Tomorrow, 6/5, is World Environment Day and the United Nations Environment is calling on the world to #BeatPlasticPollution not only in our own lives, but to also bring awareness to those around us.
What can you to do help? An easy one is to say "no" when offered a single-use plastic straw! Another easy way is to bring a refillable water bottle with you to work or school and have and extra refillable water bottle in your car. And please, please, please bring a reusable shopping bag with you when going to the store. If you forget, ask for a paper bag and not a plastic bag. Did you know that single-use plastic bags easily blow into our oceans and once in the water, these bags resemble jellyfish? Sadly, marine life and birds then eat the plastic bags as they cannot tell the difference between the plastic bag and a jellyfish.
What are the global plastic pollution numbers?
5 trillion plastic bags used per year
13 million tons of plastic leak into the ocean each year
17 million barrels of oil used on plastic production each year
1 million plastic bottles bought every minute
100,000 marine animals killed by plastics each year
100 years for plastic to degrade in the environment
90% of bottled water found to contain plastic particles
83% of tap water found to contain plastic particles
50% of consumer plastics are single use
10% of all human-generated waste is plastic
Click here to visit the UN Environment #BeatPlasticPollution webpage to learn more about plastic pollution and what we can all do as global citizens to take action to #BeatPlasticPollution