Today is World Ocean Day.
A huge amount of waste plastic ends up in our oceans with estimates of between “eight and 13 billion tonnes” (Evening Standard 2016). Let’s reduce our consumption of plastic. I used to be terrible and now strive to be better. We grow up in a society where convenience is king, and using a plastic bottle and binning it every day is considered absolutely normal. It’s not.
Last week I read an interesting feature piece in the Evening Standard stating the importance of using less plastic. Its author set himself the task of living plastic free for 7 days. It showed how difficult this is and I completely understand. The throwaway culture prevails.
I sometimes eat fast food for the convenience. I was in Leicester the other month and I asked for a hot mocha but stated that I required no plastic lid as I was drinking inside and would just be taking it to the table. She looked at me, and put one on anyway. I instantly took it off, left it on the side, and a colleague of hers sheepishly placed it in the bin. Think of the resources that went into the extraction, manufacturing and transporting of this plastic lid. A similar thing happened in Burger King a couple of weeks ago but with a paper bag.
In the UK, over 7 billion disposable plastic bottles are used (Evening Standard, 2016). This is ridiculous.
Action needs to be taken now!
Currently the vast majority of life on planet earth is in our oceans but as quoted from the Evening Standard the other week “We are on track to have more plastic than fish in our oceans by weight by 2050”. Wwwhhhaaattt!
Samuel x
References:
Evening Standard (2016) Feature – “From refillable eco bottles to cutlery with a conscience, London is leading the global backlash against plastic. Nick Curtis goes seven days without the white stuff”, pg.29, Tuesday 31st May 2016.
