Eco-friendly tools and advice for environmentally responsible living

Plastic constitutes 90 percent of all trash floating in the world's oceans. The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.
 
The main problem with plastic waste is that it far outlives us: for instance, it takes 400+ years for a plastic bottle to decompose, compared to 2-4 years for a dreaded cigarette butt.
 
Commercial plastic has been around for only 50 years, yet during this relatively short period of time we've managed to accumulate enough plastic waste to form The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a super-vortex of trash estimated to be twice the size of Texas, floating in the Pacific).  
 
Plastic in the ocean undergoes the process of photodegradation where it breaks down into smaller pieces and becomes a serious threat to birds, fish and mammals that either end up swallowing a piece of garbage (mistaking it for food) or get trapped in it and die. Turtles, for instance, commonly swallow pieces of plastic bags, mistaking them for jelly fish.


The real danger, however, has to do with the fact that plastic polymers attract DDTs, PCB and other oil-based chemicals, concentrating them to the levels million times as high as their concentration in the ocean as free-floating substances. Broken down to miniscule chunks these concentrated poisons are constantly consumed by organisms living in the ocean, entering our food chain and - our dinner plates.

Here is a great video on plastic pollution in the ocean.

What is the solution?

80% of trash accumulated in the oceans is land based: plastic bottles and bottle caps, plastic bags and styrofoam cups, plastic containers and packaging. Reducing personal consumption of these items is an easy step each one of us can make to help with plastic pollution.

A few tips:

 
1. Buy products with plastic containers that are accepted by your local recycling program. How do you know which plastic your recycling service accepts?
 
The main issue with plastic recycling is that different types of plastic cannot be mixed together. To address this issue, The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1988 came up with a standard symbol code system (numbers ranging from 1 to 7) that provides consumers and recyclers with an easy way to identify different types of plastic:

 

Write down or remember the numbers consistent with your recycling service, and look for packaging with these numbers on when shopping.
 
2. Bring your own bags to the grocery store!
Stash a few compact shopping bags in your purse or in your car (that way you'll never forget to bring a bag with you). Spread the earth-love and place a gift in a reusable shipping bag next time you give a birthday present (and reduce the 50 football-fields of waste that fill up in a single year due to all the gift wrap thrown away!).
A few eco-conscious stores in our area (such as Whole Foods) will actually give you a small credit for each bag you bring with you.
 
 
3. Reuse plastic containers (from whipping cream, sour cream, etc) to store food. As Tree Nut has pointed out, you save energy when cooking in bulk. Place your left over food in small plastic containers (and freeze it) to be eaten later.
 
4. Don't buy bottled water.
Bottled water is a huge waste of money and resources. Shipping 1 bottle of water can cost 1/4 bottle of fuel. The money you invest in a simple and cheap water purifier (for your home or office) will pay off in no time.
 
5. Remember that small things count!
The fundamental flaw in our thinking is the idea that individual efforts are not effective on a global scale. Estimate the amount of plastic waste you and your family dispose of in one year, and remember that all this waste is going to end up somewhere polluting the planet and damaging life for hundreds of years.