PLASTIC FREE

This advice area focuses on teaching you how to reduce the amount of plastic you use, mainly focusing on single-use plastic (meaning plastic that as its name suggests is usually only used once such as plastic straws, bags and cutlery). Since the 1950's, humans have made over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic, and over half of that has been in just the last 13 years! To put that 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic into perspective, if all of that plastic was made of Lego bricks the bricks would cover the entire surface of the earth 16 times. All of that plastic combined is 18x heavier than the human population; it would also weigh around 60 million blue whales or 138 million army tanks. It is estimated that over 8 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans each year, where it can go on to kill over 1,000,000 sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals, again in just one year. This is not taking into account animals such as turtles (of which all turtle species have been documented with plastic inside them) and countless fish.

For these reasons, and many others, it is essential that you try to cut the amount of plastic you use as much as possible, whether that is by carrying a reusable bag everywhere you go, bringing a reusable coffee cup to shops, or even going the whole mile and become single-use plastic free. I hope that this advice area will give you some tips on what you can do to reduce your plastic footprint and inspire you to do more to fight for a better future.

To start with, here are some shocking plastic facts that might make you reconsider your view on the plastic crisis:

• In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments-like grocery bags, straws and soda bottles-are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day!
• Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.
• We currently recover only 5% of the plastics we produce.
• The average American throws away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.
• Plastic accounts for around 10% of the total waste we generate.
• The production of plastic uses around 8% of the world's oil production, adding to your carbon footprint.
• It takes 500-1000 years for plastic to degrade.
• Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in the oceans making up about 40% of the world's ocean surfaces. 80% of pollution enters the ocean from the land.
• Plastic constitutes approximately 90% of all trash floating on the ocean's surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.
• 44% of all seabird species, 22% of cetaceans, all sea turtle species and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.
• Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body-93% of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic compound). Some of these compounds found in plastic have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.

The easiest types of plastic to avoid:

Below are a few of types of plastic that are most commonly used, but are unnecessary and easily avoidable. For each common form of plastic, there is a statistic of how many are used, as well as ways in which you can avoid that plastic.

Water Bottles:

According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person. 57% of those units were plastic water bottles: 57.3 billion sold in 2014. This is up from 3.8 billion plastic water bottles sold in 1996, the earliest year for available data. The process of producing bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in the container so this method is also extremely wasteful and unsustainable.

The simple thing to do is don't use plastic bottles. When going to work, school or out for any other reason, bring a reusable water bottle, preferably made from metal. These can quite literally last you a lifetime and save you lots of money each year from not having to buy bottles.

Plastic Bags:

Worldwide, up to 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year. Many of these end up in the ocean where they are mistaken by turtles as being jellyfish and swallowed, choking and potentially killing the turtle.

The easy and obvious way to avoid plastic bags, which on average are used for just 15 minutes before being discarded, is to carry your own bags when you do things like shopping. This reduces the demand for bags, and results in fewer bags entering the ocean. This can also save you money as well as saving the environment. Many shops offer large, strong plastic bags that are designed to be reused over and over again, you can also get natural bags made from grasses and hemp from various shops and the internet, these can also last for a long time and when you discard them, they decompose into the soil instead of poisoning it like plastic. Bags are also now available that are made from yucca or seaweed that look and feel just like plastic, yet are completely biodegradable and eco-friendly. Yucca bags also dissolve in water, meaning that even if they enter the ocean they will quickly break up and leave no lasting damage. An average cloth bag will save the owner at least 1,000 bags over its lifetime of a few years - over time that a lot of plastic! Making simple switches like this, where when you go shopping you remember to bring a reusable bag can really make a difference, and when multiplied by millions of people these small actions can have a massive impact on our planet in many ways.

Disposable Diapers:

In America alone, over 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used and thrown away each year. If you have a baby use reusable cloth diapers instead of disposables as this will save a lot of money for you as well as being a lot better for the environment.

Disposable Razors:

In America, over 2 billion disposable razors are used each year, and the easy way to avoid this is to buy a proper, reusable razor from a reliable brand. Over time, having a reusable razor will also save you a lot of money. Disposable razors are completely unnecessary as they are only used a few times before being disposed, and going into landfill or the ocean. If you currently use disposable razors, please switch to a normal, reusable razor as it is just unnecessary.

Chewing Gum:

Worldwide, over 100,000 tons of chewing gum is discarded each year. This gum is made of synthetic rubber, which is a plastic. Chewing gum is completely unnecessary and many brands have been linked to causing cancers and other negative health effects, so it is also better for your health to avoid chewing gum. If you chew gum to 'freshen' your mouth, just use mints instead. If you insist to chew gum, dispose of it properly. Chewing gum can be recycled although normal household recycling doesn't accept this, but in cities and public places more and more 'gum drops' are being installed. These are boxes that you can drop you gum in after being chewed, and the gum will go on to be recycled to make more 'gum drops', reusable coffee cups and even shoe soles and wellington boots.

Microbeads:

Another plastic that causes massive damage in the oceans but makes up a relatively small part in terms of weight, are microbeads. Trillions of microbeads are leaked into the ocean each year. These are absolutely tiny beads that used to bulk out cosmetics (i.e shampoo) and save the company money, unfortunately at the expense of oceans and millions of fish and marine animals. Microbeads are ingested by marine animals and fish and arguably cause even more damage than the larger plastics like bottles because microbeads have the ability to absorb toxins, which get into marine food chains and eventually are ingested by humans. To give an idea of the scale of microbeads, a tube of facewash can contain over 300,000 microbeads. Every single DAY, 808 BILLION microbeads are washed down American drains alone. Once in the ocean, these microplastics they can absorb and emit toxic pollutants at different parts of the food chain. You can avoid these terrible microplastics which most people don't even know exist by buying cosmetics from 'natural' companies as these are most likely to not use microbeads. You can download the Beat the Microbead app from your app store and scan your product to see if it contains microbeads. Microbeads are now banned in products in the UK, however if you have cosmetics that you bought before the end of 2017 they may still contain microbeads.

Plastic Straws:

Over 500 million plastic straws are used each day in America alone! All of these straws were completely unnecessary and could have been easily avoided in the first place. Straws are among the top 5 most common plastic items found on beaches, which again highlights their overuse. Ban straws from your house as they really are completely unnecessary and if you must have a straw either buy a reusable one made from materials like glass or metal, which can be used over and over again and can be easily bought online, or buy paper straws as these are another great alternative. If you are going out to eat bring one of these reusable straws instead of accepting free plastic straws from the restaurant, or just drink straight from glass like a normal person. If you own a business that uses plastic straws, switch to paper straws instead.

Plastic Cutlery and Cups:

Whenever you buy a meal (such as pasta) to eat from a supermarket you are usually forced to eat it with the free plastic cutlery provided whether you like it or not. Plastic cutlery is popular with businesses as it is cheap and can be discarded once used, however you should try to avoid it as much as possible. If you know that you will be getting food from a shop that will require you to the free plastic cutlery, try and remember to bring your own cutlery instead from home. If you regularly get food from shops make sure you always have a cutlery set in your bag as over time imagine how much plastic will be saved. If you get 5 meals a week and use plastic cutlery with it, you will potentially be saving 10 cutlery items from landfill or even potentially from the ocean per week which adds up to more or less 500 pieces a week. If you are a business that uses plastic cutlery, don't! There are so many alternatives now - why not get compostable or even edible cutlery (?!?!), but whatever you do, don't use plastic cutlery.

The same goes for plastic cups. This goes for both completely plastic cups and also coffee cups or similar that almost always have a thin layer of plastic even though at first they appear to be made of paper. If you are hosting something like a party don't buy plastic cups, just use normal ones. For businesses - don't buy plastic cups or plastic-lined paper cups as these cannot be recycled. Instead buy reusable cups and mugs that can be used again and again. When you go to a coffee shop or cafe bring your own cup or thermos. Most coffee shops now offer discounts to people who bring their own cups to encourage this so you can also save quite a bit of money over time if you regularly go to coffee shops as well as significantly reducing your plastic footprint.

Other Plastics:

There are many other types of plastics that we use every day but are also easily avoidable. These include:

• Balloons - when you think about it, balloons are completely useless, ugly and just unnecessary. Any party or celebration is just as enjoyable without tacky balloons as with them. Just not buying balloons any more helps in a small way, and when multiplied by many people can have huge positive effects on the environment.
• Plastic ear buds - many shops are now beginning to phase out and ban plastic ear buds, as they are completely unnecessary as paper stem ear buds are available, and these are much more eco friendly. This is another form of single-use plastic that many people unknowingly use, but is easily avoidable just by buying ear buds with paper stems.
• Film around fruit - another form of single use plastic that people unconsciously buy without thinking of the consequences. Try to avoid buying plastic-wrapped fruit and buy loose instead. Similarly, try to buy local produce at your local market or similar. This reduces the chance the fruit or veg is plastic-wrapped, and also reduces the food miles (the distance the food has been transported, which for most food can run into hundreds or thousands of miles), which is great for your carbon footprint as well as helping local small-scale growers and farmers.
• Cling film - avoid this where possible. For wrapping sandwiches and lunches use brown paper bags, these are very cheap online and are also recyclable and decompostable. For other occasions try to use tin foil instead.

Other ways to help:

Litter Picking:

When you are out and about, pick up any plastic (or any other litter) you see as this helps clean up your local environment and make your community a nicer place to be in, but also prevents the plastic litter, e.g. a bag or bottle, from breaking apart into the soil or eventually finding its way into a waterway, where it can cause lots of damage to freshwater marine life, and even flow into the sea. Your local area may even have a litter picking group for you to join, or if not why not start one yourself?!

Recycling:

Trying to recycle as much as possible instead of just 'chucking it in the bin' can have a large impact. Recycling plastic is cheaper, much more energy efficient and more eco-friendly than having to create plastic from base ingredients through intensive methods that use 6% of global crude oil each year. This isn't just for plastic - making sure you recycle everything you can including paper and card and metal items as well as the plastic. If you have any old clothes(or shoes), instead of dumping them in your bin take them to a charity shop or similar if they are in good enough quality or put them out with your recycling to be collected or repurpose them as cleaning rags. Also make sure you collect all your food waste and garden waste to be composted as well or you could even get your own compost bin for cheap online and create your own compost heap. This also links to the litter picking section above: if you find anything while litter picking that can be recycled (and most litter that you will find is recyclable) such as plastic bottles and tin cans, make sure you take it home and put it in your recycling bin as just putting it in the nearest bin, although you are cleaning up the local area, means that the bottle or tin can or whatever the litter is will be going to a landfill which is just as bad as not having picked up the litter in the first place.