REDUCE instead of just recycling plastic. Just because you put something in a recycling bin, doesn’t mean it gets recycled! 50% of items put in recycling bins doesn’t get recycled. Why? China is no longer accepting as much recycled material, so now it is going into landfills. As a result, our earth is swimming in plastic. It is estimated that 14 billion pounds of plastic per year ends up in our oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers 1.6 million square kilometers — 617,000 square miles — according to a new report from The Ocean Cleanup foundation. Wow! We need to focus more on reducing or stopping our use of plastic. Plastic is choking our oceans, killing our whales, dolphins, turtles and sea life. There are huge patches of floating plastic in the ocean, some bigger than the state of New Jersey! All this started around 1950 and it keeps getting worse every year. Let’s stop the madness! I challenge you to purchase items not packed in plastic. Don’t use plastic bags, don’t drink water from plastic bottles, don’t use straws or plastic or Styrofoam drink cups. Take it a step further and don’t purchase clothing made with polyester, nylon, acrylic and synthetic fibers. Re-use old clothing for rags, woven rugs, or dog bedding. If you must purchase polyester, buy polyester cotton blends which shed less plastic in the wash than pure polyester or acrylic clothing. Bring a glass container to take home leftovers from the restaurant. Place a thin mesh bag on the end of the washing machine hose to capture fibers. Most of all, change your life style and live more mindfully.
RSS Feed
