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Plastic, killing one sea creature at a time!
Wednesday 19th April 2017 | Grace
From drinking bottles to carrier bags and even cheap cutlery, plastic is everywhere!
It has become such a normal part of our daily lives that we probably don’t even notice how much we use it. And why would we? It’s cheap and convenient makes our lives just that bit easier.
So, if it’s that good then why did the government insist that we started to pay 5p for a bag when we try and do our shopping?
The truth is, most plastic that we buy ends up in the world’s oceans, killing marine life by choking the creatures that swallow it, animals get caught in it and plastic fills up the stomachs of the wildlife that ingest it. In fact, it’s thought that 9,000,000 tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean each year and no, that isn’t a typo that really says 9 MILLION TONNES A YEAR!
Plus, let’s face it, all that crap floating about the sea and clogging up the beach just looks plain gross.
But, there are ways we can prevent this from getting worse. Here are some simple but effective measures we can all take every day to ensure that we become a help rather than a hindrance to the worlds seas and nature:
Be aware of how much plastic we use and invest in re-usable items
Bags, straws, cups, nappies, the list goes on. For most plastic items that exist, there is more than likely to be a re-usable counterpart for the item you want. The odd thing may take a little research and a bit of an investment but most things work out cheaper in the long run, and it’s better than a plastic straw being wedged up a turtles nose. And unless they are arses, most café’s will fill up your water bottle free of charge too.
Don’t buy products that use microbeads
These are things like facewashes that contain tiny amounts of plastic used to exfoliate the skin but end up being ingested by small creatures when they are released into the water system. Instead, try a natural exfoliant like a salt scrub or a face cloth with a home-made face cleanser tends to work just fine.
Learn to cook
Buying less takeaways means you will be getting less plastic cutlery and boxes that are never used again. Plus, being able to cook your own takeaway style food is always impressive. When buying fresh fruit and veg, try and buy loose as the power of supply and demand means that supermarkets will soon get the hint about not smothering everything in as much needless packaging as they can.
Buy second hand.
Buying products second hand simply means that new products aren’t being manufactured and old products aren’t being thrown away. It also avoids all that pesky packaging that comes with new items.
Recycle!
This may seem obvious but if people just learnt how to sort out their rubbish in the first place and took responsibility then there would be no need to make people aware of the problems in the world oceans.
See what National Geographic and A Plastic Ocean have to say about the problem.
