A million plastic bottles are bought every minute.
5 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year.
Half of all plastic produced is single-use.
These are somewhat disturbing statistics from the United Nations Environment Program that alarm that plastic is already part of the Earth’s fossil record and a marker of the current geological era.
There is global campaigns fighting to eliminate single-use plastics polluting our seas and oceans. Part of these movements is Judith Enck, a former regional coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Albany, New York.
A trip to any American supermarket is a kind of plastic disaster, but there are steps we can take as individuals to limit our use of plastic. A little thought is required, don’t be too hard on yourself. We eat peanut butter at home, so I look for glass jars, not plastic. We bought oranges which I put in my reusable bag. When I got fish, I asked them not to put it in a plastic bag, but to wrap it in paper.
Judith Enck – Advocacy Group Beyond Plastic
Mrs. Enck advises against buying packaged carrots and lettuce. Plastics can be deposited for decades and centuries in nature and become the silent killer. Of biological species.
Consumers should be aware that most plastics are not recyclable. Only between 5 and 6% of plastics are recyclable in the United States. So our main advice is to avoid plastic when you can.
Judith Enck – Advocacy Group Beyond Plastic
Humans produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste every year.
Unfortunately, the persistence of this waste in rivers, seas and on land means it remains in the environment for centuries. But each person can contribute with their small steps to change this trend.
