Research & Insights

3 Real Amazing Simple Steps to Reduce Plastic Use

Plastic Ruins Our Earth

Humans produced more than 300 million tons of plastic globally each year. From all of those plastic products we used and then discarded, only 10% of them get recycled. The rest of the plastic waste is most likely found to be littering our hometown, clogging our waterways, accumulating in our landfills.

Of course, we all—at some point—have heard about the scary impact of plastic waste on our mother earth, especially to the ocean and our cute sea creatures. Someone has told us that story about a seagull died by choking of some plastic bottle caps. A friend has shared that video of an expert warning us about the hazardous content in our fishes—one of the undesirable risks of having too much plastic waste floating in our sea.

man standing in front a mountain of plastic bottles
Source: The Guardian

We read the news, of course, we all knew about those things, and we also knew that simply hitting that ‘like’ button and retweeting the sad, shocking truth just weren’t enough to show our concern, moreover, prevent our land and sea from being invaded by plastic waste.

So here are 3 of the simplest tips on reducing the use of plastic that you could actually do in your daily life and (maybe, later) post the amazing details of it in your social media for your dear friends to follow your steps:

Tips #1: In a matter of soap, choose solid over liquid

 

via Google

Source: Conservation Magazine

You may think like this: “Oh, now that we have environmental issue to keep in mind, bar soap is back in trend?” Well, yes. The truth is the plastic bottle that is used as a packaging to those oh-so-practical liquid soap a.k.a. body wash of ours did ruin our health in some ways. You see, there’s an estimate of  577 million of them small-and-gigantic plastic bottles end up in our land and sea each year, intoxicating our seafood and decreasing our soil and crop qualities. Meanwhile, a simple bar soap only need a small piece of paper—sometimes they come in bare.

Now, you may say this: “I could just buy the refill package of my usual body wash and then put it in my old soap bottle. Easy, right?” Of course, that’s a solution. But a refill product usually comes with another non-degradable plastic package to think about. So no, refill package isn’t really advised for this matter.

Another fun fact to make you choose bar soap over liquid soap: bar soap is mostly natural, beautiful-aromatic-flowers-drizzled-with-crazy-rich-coconut-oil kind of natural, while liquid soap (which of course, non-natural) are infused with triclosan and triclocarban—two antimicrobial chemicals which could act as a pollutant to our aquatic life if it’s released to the ocean. And for your information, all of the chemicals contained in the liquid soap would likely spark a reaction with its own plastic packaging, creating another dangerous substance that is a danger to your skin.

Bar soap do back in trend.

Tips #2: Plastic isn’t the only option

We, humans, are born creative and smart. Well, not all of us, but some of us do have a talent for improving the quality of life—allowing humanity to explore beyond earth, battling influenza, and creating alternatives to plastic use.

A refreshing cold ice tea in the middle of a scorching day doesn’t always have to be consumed using a plastic straw. Someone nice out there has invented bamboo straw, you could use that. A chemist has found a way to make an edible plate made from a type of millet, you could use that too.

Educate yourself in the possibilities of a world without plastic, and actively choose the environmental-friendly alternatives over hazardous and less nature-friendly materials like plastic.

Support the movement!

Tips #3: Every day is a bring-your-own day!

reduce plastic use
Wooden utensils (Source: She Knows)

Visiting a local market? You could spend some time to plan ahead. Think about how much you want to buy and bring your own shopping bag. Do invest some money to buy a durable nicely-crafted shoulder shopping bag.

Not just shopping bags though, you could also bring your own water bottle, your own cup, or your own utensils when eating out with your friends and family. Be the first to inspire your community by letting them see those shiny metal utensil set of yours that is so much cooler than a mere easy-to-break plastic spoon.

What’s Next?

Today is a choking innocent seagull, a still-delicious but secretly hazardous tuna, a green lettuce with extra non-natural chemicals inside. What new problems may arise in the future if we keep hoarding those plastic waste in our land and sea?

Who knows that the solutions could be as simple as using a bar soap, always choosing natural environmental-friendly alternatives over plastic, and bringing your own water bottle?

Those tips might feel a little bit awkward at first—with you suddenly bringing your own lunchbox and insisting on using bar soap—but we aren’t here just trying to make a statement, we are marching towards a global behavioral change.

Plastic no more!

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