Plastic is everywhere: in our bodies, in our homes, and now it’s in our oceans. It’s unnatural, dangerous but impossible to avoid, so how can we stop it ruining the lives of the sea life that can avoid it?
Plastic is a material that is used in pretty much everything we own. It’s used in the clothes you are wearing, the cups you drink from, the screen you’re reading from. It’s everywhere, and it’s something that we can’t avoid. But it is something that we can reduce. Today, if you Google ‘plastic’, the first thing you will see is the debate between plastic and paper. But why is there such a need for plastic to change to paper? Why are plastic bags expensive, and plastic straws not free at restaurants? The answer is because plastic is killing our planet.
If plastic isn’t recycled into other objects, or reused by its owner, then it will most likely be taken to China, where billions of tonnes of plastic are poured into the ocean. There, it is dragged around the globe, strangling penguins in Antartica, or washed up on the beaches of the Dominican Republic. It not only ruins our beaches, but it ruins our oceans. It kills the sea life, either because the plastic is considered as food, or because the animals get trapped and can’t escape. Plastic also releases dangerous chemicals that damage the coral reefs and poison the sea life. It is unacceptable for a sophisticated, modern and educated society to be unable to take responsibility and care for our planet, which we continue to abuse and destroy every day.
As a regular, working person in the UK, you may be thinking that there isn’t much you can do for the sea life in the Great Barrier Reef, or the birds in the Artic. However, there is a lot we can do; for example, bring your own shopping bags to supermarkets, say no to straws and stop buying bottled water. All of these, in addition to recycling the plastic that you will inevitably have to use, will save both your money and the amount of plastic being produced.
But it’s not just individuals who can make a difference. If large makeup and toy brands can reduce their wasteful and unnecessary packaging (such as the large, wasteful packaging of a Benefit gift pictured), and follow in the footsteps of other worldwide businesses, such as McDonald’s who have a plan to eliminate all plastic straws by the end of 2019 in the UK. If a fast food chain as large as McDonald’s who use 1.8million plastic straws a day, can create a plan to eliminate it, then others should start to do the same.
So, when you next visit the supermarket, or a restaurant, don’t forget your bags and think about asking for no straw, because it could end up killing the precious life in our oceans or ruin the view on your next beach vacation.
