Let’s face it, we have a plastic problem. In today’s world it is virtually impossible to make it through the day without using something that is wrapped in single use plastic. According to The Globalist (link below), the average person in North America uses 220 pounds of plastic each year, mostly from packaging. This isn’t surprising, even fruits and vegetable often come in plastic and if they don’t we put them in a plastic bag at the grocery store, then put that in another plastic bag to head home. I’m not pointing fingers here, it’s extremely hard to avoid. But with 220 pounds per person of plastic being dropped into our environment each year and 1,000 years for plastic to decompose, the numbers just don’t add up. According to some reports, in just a few decades the amount of plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish.
Plastic is not only prolific, it’s hard to recycle. Even if it starts in a recycle bin, often time it actually finds it’s way to landfills or oceans. According to National Geographic in a 2018 article, 91% of plastic isn’t recycled.
Plastic is getting into our oceans and streams in ways that are also much less apparent. Tiny particles of plastic enter our water system a variety of way including personal care products, washing laundry (synthetic fabrics), decomposition of larger plastics. These microplastics impact both sea life and humans by entering the food system and carrying along toxins and carcinogenic chemicals.
What we can do now to help!
#1 Cut out single use plastic bottles and bags
The old saying Reduce, Reuse, Recycle should be done in that order. The more we can reduce the need for single use plastic the lower the burden will be to create new bottles and bags. This has the ability reduce our impact on the earth from creation to resolution.
Check out this Earth Day 2018 Fact Sheet on Single Use Plastic: Fact Sheet
I was surprised to read, Americans use about 50 billion water bottles per year, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person. One person using one reusable water bottle, you could save an average of 156 plastic bottles annually (Earth Day). This is definitely an area where you don’t have to change everything, just cutting out single use plastic where you can has the ability to make a significant impact on the environment.
#2 Switch up your laundry detergent
Traditional laundry detergent comes in big clunky plastic and has dyes and chemicals. Many of the mainstream options also contain microplastics that subversively get into our water supply.
Fortunately, there are more and more options for sustainable and plastic free detergents. I recently switched to Dropps for both laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. We couldn’t be happier! The pods come in a recyclable cardboard box and is now delivered using carbon free shipping. The laundry detergent works great, the scent is a bit more subtle than average with less fragrance.
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#3 As much as possible, stay away from plastic packaging
Tons of our daily use products are wrapped in plastic: food, hygiene products, toilet paper and all more. But there is good news, more and more options are becoming available to provide an alternative to plastic.
We’ve recently switched to Reel Toilet Paper, it’s sustainability made and comes in plastic free wrapping. Their website notes that using bamboo rather than traditional sources reduces the removal of trees and can be harvested quicker and with 30% water use. The product is very high quality and comes in close to the cost of Charmin or other big brands.
Just being aware is half the battle, so much of our waste is the by product of convenience. By it’s very nature convenient things don’t really catch our attention. Just being mindful of the waste we are creating will help a shift that can reduce the amount of plastic dumped on to our land and in our water each year. It may seem insurmountable, but it’s really not. Cut out what you can, ever reduction helps.
There are tons of memes showing… “It’s only one bottle… said 8 million people”. But it’s true, this is an issue that if it’s within our control, we should step up and fix. Not everyone can do it all but everyone can do something, help where you can. As Mother Teresa “You can do what I cannon do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things.”
