Since the shocking news of plastic pollution in the oceans, a friend and I have been playing a little game. Pick up three pieces of plastic a day. An inconsequential number in reality, just a little bit of a challenge and a feeling that we’ve done our bit. I took to picking up plastic bottles because they felt more substantial and also it ‘helped’ that the road I walked along to get to work of a morning was riddled with them along a grass verge.
The average weight of a plastic bottle is around 12 grams and if I stuck to my tiny resolution of 3 a day, that equals 2 kilos a week 131 kilos a year kept out of the sea. So, it would take only 7 people doing the same, to prevent one tonne from going into the sea. A tiny dent in the eight million tonnes that enter the oceans each year but it’s something even the laziest of us can do.
Various organisations often run litter picks and beach clean-ups throughout the year.
Limit the use of single use plastics. Many supermarket goods are wrapped in cellophane. Biscuits, sweets, magazines even books, wrapped in single use plastic. The magazine can be recycled but what of the plastic?
The National Trust switched its magazine wrapper to biodegradable potato starch. It looks and feels like plastic and does the job of protecting the magazine from dirt in the post. If they can do it, why can’t other companies? The thing is, these companies rely on their consumers, if we challenge them, they will respond. For example, Wetherspoons and other high-profile chains such as All Bar One have gone plastic straw free as of the beginning of 2018. All Bar One estimated that it purchased 4.7 million straws a year. (Resource Magazine) That’s a serious amount of plastic and indicative of the sort of waste produced nationwide.
Consider plastic consumption, do you need to have bottled water in a restaurant? Is there paper or glass alternative?
Buy at greengrocers, they tend to use paper instead of plastic. Wax sheets to wrap sandwiches instead of cling film. This has the added benefit of supporting your local high street and local businesses.
The reusable buzz and the morning cup of coffee, most disposable coffee cups are not recyclable. Many places are offering customers incentives to encourage customers to bring their own reusable cups. From local cafes offering reductions in price, to big chains like Greggs who have app incentives and free coffee as part of their drive. Little things matter, when to go, is the key to our fast paced working lives.
Get involved with local events, so many parks and community gardens have ‘friends of’ and other organisations attached, who often run litter picks and beach clean-ups throughout the year. They often put calls out for volunteers in local papers or on fliers in local business windows. Some national organisations such as the Marine Conservation Society and the National Trust organise beach cleans, where they do an in depth clean of different stretches of coastline nationwide. Local councils sometimes organise beach cleans straight after storms, which is when the sea is more likely to strew its plastic contents. So getting down to the shore after a storm is often the most effective way for the average coastal resident to make an immediate difference.
The call to stop choking our oceans has gone up. Governments and businesses are responding, now the rest is up to us.
Get stuck in.
