Can you cut 1 Tonne of carbon pollution out of your life?
Take the challengeOur plastic-free lives have been a roller coaster of victories and failures, hard times and surprisingly easy times, and most of us have realised that we are at the mercy of plastic far too often! It is so extremely prevalent, and life gets in the way so much that being plastic-free can seem trivial or unimportant at times.
But it is essential to remember the real reason why we are doing it.
Here's why...
A comprehensive study has revealed there are 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in Oceans around the world. The Washington Post has done the maths: "With a global population of about 7.2 billion, that's nearly 700 pieces per person."
While spread out around the globe, much of this rubbish accumulates in five large ocean gyres. These are circular currents that churn up plastics in a set area. Each of the major oceans have plastic-filled gyres, including the well-known Great Pacific Garbage Patch that covers an area roughly equivalent to Texas.
Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans.This is problematic due to the chemicals contained within plastics, as well as the pollutants that plastic attract once they are in the marine environment.
We have the power as consumers to reduce CO2 and to influence retailers and manufacturers to improve the environmental performance of products!
Here's the items that have helped the 1MW team get through Plastic Free July.
Bindi Donnelly - Social Media and Website Coordinator
Bronte Hogarth- Head of Communications
Ayla Wilton- Grassroots Leadership Coordinator
Steph Newman- Social Media Intern
Shea Hogarth- Staff Writer and Site Producer
Read this next:
[WEEK 1] Our Plastic Free July shortcomings, failures and lessons learnt!
[WEEK 2] Learning the ups and downs of plastic free living!
[IMAGES] This is what a plastic free brunch looks like