by Hazel Smith, Stevensville
Did you know that plastics are toxic to seabirds, fish, plants, and animals? Some statistics:
• A dump truckload of plastics goes into our oceans every minute.
• Current projections show that there will be more plastics than fish in our oceans by 2050.
• The large island of floating plastic in the ocean is larger than the state of Texas.
• 24,000 tons of microscopic bits of plastic are consumed by sealife and are being found in the stomachs of market fish and in humans.
• 2000 plastic water bottles are used every second.
• Of the 3.102 billion plastic bags used every year the majority go into the oceans and landfills where it takes them over 1000 years to decompose.
• Between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil are used annually to make bottled water products in the US alone.
• The resulting greenhouse gases are equivalent to over a million cars on the road (statistics from Brita).
So what can you and I do about any of this?
• Stop buying or using plastic water bottles! Instead use a sports cup. Simple.
• Don’t get plastic bags at the store! Take your own cloth bags. If you forget, ask for paper bags, a renewable resource.
• Use plastic bags you have to line wastebaskets, as packing material, to pick up pet litter, etc.
• When shopping, avoid plastic packaging.
• Recycle PET and PETE 1 (clear) and HPDE 2 (translucent, white).
• Instead of buying detergent in plastic jugs that cannot be recycled, buy detergent sheets on line. They’re great!
I hear you saying “I’m not taking this all the way to Missoula!” Then do what our Methodist church has done at your organization, business, or church to set up your own recycling location. Have a location where plastics can be placed in big bins with good signs as to what can and can’t be recycled, and find one or two volunteers who will take the large garbage bags to Republic or Pacific Recycling centers in Missoula and dump them in the proper bins.
Recycled plastics are made into sports clothing, shoes, playground equipment, and outdoor furniture.
If we all reduce, reuse and recycle we will have made an important contribution towards restoring health and balance to this beautiful world our Creator gave to us to care for.