plastic

Sustainable Tip #5: Say “No” to Plastic Straws

January 2, 2020March 23, 2020imnottrashyLeave a comment

Plastic bags, straws, Styrofoam. Why we need to ditch them ... — Image source

“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
-Paulo Coelho

To start the new year plastic-free, one of the best news years resolutions to create is to break the habit of plastic straw use. An article about the history of plastic straws, published by National Geographic, says about 500 million straws are used each day and a study found that they may be 8.3 billion straws are scattered across the world’s beaches. Although it only makes up 0.025% of the plastic in the ocean, it is a huge culprit for harming wildlife. Here are three steps you can take to be in the movement against plastic straws, and single use plastics in general:

Request No Straw at Restaurants And Events

Get into the habit of not needing a straw. Whenever you put in a drink order while eating, at the bars, or at events, simply request no straw. If you travel around to places that do or do not use plastic straws, you’re always in the habit of saying no in case. And you may encourage others to make the same request.

Bring Your Own Straw On The Go!

There’s plenty of reusable straw options out there, and if you enjoy a straw with your drink, I definitely suggest making the investment. It is also makes a great gift!

Some Options to Choose From:

Stainless steel straw and cleaning brush - Extended — Life Without Plastic Collapsible Straw

smoothie straws — Softy Straws- Silicon Straws

Other Metal Straw Options and Other Silicon Straw Options

Encourage Plastic Straw Bans in Your Favorite Stores and Your Community

A number of cities and states including Florida, Boston, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New York City, New York have introduced plastic straw bans. See what your local or state governments is doing to take action against straws and encourage them to take action if they have not already done so. You can also encourage your favorite restaurants or drink shops to take action by implementing paper or metal straws, or to only provide straws when requested.

What do I think About Paper Straws?

I think that paper straws are a push in the right direction, but not the best solution. For one, I hear so many people complain how their sipping experience is unsatisfactory with paper straws and that they may break down. I also find that using them is still consuming a single use resource that if not properly recycled or composted, it can be a large use of resources. It is a slight step forward, but I believe either using a reusable straw that can be used multiple times or no straw at all are better solutions.

Granted, there can be some exceptions for using plastic straws, such as for people that need to use them for medical reasons. However, if you do not need to use them, help lessen the amount that ends up in our oceans.

Ready to Make the Switch?

You Know What’s Really Spooky? Plastic Monsters.

October 16, 2019imnottrashyLeave a comment

Halloween is the time for goblins and ghouls to come out and watch horror movies which recreate some of your worst nightmares. One of my worst nightmares are plastic monsters. All the plastic and single use items get tangled and twisted together to make these terrifying creatures which haunt our oceans and strangle our wildlife. These monsters have already taken over the shorelines of India, Thailand, China, and many more countries. If the plastic monsters have not come creeping into your neighborhood yet, they may well do so this Halloween.

I talked last month about my distrust with Ray for not keeping true to his word for properly recycling. But it’s not his fault when our world has been encouraging so much single plastic use to give these monsters their strength. Each year, about 320 million tons of plastic are produced each year and about 40% of it is single use plastic where they are created and thrown away within the same year.

“I think a single use plastic has no plastic in 21st century. I am also a very firm believer it has no place in this world”
Activist and Beach Cleaner, Afroz Shah

A documentary from Sky News called, “A Plastic Tide,” encompasses how badly this is impacting our oceans and wildlife. Twice a day, the beaches of India get filled with rubbish that has drifted on shore. Trash has been starting to accumulate in the coasts of Britain and soon it will be washing on shore in every coast in every country.

There are trillions of pieces of plastic in the sea, and by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea (Plastic Tide). These plastic monsters lurk within the coasts and the deepest depths of the ocean to invade the homes of wildlife and fish in the sea. Birds and other animals have been mistakenly eating plastic, which eventually leads to starvation as the animal’s stomachs are filled with plastic which never go away.

“The wildlife tells us what we are doing wrong. In the end, everything we do to wildlife we do to ourselves. So even if you do not care about wildlife, we should care for ourselves.”
– Dr Jan Van Franeker, scientist at the Wageningen Marina Research

It feels disgusting to think that we could be eating plastic and having it run through our bloodstream, right? But it has already become our reality. The little phytoplankton starts consuming micro-plastics that are eaten by small fish which are eaten by bigger fish that we and other animals consume. It is approximated that humans eat 39,000 to 52,000 of micro-plastic particles every year. And by the end of the century, it is estimated the British population will be consuming over 750,000,000 pieces of plastic each year.

Artist and campaigner, Jeremy Carroll, does artwork which captures what our reality will soon become. Being tied and strangled by our trash. Plastic filled cereal and rope spaghetti with plastic sauce. Do you want to be eating food or plastic? Do we want plastic to be becoming the new habitats for species instead of the bio-diverse environment we have?

I know after this it may seem like there is not a lot of hope, but there is action we can take to stop strengthening the plastic monster and have it stop haunting the future of our oceans.

Avoid single use plastics. This is what the monsters feed onto the most. Declutter your life by using reusable items more often and saying no to single use. Check out this video where a girl ends her relationship with single use plastics. Honestly, I can say I have broken up with single-use plastic too and feel a lot better after getting out of that toxic relationship. If you need to know where to start, follow my sustainable tips every first Wednesday of the month to get an idea where to start.

Implement fees on disposables. It is more effective to change behavior if you penalize the bad behavior with something like a fee. Implementing fees on disposable containers, plastic bags, and cups will help with reducing the use of disposables and switch to re-usable options more. The money generated from these fees can raise funds to attack the monsters in our oceans and fund clean-up efforts.

Demand less plastic use from your companies. Businesses who give their products to you in single use plastic makes defeating this monster so difficult. Greenpeace did a campaign to get Nestle to stop creating so much single plastic use products. As consumers of products, we need to demand more reusable and compostable products rather than getting suffocated and trapped by these plastic monsters.

Websites Pictures Sourced From:

Sustainable Tip #2: Switch Out the Plastic Bottle for a Reusable One

October 3, 2019October 11, 2019imnottrashyLeave a comment

“I’ll tell you what me scares me is plastic….Why does my water have to be in a bloody plastic bottle? The landfill and the ocean. And I don’t know, I’m just terrified with the proliferation of plastic.
–Helen Mirren, British Actress

Seagulls search for food near a sewage discharge area next to piles of plastic bottles washed away by the water on the seaside of Ouzai, south of Beirut, on July 19th, 2018. Many Lebanese nationals are refraining from heading to the beach this summer after reports about high levels of pollution along the country's Mediterranean coast, despite reassurances from government officials that the beaches remain safe. — Taken from Pacific Standard

Over 480 billion plastic bottles are sold worldwide. It is one of the common items we are using to pollute our oceans that we have become addicted to the convenience. Here are five reasons why to change to a reusable bottle and how to do it:

Reason #1: Reduce the Amount of Waste Going into Our Landfills and Oceans

A majority of plastic bottles do not get properly recycled and most of the time they will end up in our landfills and oceans. If every person on the planet only drank from plastic water bottles, it would be over 1,382 bottles per person, equivalent to over 10 trillion plastic bottles each year. Every person that eliminates their plastic water bottle consumption leads to less plastic and a cleaner environment.

Reason #2: The Payback for a Reusable Container Beats Thousands of Plastic Water Bottle

Many people can be hesitant about getting a reusable bottle because of the upfront cost people have to pay. However, as I learned at Zion National Park, you can refill a reusable water, “with tap water for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days before it would cost as much as one quart of bottled water.” If that isn’t convincing money savings, using plastic bottles for one year would cost you over $2000 a year, or $21,708 in that same time period. Save money and the planet. ❤

Reason #3: The Water Quality Within Tap Water is The Same, Sometimes Better Quality Than Bottled Water

There’s a misconception that bottled water is safer than tap. Studies have found tap water is about the same and sometimes better quality than bottled water. That’s because drinking water that is provided through public water systems is regulated, while bottled water is not and they could be pulling the water source from anywhere they wanted to. Studies also found most of the time people could not tell the difference from tap and bottled water. Look up what the water quality is like in your area or install a filter system in your home to ensure the safety of your tap water.

Eating at the "Top" of the Food Chain Also Means Eating Plastic | Meat Your Future — Taken from Meat Your Future

Reason #4: You Care About Your Health

Because of our plastic consumption, we have already been consuming plastics, unintentionally. A study found that humans could be consuming 39,000 to 52,000 micro-plastic particles a year, and possibly inhaling over 74,000 particles. Another study found over 90% of bottle companies had plastic fibers coming off their bottles people could consume. If we do not want to continue consuming plastic, we need to reduce our plastic use so we can consume more of natural foods, plastic free.

Reason #5: You Care About the Planet! ❤

Passion does fuel change. If you don’t want the world to be overwhelmed with plastic for future generations, get yourself in the habit to make the world a better place. ❤

Tips to Get You in The Habit of Using a Reusable Bottle:

Have at least two water bottles or containers available. Have more reusable bottles around so if you ever get lazy and do not want to wash your bottle, you have another one ready to go. You can place a bottle in your car, in your bag, or in your office space so you always have one on hand at all times.
Set a reminder on your phone to grab your bottle. If you are forgetful or trying to start the habit, it can remind you on your way out.
Personalize it. Getting a bottle with a nice design or putting on stickers makes your bottle like a fashion statement. You will be enticed to show off your bottle and you always know which one is yours.
It doesn’t need to be an official water bottle. Many people have used other containers including glass jars to put water in. Use what is convenient for you.
If you are traveling or going to events, make sure your water bottle is empty before entering. Some places will not allow you to take in a bottle with water in it for security reasons. If you bring the container, you can fill it up after passing through airport security or event check in. An event should not be an excuse to use a plastic bottle!

Exceptions When to Use Plastic Bottles:

Natural Disasters
Poor Water Quality in the area
Medical Epidemic

List of Bottle Ideas Depending on Your Preference:

Glass: Simply use a mason jar or glass jar after use, Package Free Shop, and here’s a mass search too

Ceramic: EarthinUSA, mass search

Stainless Steel: Package Free Shop with different sizes, Hydro Flask, Tervis, mass search,

Collapsible Bottles: Que, mass search

Durable Plastic: Tervis, Brita , mass search