Plastic Isn't Nice: A World of Plastic!

Tuesday 20 July 2010

A World of Plastic!

I felt that I had to set up this blog. For a while now, I've watched in dismay at the relentless rise of plastic use in every conceivable way; it is used by the food industry to cover every type of sold foodstuff, it's prevalent in many of the gadgets we use in our homes and gardens, we drive cars manufactured from it, and on and on. I've greatly admired the successful campaign by Rebecca Hoskins to make her home town of Modbury, in Dorset, Britain's first plastic bag free town. And have watched and read many reports of the result where plastic gets into the environment. I've seen the massive floating dumps of plastic in every ocean in the world and watched in horror, film of birds guts being cut open to reveal insides full of all sorts of plastic junk

I don't use plastic for shopping ever now, I try to leave most of the plastic goods are packed in, at the counter of the shop, I've bought it from and I try to limit our use of it in objects we have about the home. I know too, that at the present moment in time, with very little alternatives available, we will still need to use this awful, synthetic material for some time to come too.

But, if only all of us could go that little extra yard or too, in limiting our addition to it, then little by little, will begin to seek out alternatives to the stuff.

To start off this campaign. Please try to watch this short, 5 minute clip, of the effects our use of the stuff is having on our environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8zh5IluTeE

Please send all of you thoughts, ideas, links and articles and together we may just become a PLASTIC FREE WORLD.

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Welcome

I've been aware of the dangers posed by plastic to the environment for a while now. But it was whilst watching a video clip which showed graphically the effects the stuff is having in our oceans, that inspired me to create this blog. I hope that you will feel able to contribute in some way, either by adding comments or sending pieces for me to post. We won't rid the earth of plastic over night, but we can make our voices heard, so those who produce this highly versatile yet dangerous material, will begin to question the logic of manufacturing a product that takes hundreds of years to break down and which is filling our rivers, oceans, and fields with its detritus, causing millions of wild creatures to suffer painful deaths. We can but try to lessen our dependency on the stuff!

Some Sobering Plastic Facts

To clean the oceans, you'd need to fill 630 oil supertankers to the brim at a cost of about $56,000 per each a day to charter

To give an example of how long plastic lasts in the ocean. In 2001 a piece of plastic found in an albatross stomach bore a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944 (US Fish & Wildlife)

All plastic breaks down into particles.It does not dissolve; it just breaks into tiny pieces and stays there. At this size it is small enough to be ingested by every single organism in the world's oceans - animals as small as krill and salps (plankton feeders) right up to the great Blue Whale.

It's estimated that over 10's of thousands of seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic debris (including domestic waste and disused fishing gear) and about 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate, although some scientists believe this figure to be much higher. (DNR) (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission)

UK beaches have on average 2000 pieces of litter for every kilometer. (MCS)However this average is only given to larger items.The number of plastic particles (small plastic pieces) on a beach in just one square foot can range from hundreds to thousands in some of the worst polluted area's. (Thompson) (Algalita)

The world produces over 200 million tonnes plastic annually. Around half of this is used for disposable items of packaging that are discarded within a year. This debris is accumulating in landfill and the problem is growing. (Thompson).

Since the 1950's almost every piece of plastic that we have ever made, used and thrown away is still here on this planet in one form or another, whether its in our homes, in landfill or in the environment; and it will be here for centuries to come.

An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given away annually by United Kingdom supermarkets-enough plastic to cover an area the size of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and west Yorkshire combined.

On average we only recycle 1 plastic bag in every 200 we use. (londoncouncils.gov.uk)