Did you know?
Plastic bottles take 450+ years to break down?
Plastic water bottles were first created and used commercially in 1947. That means that if one was dropped into the ocean in the very first year, it will still be floating somewhere and will not ‘degrade’ (into permanent micro-plastic particles) until the year 2397 - 450 years later. Research also shows that harmful toxins (eg BPAs) are used in many food and beverage containers which can leach into our foods!
Wherever possible, GO REUSABLE!
'Biodegradable" is really just Green-washing?
Plastics that are currently marketed as “biodegradable” will themselves contribute to plastic pollution if they are lost or littered. 'Bio-degradable' simply means that they will break down into thousands of tiny plastic pieces. They do not break down as quickly and completely in the environment as the term might imply and can thus harm wildlife and ecosystems.
Wherever possible, CHOOSE to REFUSE!
Compostable cups are only okay if they actually get composted?
You've enjoyed your take-out latte, and feel good that the cafe has given you a compostable cup but, oops! where's the compost bin? As well-intentioned as they are, compostable cups are unfortunately another bit of green-washing. To break down correctly they have to be taken to commercial compost facilities - the nearest in Tai Tokerau is up in Kaitaia or down in Auckland! So 99% of cafes add these cups to their landfill rubbish, where they will produce harmful greenhouse gasses as they break down.
Wherever possible, BYO CUP!
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is real?
"Researchers from The Ocean Cleanup project claimed that the patch covers 1.6 million square kilometres. The plastic concentration is estimated to be up to 100 kilograms per square kilometre in the centre, going down to 10 kilograms per square kilometre in the outer parts of the patch. An estimated 87,000 metric tons of plastic inhabit the patch, totalling 1.8 trillion pieces.[6] 92% of the mass in the patch comes from objects larger than 0.5 centimetres, while 94% of the total objects are represented by microplastics.[7] Some of the plastic in the patch is over 50 years old, and includes items (and fragments of items) such as "plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, plastic bags, and nurdles."
Whenever you can, JOIN a LOCAL CLEAN-UP EVENT!
But that there IS something we can do about it