Living sustainably can seem overwhelming, especially with all of the conflicting information you'll find online. People throw away millions of tons of plastics every year, but they don't always wind up in landfills. Believe it or not, 89 percent of the plastic in our oceans is from single-use items. That's a hard pill to swallow.
Single-Use Product Pollution
Every single day, people throw away single-use products and contaminate the earth, along with the oceans. Only you can know how much of that pollution is coming from your own doorstep. You might think you're living sustainably because you've stopped using plastic, but the problem isn't just plastic products.
Although single-use item reduction can certainly be attributed to by plastic-free living, it's not just plastic that is overflowing from our landfills and littering our oceans. There are many other single-use items that we throw away every day, most of which can be drastically reduced if we replace them with other long-lasting quality items.
Single-use items are, obviously, items that you only use once. Sit back and think about everything you've done today, and how many single-use items you've discarded. While you're thinking about it, remember that little tin can that the soup you had for lunch came in, or the cigarette butts you recently put out in your ashtray. You might not realize it, but all of those things add up quickly and wreck havoc on the environment.
Recycling Isn't Enough
If you recycle, you probably think you're doing everything you can for our environment. But, recycling will never fix the situation. What we need is reform. We need to find ways to drastically reduce the amount of single-use products that wind up in our landfills, and the only way to do that is to start being conscious of everything we discard day after day.
Try not to get overwhelmed as you think about the coffee you drank this morning and the plastic-lined cup it came in. It's not your fault. It's the fault of the marketing genius who decided that it was a good idea to store food in toxic containers and convinced us that disposable plastic products were the best.
Make A Difference Through Single-Use Product Reduction
While this might sound like a harsh reality, it's actually quite positive. Living completely plastic free is hard to do, and might not be achievable for the average family. But, if you can reduce your use of single-use items, you CAN make a difference. Not only will ditching disposable items for long-lasting quality products help protect the environment, it will also save you money.
Let's face it, going plastic free is difficult and setting unachievable goals could have adverse effects. But, one of the simplest ways to begin truly living sustainably, is by reducing the number of single-use items that are purchased by you or your family. Together we CAN make a difference. I also want to give full credit to anyone who has managed to go completely plastic-free – blumen well done for sure!
