They are keeping the price of new plastic is very low to keep the demand high.
- Did you know that the concept of plastic recycling was a ploy, created by the oil companies so that we won’t feel badly about using single-use plastic? Big Oil knew all along that plastic recycling doesn’t really work. The only recycling that is true to its word is recycling of glass, metal and paper! Here is an eye-opening article from NPR that is worth reading.
- Even if you sort your plastic waste in a recycling bin, chances are it is not getting recycled; less than 9% of plastics in the recycling bin gets recycled. Have you heard the 3 R’s: REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE? There now is a 4th “R” which is REFUSE plastic when you possibly can. Not only has it clogged up our landfills, forcing us to clear more precious land to store it (and killing wildlife and habitats), it also percolates in the form of microplastics in our waterways, and ultimately our oceans. Did you know that there are 5 major garbage patches (smog of plastic and microplastics collecting in circular currents), called gyres, in the world’s oceans? Check out 5 Gyres: www.5gyres.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to mitigating the world’s plastic crisis. They are a leader in the global movement against plastic pollution, and have wonderful educational resources and call-to-actions to help. We had the opportunity to do a wonderful webinar with them in 2020. Check it out here.
- An estimated 80% of all plastic waste in the oceans comes from land sources, and 20% from marine sources. In some regions, marine sources contribute a larger percentage. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which has been estimated to be the size of Texas, more than half of the plastics come from fishing nets, ropes and lines. Many people do not realize that fishing lines and fishing nets are also constructed of plastic and that abandoned fishing nets (“ghost nets”) are a significant source of marine debris. Not only do they contribute to plastic pollution in the ocean, they also result in the destruction and killing of an astounding number of fish, dolphins, whales and other marine creatures, as told in the 2021 Netflix documentary, Seaspiracy.
