NEWS
EVENTS
Save the world, go zero waste
Friday 15th June 2018 | Toms
It is 2018, I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘zero waste’ floating around online, but not sure what exactly it is, or how you can participate? Let me tell you!
It’s a movement that aims to reduce waste produced, to as little as an individual can. Nowadays, anything that you bring home, is more than likely wrapped in plastic. All your toiletries? Plastic. Vegetables? Plastic. Drinks? Mostly plastic. And beyond that, if it is not plastic, it might be other materials that cause harm to the planet.
Other than how much energy it takes and the harmful emissions from production, plastic has shown to be quite difficult to recycle (less than 5% of all plastics are recycled) and good and polluting every corner of the world.
While a plastic bag is expected to be only used on average for 12 minutes, it has a life expectancy of a 1,000 years. And when I said that plastic pollutes every corner of the world?
Recently scientists found a plastic bag at the worlds deepest ocean trench, the Mariana Trench, 36,000 feet under... Let that sink in.
All the plastics and the microplastics that fill our environment are also harmful to the animals with which we share the planet. Over a 100,000 marine mammals, and 1 million seabirds die every year due to ingestion problems related to plastics.
In fact, more and more plastic makes it back to us in an ironic twist of fate. The sea salt that you use, and the fish you eat? Increasingly more studies suggest that we end up consuming the plastics that litter the oceans.
Here are some tips as to what you can do:
- Go to farmers markets and buy fresh vegetables.
- Those 10s of tote bags that you have from university open days? Ideal for the aforementioned veg, and general shopping.
- London has loads of bulk stores, where you can buy seeds, beans, nuts, coffee, spices and bring them home in reused jars!
- In fact, stop buying plastic, look for alternatives in glass jars, bottles, or tin cans.
The internet is your friend, go on and google ‘zero waste‘, and help save the planet!
