5 Plastic Items You Can Ditch To Protect Our Oceans

Oceans and water bodies make up approximately 75% of the world’s surface. I know this sounds like Grade 1 Geography class right….. It’s also true though. We live on a relatively tiny portion of the Earth’s surface but manage to harm the environment in many ways which primarily comes down to our lifestyle choices (maybe not something you want to hear after a hard day of work but there are some feel good take aways, trust me…). We tend to be more careless and indifferent to the idea of environment protection despite knowing that it can be harmful to us in the future. One such result of being careless is the pollution of our oceans due to plastic usage. Not just the water but entire aquatic eco-systems are affected by this threat. Here are the 5 things made out of plastic you can ditch to help protect our oceans.

• Water Bottles and Covers– Plastic water bottles and covers are not disposed of in the way they are supposed to be disposed of. So, in turn, these things end up in the ocean affecting the life under water. Switch to reusable bottles and bags to overcome this problem. It will also help the environment in general.
• Micro Beads are real threats– Micro Beads are present in almost all grooming products these days. Starting from toothpaste to our body and face washes, they are present everywhere. These tiny substances readily enter into the oceans and are consumed by sea-life to their detriment. This can severely injure their insides or cause death.
• Prefer Sustainable Cutlery– Instead of buying food from outside, make food at home or at least request a no plastic delivery. The disposal of straws, plastic spoons and forks have severely injured the turtles and the fish in the ocean and you might have come across the video in which that poor turtle struggles to get rid of a straw stuck in its nose.
• Stop dumping plastic waste in the ocean– This is the easiest solution. Do not dump your waste like covers, bottles, wrappers, etc in the water when you get to the beach or any water body for that matter. Organisms get tangled up in the plastic waste and are choked to death. Some creatures eat these objects which causes a slow poisoning and an eventual slow death.
• Stop using thermocol– Polystyrene or thermocol is something kids use for their projects. These things can be broken down to tiny spheres that can be easily consumed. If it hits the waters, the animals tend to eat these things. They eventually die of poisoning or congestion. These things can never degrade and pose serious threat to the environment in general too.

These are the 5 commonly used plastic products that majorly affect ocean life.

For sustainable activewear lines (made out of recycled bottles) check out Totemmiand Wolventhreads – it helps to shop more sustainably produced clothing items too. 

References

1. Hammer, J; Kraak, MH; Parsons, JR (2012). “Plastics in the marine environment: the dark side of a modern gift”. Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology. 220: 1–44
2. Hunt, Elle (15 May 2017). “38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island”. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
3. Moore, C. J. (2014) Choking the Oceans with Plastic. New York Times