single use plastic

Plastic Free Doesn’t Have to Only Last a Month

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Day 212 – July has come to an end and so has Plastic Free July. However, it doesn’t mean you have to stop making an effort to remove plastic from your everyday use. All month, I wrote about ways we can replace single-use plastic with reusable options. I wrote about companies using recycled plastic in their products to help minimize the plastic entering our landfills, oceans and waterways. Hopefully, it inspired you to make some changes and to encourage others to do the same.

Plastic Oceans has created a list of 9 things we can do to help end plastic pollution.

Continue to find ways to eliminate single-use plastic from your life. The fight for the health of our planet is far from over. Stay informed and consider receiving updates and newsletters from Plastic Ocean.

Tomorrow, summer’s not over yet, sustainable flip flops.

The Trillion Pieces of Plastic Challenge

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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.

Costa Rica Plans to Eliminate Single Use Plastics. Why can’t the U.S.?

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Day 148 – Costa Rica hopes to be the first country to eliminate single use plastics. In 2020, President Carlos Alvarado Quesada announced the ambitious plan at his inauguration. He wants to achieve this goal this year, 2021. It does seem like an impossible achievement, but Costa Rica has proven time and time again that they are committed to finding ways to protect and preserve their country. Costa Rica has been an example to the world by reversing deforestation and doubling its forest cover from 26% in 1984 to more than 52% in 2020. They also get almost 99% of their energy from renewable sources. The country uses resources like rivers, volcanos, geothermal, solar, and wind power to make energy.

The plan to eliminate single use plastics consists of 5 strategic axes:

  1. Municipal incentives
  2. Policies and institutional guidelines for suppliers
  3. Replacement of single-use plastic products
  4. Research and development
  5. Investment in strategic initiatives

In June of last year, the country officially launched its national strategy to replace the consumption of single use plastics for renewable and water-soluble alternatives. All single-use items must be recyclable or biodegradable. Petroleum based single-use items will not be allowed in Costa Rica.

So, why wouldn’t this work in the U.S.?

In an article published by NPR on May 18, 2021, a report by Australia’s Minderoo Foundation is discussed. The report offers one of the fullest accountings, to date, of the companies behind the production of single-use plastics. The study identifies 20 companies as the source of 55% of the world’s single-use plastic waste, while the top 100 companies account for more than 90%.

“At the top of what the foundation calls its “Plastic Waste Makers Index” is the energy giant Exxon Mobil, followed by the Dow Chemical Co. and China’s Sinopec. The report found that Exxon Mobil was responsible for 5.9 million metric tons of such waste in 2019, while Dow and Sinopec contributed 5.6 million and 5.3 million, respectively. Taken together, the three companies account for 16% of all waste from single-use plastics such as bottles, bags and food packaging, according to the report.” – NPR

Big business and big money is preventing the U.S. from making any headway in the fight to eliminate single use plastics.

“The report also traced the money invested in the production of single-use plastics, finding that 20 institutional asset managers hold shares worth close to $300 billion in the parent companies that make up the foundation’s rankings. The top three investors are U.S.-based Vanguard Group, BlackRock and Capital Group, which according to the report have an estimated $6 billion invested in the production of single-use plastics.” – NPR

Until, the U.S. can get everyone on board (government, industry, and consumers), we will never be able to accomplish what Costa Rica plans to do and will most likely be successful in doing, saying goodbye to single-use plastics forever.

Tomorrow, celebrating National Learn About Composting Day.

Eliminate Single Use Plastics and Help Save the Whales

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Day 52 – Today is World Whale Day! I have loved whales since I was kid. I wanted to be a marine biologist and study whales and dolphins. I even went out to San Diego for college to follow my dream. I soon realized that this non-swimming, midwesterner was not cut out for a life at sea. However, I never stopped loving those ocean mammals and all their wondrous splendor.

So, on this World Whale Day, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the need to reduce and ideally stop the use of single use plastics. I have spoken in previous posts about the dangers that plastic pose to our ocean and waterways. We have all seen the pictures of deceased animals with an alarming amount of plastic in their stomachs. If you haven’t seen these pictures, than you are ignoring a serious problem.

In a National Geographic article published back in March of 2019, the death of a young whale with 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach was shared.

“The curvier beaked whale, a young male about 15 feet long and weighing 1,100 pounds, likely died of starvation and dehydration brought on by the plastic stuffing its belly. Whales absorb water from the food they eat, and there was no sign that any food had made it into its intestines for many days. Its body was destroying itself from the inside: Its stomach acid, unable to break down the plastic waste, had worn holes through its stomach lining instead.”

“As the plastic pollution crisis grows, more and more dolphins, whales, birds, and fish are found dead with their stomachs full of plastic. In 2015, scientists estimated that around 90 percent of all seabirds have ingested some amount of plastic; UNESCO estimates that 100,000 marine mammals die because of plastic pollution each year.“

So, what can we do?

Thankfully, there are organizations that are trying to educate the public about single use plastics and the need to eliminate them from our everyday life. OPA (Organizing for Plastics Alternatives) is one of those organizations. They are a Chicago-based activist group that is concerned with the ever-growing reliance on single-use plastics. OPA members are working to change attitudes, business practices, and public policies. Their shared vision is to live in a world with less plastic. They are a great resource for those wanting to live a life without plastic.

There is nothing easy about eliminating plastic from our everyday life. It is everywhere! However, it is reassuring to know that there are people out there that want to help us on our journey and provides important information to guide us.

So, let’s try to find alternatives to our single use plastics. The whales will thank us!

Tomorrow, my 1% for the Planet contributions.

Laundry Detergent: Ditching the plastic bottle

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Day 51 – From the day I started doing my own laundry, I have always used liquid detergent. Liquid detergent in a plastic bottle that I assumed was being recycled when I put it out with my recyclables. Well, I am learning that not everything is getting recycled and the best thing we can be doing is avoiding single use plastic. So, I was on the lookout for an alternative and I’m happy to report that there are many options. You can get laundry detergent in strips, pods and powder, just to name a few. Everyone will have their own preference and price point, but I decided to go with laundry powder. I purchased Meliora’s laundry detergent.

Here are just a few of the reasons I decided to purchase Meliora:

  1. There are just 5 ingredients in their detergent and all 5 are people and environment friendly.
  2. There product is plastic free, all the way down to the metal scoop.
  3. Refills are packaged in paper bags, so you can refill your canister without purchasing a new one. You can also refill your canister at zero waste stores.
  4. Meliora is a Chicago based company and I love to support local businesses.
  5. Meliora produces cruelty free products.
  6. Meliora is a 1% for the Planet company. They give 1% of their sales to environmental causes.

So, Meliora is the trifecta! They are local, their product is not harmful to the environment and their business supports organizations protecting the planet.

I never thought I would feel good having to do the laundry, but supporting a company like Meliora makes it a bit easier.

Tomorrow, how we can help save the whales.