Beating plastic pollution: If you can’t reuse it, refuse it!
By Teslyn Heron
‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ is the theme for this year’s World Environment Day (June 5) and Canadian Environment Week (June 3-9), which explores the concept of how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce plastic pollution in our environment and combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. This theme encourages all of us to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our environment.
Globally, five trillion plastic bags are used each year and 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean; 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastics each year; and 83 per cent of tap water and 90 per cent of bottled water contains plastic particles. Plastic pollution is an issue that affects not only ecosystems, but wildlife and humans as well.
World Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5th and is the United Nations’ most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries around the world.
World Environment Day 2018, ‘Beat Plastic Pollution,’ encourages change in four key areas: reducing single-use plastics, improving waste management, phasing out microplastics, and promoting research into alternatives to plastic dependency.
Here in Muskoka, The District Municipality of Muskoka operates a comprehensive waste diversion program to reduce the amount of divertible material entering our landfill and to preserve valuable landfill space. Over 1,100 tonnes of plastics were collected in 2017 in Muskoka, but we can do better! Choose reusable mugs and bottles rather than styrofoam or plastic, say no to single use plastics like straws and plastic shopping bags, and if you have no choice about these “one-time-only” products, always recycle them.
To learn more about World Environment Day, how you can help reduce your plastic dependency and how to protect your local ecosystems and wildlife from this issue, please visit the World Environment Day website at http://worldenvironmentday.global/en.
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Bring back the brown paper bags that we use to use. Make paper straws. Sounds funny but that’s what my mom got when she went into the soda shop. Wrap our meat in the brown paper that was used before the great invention of styrophom. I can’t drink out of a cup and require a straw as I’m sure there are others that require a straw. How can you drink a milkshake without a straw. Twice I have been in a restaurant that didn’t have staws but brought me a hugh plastic take out container. Cardboard was what use to be used. That plastic container probably contained at least 20 straws worth of plastic. If you are on board with stopping plastic straws you should not be giving out leftovers in a big plastic container. Everything you buy has at least one wrapping of plastic and lots of times more. But let’s cut out little old straws and give out plastic take home containers in areas of cardboard. Sorry I work at reducing waste but I use a straw.
I agree plastic bags should cost at least 25 cents each, then maybe more people would bring cloth bags to shop.
It always amazes me to see people still using plastic bags, when one or two semi-permanent bags can be brought into the store as an alternative. Does a nickel/bag actually provide a realistic disincentive? Maybe, 25, or even 50 cents would dissuade considerably more people. It would pain me to think that the wealthy don’t care about the environment: possibly, a campaign to make everyone aware why there is a surcharge on plastic bags; accompanied by a significant cost increase would work.