Worried About Plastic Pollution? Here’s How You Can Help Clean Up Our Oceans

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It’s a plastic world and our oceans are paying the price. While plastic is useful, overproduction and wasteful habits have caused severe consequences to the environment. More than 8 million pieces of plastic pollute our oceans yearly with an accumulated 5 trillion pieces of trash in our oceans today. Depending on the type of plastic this trash can take anywhere from 20 to 600+ years to decompose. During those years, plastic waste is attributed to the death of more than 1 million marine animals yearly. And, while these trends are worrying, there is a silver lining. Non-profits vowing to tackle plastic pollution and clean up our oceans have cropped up around the world. Brands are creating reusable products or recycle plastic waste from the ocean to create new items that you can use and recycle while also giving back to support these causes. And, consumers are learning ways to say ‘no’ to plastic and learn how to recycle better.

Plastic and other types of pollution are contaminating our oceans, clogging our drains, causing floods, spreading disease, transmitting respiratory infections and killing wildlife; and low-income communities suffer the worst impacts.

Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day

Join The Largest Clean Up In History

The Dutch nonprofit, the Ocean Cleanup aims to clean up 90% of the plastic waste polluting our oceans today. If you’re strictly looking at the numbers that’s about 5 trillion pieces of litter in our oceans, most of which have flowed into a region between Hawaii and California known as the  Great Pacific Garbage Patch. With a goal this large it will take participation from individuals and organizations from around the world to show up and help clean up our oceans. There are several ways you can support this project:

Buy a Recycled Product: Purchase a pair of cool sunnies made from ocean plastic waste and feel good knowing that 100% of your proceeds will support ongoing and future clean ups.

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Volunteer: Whether you’re on the ground picking up trash or offering your other skills to help fuel the mission, you can volunteer your time and expertise to help clean up our oceans. Click the link to write to the Ocean Cleanup to share your story and how you think you can help from your hometown.

Be Part Of The Digital Movement

The Ocean Conservatory is making cleaning up our oceans digital with an app. Called Clean Swell, it allows anyone to be able to head over to their favorite beach and keep track of the trash collected. Whether you spend all day on an organized clean up or five minutes just removing trash that you find on the beach, both can help in a global effort to reduce ocean waste. When you record a piece of trash, the data can be shared with friends and family to create campaigns and help educate about the impact of our waste habits. All of the data will also be compiled into a global database that will be used to fuel conversations about solutions about ocean trash.

Refill, Reuse & Recycle Properly

Perhaps one of the most forward thinking ways to reduce plastic pollution is to avoid putting it there in the first place. If you’re looking for ways to reduce waste here are a few ways that you can limit excess plastic use:

• Bring your own reusable tote when shopping. From your pharmacy to your favorite clothing store you can help to minimize the 100 billion plastic bags and 12 million barrels of oil used to manufacture them.
• Shop and support brands that minimize plastic packaging. Swap plastic toothpaste tubes for refillable containers and compostable mailers. It’s estimated that 1 billion toothpaste tubes are thrown into landfills yearly and by switching to a refillable product you can help to minimize plastic waste.

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• Go solid. Everyday items that are diluted with water and sold in heavy plastic bottles are getting a makeover. Think solid soaps instead of shower gels. Or, solid shampoo bars instead of standard liquid formulas. Solid cleaners that come with refillable containers are another way for you to adopt a sustainable product that uses less waste.
• There’s a lot more to recycling than simply tossing plastic items into the blue bin. Take a few extra steps to ensure that your items will be recycled. Rinse out food items to ensure that they are clean and will be accepted by recycling facilities. Check with your local municipality to learn about the types of plastic waste that are being recycled in your town or city.