Statistics from GreenPeace, an environmental organization, suggest that less than 10% of all plastic is recycled.
The rest is dumped into the ocean or shipped to other countries.
Indeed, the effects of this waste are catastrophic for both people and animals.
For people, chemicals found in plastic have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and developmental issues.
Animals like sea turtles can get caught in different plastic mechanisms and are often seriously injured. Others, such as birds, eat the plastic and become sick.
The environment also suffers greatly as plastic infests the oceans, even reaching as far as the deepest trenches and into the Arctic, destroying habitats in the process.
This carnage is partly due to the fact that half of all plastic is single use, so it is immediately discarded when finished.
Plastic takes hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, and when it does, it turns into microplastic, made up of very harmful chemicals.
So...enough of depressing facts...how can we help?
Obviously, it is not enough to recycle, for as I mentioned, the government rarely ensures that plastic goes through the proper recycling process. One solution is to lobby companies to stop using plastics, particularly grocery stores, which produce 800,000 tonnes of plastic per year in the UK. You can do this by supporting charities and by signing petitions that we will link to below. However, personal change is also needed. A simple solution is to stop buying plastics and replace them with something else. Buy glass containers instead of Tupperware. Use metal or paper straws instead of plastic ones. If you are going to a coffee shop...bring your own cup to fill. If you do buy plastic, reuse it if possible instead of throwing it away. This is not an overnight change, it is a call to buy less plastic over the long run. Yet, every little bit makes a difference.
Petition for grocery stores to limit the use of plastic products:
Petition for the UK government to stop outsourcing unrecycled plastic to other countries and cut single use plastic use:
John Pizzuto-Pomaco, Just Love Aberdeen Global Coordinator.
Comments