Plastic wastes have crossed the limit of being just a pandemic. United States alone generates 24 billion pounds in plastic packaging wastes every year. Add to that the 28 billion water bottles that Americans purchase every year and it would be a huge figure. If the statistics are combines, the amount of oil that would be required to produce plastic packaging for a year would be able to fuel more than 480,000 cars for a year! Further, every plastic bag requires a 17 cent investment to be produced and 17 cents added investment to be cleaned up. Most of these plastic, after being produced and uses goes into landfills and our natural environment killing million of birds, animals and plants every year. Plastic nuisance is a global phenomenon and with population of this planet increasing, the use of plastic too is increasing at a fast pace.
It’s high time that we get serious about the rising problem and do our bit to save the planet. Like charity starts from home, conservation too requires individual efforts to be put in. Here are 10 easy ways to help the cause:
- Stop buying bottled water: Most times, bottled water is no safer than the water coming out of taps. When going out, you might as well carry a water bottle and fill it in your office and other stops. The cost of bottled water in fact cost three times the price of gasoline.
- Carry your reusable grocery bags: When leaving for the supermarket, don’t forget the cloth bags that would help you carry the grocery from the shop to your home. This will ensure that you don’t ask for those plastic shopping bags which would have immediately gone to the waste bins after you came home. Goodiebags have so many good options for you.
- Use refillable dispenser in bathrooms: Buying a single large bottle capable of refilling is better than buying several smaller ones and throwing each one away after use.
- Go for reusable containers instead of plastic foiling your sandwiches.
- If you have a taste for the roadside coffee or tea, you might as well carry you own clay mug rather use dispensable plastic cups.
- Buying in bulk can save a lot in plastic waste than single serving packages. You might as well share the food with friends and colleagues!
- Always use silverware than plastic utensils that are more prone to damage and being thrown away regularly.
- Download paid music instead of buying CDs. Anyway, it’s no good keeping a big stack of unused CDs. Technology offers a better and safer way to archiving.
- Always look for non-plastic alternatives to things, be it toys, bags, bottles, or any type of container.
- In some cases, plastics don’t really have a practical alternative. However, even so, avoid forms that wouldn’t be easily recyclable including #3 (pvc), #4 (ldpe), #5 (pp), #6(ps), #7 (others).
It’s also time that you share this reasoning with people you know. It’s easy to inspire people not to use plastics in their daily routine of business. Plastic wastes take more than 450 years to decompose naturally. This gives you plenty of reasons to minimize the use of plastics today and support a greener earth. A lot many lives depend on how you choose to act.
====================
Article created By Mark Dawson, Marketing Manager at Globe Packaging
====================