“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.”—Mother Teresa
Going plastic free is something I have been dipping my toe in for about 6 months now, lockdown has provided me with the time to stop all my excuses and finally start doing something about it! So I thought I would share my experience of finding/using plastic free products! Each week I will be sharing a blog of what I have found, navigating all the terminology and most importantly being honest about my experience.
- Plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world, from busy tourist beaches to uninhabited, tropical islands nowhere is safe.
- Scientists have recently discovered microplastics embedded deep in the Arctic ice.
- In 1950, the world’s population of 2.5 billion produced 1.5 million tons of plastic; in 2016, a global population of more than 7 billion people produced over 320 million tons of plastic. This is set to double by 2034.
- Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans.
- There may now be around 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean. Weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
- Plastics consistently make up 60 to 90% of all marine debris studied.
- Approx 5,000 items of marine plastic pollution have been found per mile of beach in the UK.
- Over 150 plastic bottles litter each mile of UK beaches.
- Recent studies have revealed marine plastic pollution in 100% of marine turtles, 59% of whales, 36% of seals and 40% of seabird species examined.
- 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually.
