Tag: plastic

I was in the supermarket checkout queue the other day. There were six checkouts. When I looked around, I was the only one who had brought reusable grocery bags, and the rest of the customers bought new shopping bags for their groceries. At that time, I wished I could tell them not to use new plastic bags because plastic pollution is a huge worldwide problem.

Plastic pollution is harming our marine life and Mother Earth. Just take a look at some of the shocking facts and stats below:

Plastic bags dominate 14.1% of ocean garbage, followed by plastic bottles 11.9% and food containers 9.4%. (2021)
Globally, we get through a staggering 1 million plastic bottles every minute, most of which end in landfills.
By 2050, there’ll be more plastic than fish in the sea.

How about recycling plastic? Unfortunately, how we recycle plastic escalates more unsolved problems because of the sheer volume of plastic we produce and consume daily! Our addiction to plastic is poisoning us and future generations. Plastic waste also causes serious climate change because nearly 99% of plastic is derived from fossil fuels.

So, we’ve got to think hard about our addiction to plastic and how we can stop that. I understand it is hard to change our behaviour if we aren’t fully aware of the seriousness of plastic pollution. However, awareness is just one side of the coin. We also need the belief that you and I together can make profound impacts and lead to great things. This all starts with small steps from individual actions, e.g. not using single-use plastic or buying plastic bags. Remember: we, human beings, are the cause but can be part of the solution if we’re doing the right thing!

Here, I hope the 21 plastic pollution quotes below will raise our awareness, radically change our relationship with plastic and ultimately, we and future generations can all live in a plastic-free world. Less plastic, more living!

Quotes about saying no to plastic use

For the sake of the planet, less plastic, please. – Sir David Attenborough
Giving up plastic water bottles is really, really easy. You just replace it with a reusable water bottle. – Moby, musician
Plastic will be the main ingredient of all our grandchildren’s recipes. – Anthony T. Hincks
A plastic-pollution-free world is not a choice but a commitment to life – a commitment to the next generation. – Amit Ray
We humans have become dependent on plastic for a variety of uses, from packaging to products. Reducing our use of plastic bags is an easy place to start getting our addiction under control. – David Suzuki

If we say no to plastic bags, it will save millions of people down the line. – Amit Ray
I hate plastic bottles. Just think about it before you buy one. We pay more for a gallon of water than we do for a gallon of gas. – Philippe Cousteau

Quotes about plastic pollution and the marine environment

What goes in the ocean goes in you. – surfrider.org

Industrial pollution and discarding plastic waste must be tackled for the sake of all life in the ocean. – Sir David Attenborough
We are being choked to death by the amount of plastic that we throw away. It’s killing our oceans. It’s entering into our bodies in the fish we eat.” – Kevin Bacon
Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life – it’s in all of us, and we can’t escape consuming plastics.” – Marco Lambertini

Quotes about single-use plastic

It’s only one straw, said 8 billion people. – Unknown
Plastic pollution is one of the most visible signs of unsustainable consumption and production. – Inger Andersen
Of all the waste we generate, plastic bags are perhaps the greatest symbol of our throwaway society. They are used, then forgotten, and they leave a terrible legacy”. – Zac Goldsmith
It cannot be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes and then are with us for centuries”. – Roz Savage

Quotes about plastic waste

Plastic disposal not only pollutes the land but the water and the air, the three primary elements for any living being on the earth. – Sir P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
Plastic pollution is a global issue: killing wildlife, contaminating our oceans and waters, and lasting far longer than it is used.” – Leonardo DiCaprio
Only we humans make trash that nature can’t digest. – Charles Moore
Plastic waste is now found in the most remote areas of the planet. It kills marine life and is doing major harm to communities that depend on fishing and tourism. – António Guterres
There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere. – Annie Leonard
Pollution from oil and gas development, toxic runoff, and miles and miles of plastic trash foul the waters and threaten marine life. – Frances Beinecke

focused asian woman putting chifferi rigati into glass jar

5 SIMPLE Alternatives To Cling Film

By Rachel

On August 7, 2022

In Eco-friendly lifestyle

How many rolls of plastic cling film do you usually go through each year? Do you bin those food wraps after every single use? How about if I told you that I use less than a roll a year, would you believe me?

Cling film is primarily made of plastic to preserve food, and it currently can’t be recycled in the UK. Because of that and its material, I think we should ONLY use it when there is no other alternative.

Alternatives to cling film

a person holding the lid of a food container

glass bowls with silicone/cotton cloth cover
takeaway food containers with a lid (I never throw them away. Trust me! They’re very handy.)
glass jars (I use the jam jars from the jams bought in the store)
beeswax/soy wraps
put the food in a bowl and cover the bowl with the right-size plate (It’s never too old school!)

If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.
Pete Seeger

Can cling film have multiple uses?

Absolutely! Just clean them properly and hang them to dry. I use cling film rarely. After each use, I would rinse and hang them to dry on my dish rack overnight. And next day, I’d check whether there is no hole in the wrap and if it’s in a usable condition. And I put them away in a takeaway container, and they’re ready to be used the next time.

Use cling film for non-food stuff

You can also use washed-and-dried cling film for non-food objects. For example:

when painting the wall where some objects you can’t move, then wrap them with those reusable cling films to avoid paint getting on them.
wrap your paintbrush with the film to prevent the brush from drying out
wrap your liquid bottles with the film to avoid liquids spilling

What other usages of cling film can you think of? Feel free to leave comments below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Further reading: Ten tips to reduce your plastic waste

Why Should You Reuse Plastic Bags & How

By Rachel

On August 1, 2022

In Eco-friendly lifestyle

I don’t mean those carrier bags you get at checkout counters or food/freezer bags bought from supermarkets. I am talking about plastic bags for food packaging.

Unless you live next to zero-waste or free-from-plastic stores, most food you buy from supermarkets comes in a plastic bag. So, what do you normally do with the plastic bag once the bag is empty? Some of you might recycle it if it is recyclable, but most of them likely end up in the bin.

I encourage you to try to reuse those plastic bags because by extending their lifetime, you can use much fewer shop-bought plastic bags hence save money on buying new ones.

Reuse plastic bags from your grocery shopping

For example, the picture shows plastic packaging from vegetables and cereal bags, which are perfectly reusable. Just make sure:

check if the inside of them is really empty, clean and dry.
If it’s not, wipe a bag with a dry cloth.

Sometimes I even rinse and hang them on my outdoor washing line if it’s sunny. They get dry very quickly. I often take those bags with me when I go grocery shopping. For example, when I buy loose vegetables/fruits, I can put them in my plastic bags instead of using those clear bags on a roll supplied by the supermarket. I firmly believe the fewer bags I use, the less they end up in landfills.

Some of you might argue that we can use paper bags (supplied in the store) instead of plastic bags. However, those paper ones aren’t necessary much greener than plastic!

It takes more than FOUR times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.
Research conducted by the Northern Ireland assembly

Reuse frozen foods bags

Some frozen foods also come in plastic. And those bags can be reused, too, as long as we clean them properly before using them. The plastic used for frozen foods is usually quite thick and flexible, so they’re ideal for storing all kinds of things easily; you can even use them as carrying bags for picnic cutlery or plates.

plastic bags for frozen foods — Reuse plastic bags

Industrial pollution and the discarding of plastic waste must be tackled for the sake of all life in the ocean.
Sir David Attenbourgh

Why shouldn’t we just recycle plastic bags?

You might hear of the waste management of Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. So as you can see, recycling is the last stage. But unfortunately, it doesn’t address the core of our waste problems either. I only came to that realisation after watching a few documentaries related to the issue, such as the one below. I encourage you to check the documentary below to cultivate your knowledge if this is unknown to you.

https://youtu.be/oRQLilXLAIU

Save the Planet & Live Sustainably