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Table of Contents
Main Sources of Plastic Pollution
Main Sources of Plastic Pollution
Personal Care Products
Personal Care Products
While microbeads have been banned in body wash, the container that these products come in, as well as a surprising number of ingredients for the self-care and beauty products themselves are actually byproducts of the petroleum industry.
Click the Personal Care & Hygiene button to learn about the petroleum ingredients in most of our hygiene products, as well as what types of alternatives can reduce or eliminate those pollutants.
Microplastics
Microplastics
Vehicle tires, synthetic textiles and laundry, self-care products, food packaging, and fishing industry equipment are among the top sources of microplastic pollution.
As general wear and tear take place, sun degradation, and other natural processes take place, solid peices of plastic shed microplastics which can make their way into the food chain, our drinking water, and even the air we breath. Once consumed, microplastics harm organisms including humans and plants in a myriad of ways. Microplastics impact soil quality, reduce photosynthesis in plants and algae, as well as causing direct damage to organs from digestive tracts to our brains.
Clothing / Laundry
Clothing / Laundry
"Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes contribute up to 35% of the primary plastic that is polluting our oceans. Every time we do our laundry an average of 9 million microfibers are released into wastewater treatment plants that cannot filter them. Because of that, these fibers end up in the ocean. Also, just by wearing synthetic clothes, plastic fibers are constantly being released in the air." - https://www.oceancleanwash.org/#:~:text=through%20washing%20%26%20wearing,plants%20that%20cannot%20filter%20them.
Click the Laundry button to learn how to reduce your impact, including reducing your emissions and the amount of microplastic that escape into the environment.
Fishing Gear
Fishing Gear
"Fishing gear accounts for roughly 10% of that debris: between 500,000 to 1 million tons of fishing gear are discarded or lost in the ocean every year. Discarded nets, lines, and ropes now make up about 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." WWF
Click the Commercial Fishing button to learn more about this industry and its contribution to pollution in our oceans. including plastic pollution.
Ghost Gear Solutions
Ghost Gear Solutions
The buttons beneath talk about the impact of our food choices, planet-friendly recipes, products, and ingredients to try that can help reduce our impact, improve our health, and some can even help the environment.
On the left are dietary changes we can all make, to help reduce the demand for seafood, which is the industry's excuse for destroying our oceans.
On the right we offer removal solutions including ways to capture and remove plastic, and products we've found which are made of ocean plastic. Buying them won't fix the plastic problem, but it will help fund the organizations who are currently doing the expensive job of cleaning up ghost gear at sea or along beaches.
Dangers of Plastic Pollution
Dangers of Plastic Pollution
Biological Impacts
Biological Impacts
Human Health
Human Health
Plastic absorbs chemicals and breaks down into smaller, even microscopic pieces. These can be inhaled or consumed, and these small pieces can lodge in our organs, doing damage, including releasing toxic chemicals into our bodies. These can in turn increase our risk of diseased and hormonal imbalances.
Wildlife Deaths & Extinctions
Wildlife Deaths & Extinctions
"Consuming plastic leads to widespread scar tissue throughout the internal organs of these seabirds, which slowly starves them, causes kidney and liver disease, and makes them more susceptible to pathogens."
Researchers found that in addition serious damage to their stomach and digestive glands, birds go on to show outward signs including
Low body conditions - low fat which reduces their energy reserves.
Stunted growth
Shorter wing spans (a serious problem for migratory birds)
"as plastics float around in the ocean for a year, 10 years, a couple of decades, they basically act like a magnet or sponge, and they take all of the chemicals that we've put out into the atmosphere and elsewhere through things like fossil fuel burning, and they absorb it onto the surface so that the plastic becomes" as one marine biologist put it, "like a little toxic bullet.
It's... not just chemicals. Plastics that have been floating in the ocean for years can be vectors for a range of pathogens and diseases. So now we've kind of come full circle.
You've got plastics that can carry bacteria and viruses entering into an animal when it consumes that plastic, and then the plastic itself is breaking down the stomach's ability to defend itself — its mucosal barrier — and it kind of becomes like this loop where things kind of spiral a little bit out of control." - Plastic Pollution is so Bad for Animals it Now Has a Disease Name — 'Plasticosis'
Prevent Plastic Pollution
Prevent Plastic Pollution
Personal Actions (Level 1-2)
Personal Actions (Level 1-2)
Avoid Plastic Packaging and be aware that some companies greenwash by displaying products plastic free, which were delivered in large quantities of plastic
Switch From Plastic to Earth-Friendly Products which can save you money when you pick alternatives like safety razors and crystal deodorants over plastic dispensers.
Upcycle unwanted clothing to replace baby wipes or wet wipes
Personal Care & Hygiene
Personal Care & Hygiene
Changing some of our products and self-care practices can not only help the environment, but also improve our own health, or at the very least help protect us from cancers and hormonal imbalances which are caused by many of the ingredients of both the products and their plastic containers.
Libraries
Libraries
Instead of buying brand new products like books in plastic sleeves, why not borrow instead? The Libraries directory also includes other models such as Tool Libraries or even your local Library of Things.
Package Return Systems
Package Return Systems
Search products and services in your area. Many (but not all) of the services listed here offer glass bottle return schemes. Some return schemes have been put on hold due to covid, but will hopefully return soon.
Zero Waste
Zero Waste
Zero Waste Shops can include different business models. Some focus more on single-use products that will outlast regular supplies such as razors, cleaning supplies, cooking equipment, and reusable containers. Others may be more focus on providing bulk produce that you can take home in your own containers, thereby avoiding single use plastic and other waste.
Recycle into Durable Items
Recycle into Durable Items
Since plastics don't break down easily, and may end up back in the environments or landfills, one way we can prevent these issues is to "lock up" these plastics in durable, and useful items.
Level 3 Action
Level 3 Action
For Companies
For Companies
Replace/Avoid Plastic Packaging - or at least reuse as much as possible instead of recycling.
Drugs can be kept safe in foil packaging, and outer packaging with instructions can be offered in paper envelope form.
Bulk produce and products can be shipped in refillable tubs which should be sent back to the supplier for refill, instead of refilled from single-use plastic bags like this company was caught doing.
Offer Drop Off Points such as glass bottle return skips so that returning customers can drop off their old containers before shopping again.
Government Level Action (Level 4)
Government Level Action (Level 4)
By starting with level 4 action, we can stem the massive flow of plastic into the environment. Currently more tax payer money goes into supporting plastic production, which makes the huge, but lesser amount of clean up money almost pointless.
Governments currently fund plastic production, but they can just as easily fund community and business projects that can solve our plastic crisis. In the USA, tax payers subsidize extraction of fossil fuels, with $20.5 billion per year, they pay for the environmental clean up costs, estimated at $500 billion annually. In addition "Taxpayers are also funding the industry’s plan to increase plastic production by 40 percent in the next decade, spurred by an oversupply of cheap fracked natural gas. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars per year to replace roads ruined by fracking and treat contaminated water." The plastics that aren't captured or recycled in rich countries, generally gets shipped to poorer countries who lack the infrastructure or finances to tackle the mountains of pollution.
End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel and Plastic Industries
End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel and Plastic Industries
Click the Subsidies button to learn about how subsidies are hurting our planet.
Plastic Bans & Regulation
Plastic Bans & Regulation
Plastic is really important for medical and safety devices, but bans and regulations can be a powerful tool against the increasing production of plastics. Until we reduce the influx, waste-clean-ups and litter traps will not be enough to fix our problems. Microplastic are present in our water, soil, air, food, our infants and breast milk.
Plastic Taxes & Fees
Plastic Taxes & Fees
These have reduced the amount of single use places in countries and regions that implemented them.
DIY Plastic Recycling & Creating
DIY Plastic Recycling & Creating
Precious Plastic "The alternative plastic recycling system run by (brilliant) people around the planet."
Organizations
Organizations
International
International
The Bottle Bill Resource Guide "is an ongoing project of the Container Recycling Institute, dedicated to providing comprehensive information about beverage container deposit laws across the US and around the world."
Climate Defenders "is a multigenerational and multiracial action home rising up against the oil industry destroying our planet and our communities.
For generations, oil CEOs and the bank executives that finance them have prioritized profits over the well-being of our planet and its people. They pollute our air, poison our water, and dump toxins into our neighborhoods.
As Climate Defenders, we are fighting to end the fossil fuel industry and build a new future with good jobs, clean water, safe air, and a better future for our families. Join us!"
Plastic Smart Cities "is a WWF initiative that supports a no plastic in nature agenda. Since 2018, the initiative has supported cities and coastal centers in taking bold action to stop plastic pollution, with a goal to reduce plastic leakage into nature by 30% in the near term, and achieving no plastics in nature by 2030."
North America
North America
USA
USA
Stop the Money Pipeline "We are a coalition of 230+ organizations working to hold the financial sector accountable for its role in fueling climate chaos and environmental racism.
Join us to help end financing for fossil fuels."
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