Article on A day without plastic
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Like it or not, plastic is everywhere. We sit on it, store our food in it, drink from it, text with it, type with it, wear it, and carry our groceries home from the store in it. Yet we know that plastic is harsh on the environment in its production and even harsher when it winds up in our landfills, or worse, on our roadways, in our forests, and in our oceans. Sure, it can seem overwhelming to try to live a plastic-free life, but what if you only had to commit to it for one day?
Consider these statistics: Americans purchase 50 million plastic water bottles every year, and we throw away enough plastic items each year to circle the Earth four times. We know that these items aren't really going "away" when we toss them. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, there is so much plastic floating in the world's oceans that more than half of all turtles, seabirds and marine mammals are estimated to have ingested plastic.
Broadreach, a North Carolina-based global educational adventure company for students, has organized a worldwide Plastic-Free Day on Feb. 21. This is your chance to make a small commitment that could make a huge difference to our planet.
Don't purchase anything made of plastic. There are lots of items like water bottles and kids toys that are obviously included on this list, but be sure to check out some of the items in this post that you may not realize contain hidden plastic.
Just say no to singles use plastics like straws, cups, grocery bags, wrappers, etc. I love to drink from a straw as much as the next gal, but this post convinced me that they're an environmental disaster.
Stay clear of products containing micro plastics and plastic microfibers. Like bath beads or fleece clothing and even, sigh, yoga pants.
Bring your own utensils if you're planning to eat somewhere that doesn't provide silverware. This one can be hard to remember but even just grabbing a reusable fork and stashing it in your briefcase or purse can go a long way toward helping you stay plastics free all day. Just don't order the soup.