We were talking about how to reduce plastic while grocery shopping.
What to do when our favorite food item is found in plastic package only?
Some fruits are packed in plastic containers only, for example berries, grapes and more. Becoming aware of the situation is already the start. You can try farmers market or pick your own berries instead. Even contacting the berry company and ask, why the food is only available in plastic boxes and ask them to consider a change, is a great way . Check your local trash service on what happens to the plastic in your recycle/trash bins. Then decide whether or not buying the item. We don’t life plastic free (yet ;-)), but we are committed to minimize plastic wherever possible and are open to learn alternative ways.
But do we know how much plastic is actually consumed?
Let’s examine interesting facts found on https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/ :
· PET plastic bottles:
Every MINUTE people buy 1’000’000 plastic bottles (PET bottles) worldwide , 91% don’t get recycled. ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/07/26/million-plastic-bottles-minute-91-not-recycled/#1804e92f292c)
Every person in the U.S. uses 156 plastic bottles annually, which could be saved by using a reusable bottle (picture)!
· Single use plastic bags:
Annually 4’000’000’000’000 ( 4 Trillion!) single use plastic bags are used. Only 1% gets recycled.
In the U.S. each person uses 307 plastic bags per year, which can be saved if using reusable bags!!
· Plastic packages:
At the moment, only 14% of global plastic packaging is collected for recycling and only 2% is reused.
32% of the 78 tons of plastic packages ends in waterways and oceans.
That equals one truck load of plastic poured into the ocean every minute!
This amount is expected to increase to three truck loads per minute by 2050!
Summary: More plastic than fish by 2050
If we continue the same way, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fishes (by weight)!
We hope you’ll join us in the attempt against plastic pollution! So that the picture below, showing more plastic than fishes in the ocean, won't get reality.
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