Day 189 – On Day 71, I wrote about switching to a reusable razor. I purchased an Albatross razor. It started off great, but due to my accident prone ways, I needed to discontinue use. I still know people that love their reusable razors. Unfortunately, I’m not skilled enough to use one without injury.
Now, with all that said, I wanted to share a great campaign created by Albatross.
“There are an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. The Plastic Disclosure Project, a project run by Hong Kong-based advocacy group Ocean Recovery Alliance, estimates that 33 percent of plastic manufactured worldwide is used once, then discarded. Making matters worse, 85 percent of the world’s plastic is not recycled when discarded. Such a dire set of human behaviors means that, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. In fact, plastic consumption is actually still increasing! Did you know, for example, 1 million water bottles are thrown out every minute? Every minute!
Albatross Designs has introduced the Trillion Pieces of Plastic Campaign. There are currently 7.2 Billion people in the world. If just 13.8% of these people committed to, in their lifetime, picking up from the ground 1,000 pieces of plastic litter and disposing of it properly, then we’d have effectively prevented one TRILLION! pieces of plastic from entering the ocean. Yes, that same water bottle cap you see on the sidewalk will likely be washed into streams or rivers and then into the ocean. Once in the ocean the task of plastic clean up becomes infinitely more difficult, if possible at all. Our goal in this campaign is defensive. Let’s, together, discover a new meaning of personal responsibility and stop the plastic before it reaches the ocean.
A Trillion Pieces of Plastic encourages citizens to commit to picking up 1,000 pieces of plastic litter in their lifetime. But, if one were to pick up a piece of litter a day, they’d meet this goal in under 3 years. Some beaches are so littered with plastic that a motivated individual could easily pick up a 1,000 pieces of plastic in a single day.” – Albatross Designs
So, whether we decide to spread this challenge over your lifetime or spend 589 consecutive days picking up litter, like Edgar McGregor did in LA County’s most popular hiking spots, we all have a role to play in keeping plastic out of our waterways.
Though, picking up plastic is important, we also need to reduce our use of single-use plastic. Until that happens, we will have countless pieces of plastic to pick up.
Tomorrow, rugs made from upcycled waste materials.
365 Ways to Save the Planet 