Did you know that Earth Day is taking place on Sunday (22 April)? This annual event is a great opportunity to show our support for environmental protection, and this year we're putting the spotlight on plastic pollution.
While throwaway plastics offer us lots of convenience, they harm our oceans and marine life. Many marine species such as seabirds, turtles and whales suffer because they mistake plastic bags for food and eat them, which leads to poisoning or choking. Just this month, a sperm whale washed up on a beach in Spain with 30kg of plastic in its stomach.
This is a huge problem - by 2050, there could be more plastics in the ocean than fish by weight. Take the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a floating island of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and estimated to be about the size of Texas.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch keeps increasing in size because it accumulates ocean plastic, and plastic takes a long time to biodegrade. For example, plastic bottles take 400 years to decompose, and a million of them are produced every minute! That's why reducing plastic use and recycling are essential to saving our environment and marine species.
But there is a great deal to look forward to! More and more people are joining the fight against plastic pollution, such as Taiwan and the European Union (EU). Part of Taiwan’s efforts includes a blanket ban on plastic straws in restaurants and stores from 2019, while the EU wants to ensure that all packaging within its borders becomes reusable or recyclable by 2030, to cut down on plastic waste.
Sea turtles are one of the species threatened by plastic waste in the oceans. In fact, did you know that ALL sea turtle species have plastic IN them? We need to take a stand and do our part to reduce plastic pollution and save marine life.
Here's how you can play your part
There are lots of ways you can reduce plastic use in your daily life. You can start by making simple lifestyle choices, such as refusing plastic straws, using refillable mugs and urging your local supermarkets to stop using plastic bags where possible. All these can help reduce pollution and save marine life. Please also join the conversation at Connect2Earth and speak up to save our oceans from plastic waste.
