Firstly, yes this is still a family blog! So, what am I talking about? The answer is the environment and our oceans of course! More to the point, this post is about all the single-use plastics that get dumped into the environment every single day – polluting our oceans and harming our wildlife – and what we can do about it.
Lonely Whale Foundation recently launched their Strawless Ocean campaign asking everyone to pledge to #StopSucking by refusing plastic straws and either go straw-free or use more sustainable alternatives. Between Brits and the US, we use 550 million plastic straws every single day. Each single-use plastic straw takes 200 years to break down into tiny toxic particles. Alot end up in the ocean. That is a huge amount of plastic pollution.
Hey! Have you taken the pledge to #stopsucking yet? 🐙💙 Plastic straws are destroying our oceans 😢 Switch to alternatives! #strawlessocean https://t.co/JOBUjBBMrH
— Katie Desborough (@K_Desborough) June 7, 2017
Share the video and pledge to ditch plastic straws!
Another great charity, 5Gyres, have also launched a campaign to address the use of disposable cups. Ideally the best thing to do is to take a reusable cup with you to cafes and coffee shops. However, if you don’t have a reusable cup available (and why not? There is no excuse – lots of places sell them!) then at least go topless, so that is one less piece of waste!
Did you know in the UK only one in 400 coffee cups are recycled? It is too difficult to separate their plastic coating and cardboard to recycle the card. Yet, as reported by Telegraph, half of people believe their disposable coffee cups are being recycled all or most of the time. As many as 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away in the UK each year – again, that is ALOT of waste. Invest in a resuable cup and remember to take it with you as a small commitment to protecting our oceans, and our planet.
If you would also like other ideas about actions you can take, check out Clean Seas to see what others are up to and join in with their existing campaigns – or start one of your own!
Happy World Oceans Day!
This is great! I totally agree with you! I went for a walk on the beach the other day and the amount of plastic that was left there was disgusting! People should really clean up after themselves because this is harmful to the environment and the animals!
Yup! 100% agree.
I knew as soon as I saw the title of the article what it would be about. So much could be said about the potentially disastrous effects of not only plastic, but also any trash that ends up in the ocean. Plastic shopping bags are another culprit.Mistaken for a jellyfish or turtle, they end up in being eaten with deadly results. Thank you for taking the time to raise awareness of this problem.
What a simple and genius idea to make big change! I know I’ll be doing this from now on. Thanks for writing about something that matters <3
Great post! I also have ditched using plastic straws and all the other one use plastic tools that surround us. Whenever I go to a picnic I take some cutlery from home instead of spending money and buying one use plastic utensils.