Did you know That the united states produces 24 billion pounds of plastic packaging annually? American’s purchase 28 billion water bottles every year. The amount of oil needed to produce a years worth of plastic packaging could fuel 480,000 cars for a year. Every plastic bag cost 2-5 cents to produce and cost 17 cents to clean up. Each year one million sea birds and one hundred thousand marine mammels die from ingestion of or entanglement in plastic. What can you do to help? Here are 10 simple things you can do to help reduce the amount of plastic you use every year!
- Stop using bottled water – In most cases it is no safer than tap water and costs 3 times as much gasoline and 1,ooo times as much as tap water
- Bring your own reusable grocery bags with you when you go to the store
- Use a refillable dispenser for your hand soap and dish washing liquid, one large bottle is better than using a bunch of small ones
- Use a reusable container instead of sandwich bags
- Bring your own to-go mug with you to the coffee shop
- Say no to single serving packaging, buy in bulk and share with friends instead
- Use silverware instead of plactic utensils, keep a set at the office, bring a set on a picnic or to the beach
- Download your music instead of buying CD’s
- Seek out items that are not made of plastic
- Avoid plastics that are not readily recyclable -#3(pvc), #4(ldpe), #5(pp), #6(ps), #7 (other)
Check out this website it is loaded with information on how you can help http://riseaboveplastics.org/
