Plastic Pollution and How We Can End It
After watching "A Plastic Ocean" last night on Netflix, my heart breaks for the amount of plastic that pollutes the ocean, killing wildlife and piling up in landfills! #DidYouKnow: Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.
50% of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away.
Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.
We currently recover only five percentof the plastics we produce.
The average American throws away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.
Plastic constitutes approximately 90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean's surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.
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We as individuals HAVE to make conscious decisions on our impact on the environment! After watching A Plastic Ocean, I realized plastic might be the most dangerous threat to our planet's future!! 84.5 million barrels of oil is used A DAY to produce plastic products. The toxins found in plastic alone, are a threat to our health, like plastic tupperware, cutlery, tampon applicators, and baby bottles. (According to the documentary, BPA is just ONE of several toxins found in plastic!)
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9 Tips on How To Eliminate Plastic:
REUSE! REUSE! REUSE! When it comes to shopping bags and bottled water, cloth bags and metal or glass bottles are a more sustainable and healthier choice.
Ditch single-serving packaging, excess packaging, straws and other "disposable" plastics.
Carry reusable utensils in your purse, backpack or car to use at bbq's, potlucks or take-out restaurants.
Reduce everyday plastics such as sandwich bags and juice cartons by replacing them with a reusable lunch bag/box!
Bring your to-go mug with you to the coffee shop, smoothie shop or restaurants that let you use them, which is a great way to reduce lids, plastic cups and/or plastic-lined cups!
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PLEASE WATCH:: A Plastic Ocean on Netflix, available now! And pledge to eliminate your personal use of plastic! TOGETHER, we can be the generation that puts a stop to damaging plastic pollution both in our ocean and landfills!