No Planet B
WHY SKIP PLASTIC?
Though widely available and durable to hold most anything, plastic has become a nuisance in that it’s almost too durable! It can take upwards of 450 years for plastic bags and bottles to decompose! Meaning the likelihood of plastic from before we were born being present in the world to this day is very high!
But there’s recycling right?
YES! The issue with plastic is it isn’t endlessly recyclable like glass, and can often only be recycled up to 2 more times to extend its life! If that’s not enough only about 9% of plastic waste ever produced has actually been recycled (UNEP), so when the rest of our unrecycled plastic begins to decompose it sheds into microplastics which are nearly in everything we consume daily from clothing, water, and meat!
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life! (NOAA) While plastic pieces can be large or small, microplastics are so small that they are easy to consume! They are harmful to our oceans and our bodies! Ingesting these plastics release toxic chemicals into our bodies that can cause inflammation and cancer. According to greenmatters.com, researchers studied bodies of some people who had passed and found traces of microplastics in every organ! While it’s apparent we have all ingested some amount of microplastics we can reduce our use of plastics all together by avoiding a plastic bottle of body wash, and using a natural, biodegradable, plastic free soap and swapping out plastic drug store loofahs for biodegradable sisal soap saver bags!
While it’s impossible to rid plastic of our entire lives we do what we can to lessen the blow Mama earth will endure!
MORE WAYS TO CUT OUT PLASTIC
To take it a step further, there are even more ways you can reduce your consumption of plastic to help the planet and yourself! Here’s a list of additional easy ways to cut plastic waste out of your routine from Earthday.org!
•Choose clothing made without synthetic materials
•Bring reusable coffee cups to grab your favorite coffee and get reusable bamboo or steel straw if that’s your thing!
•Use reusable shopping bags at the market!
•Invest in a water filter vs buying plastic bottles of water!
•Bring reusable containers to restaurants for your leftovers!