Daily essentials…
Consumer power, the eco-conscious choice.
Daily consumer choices.
Some things we cant go without, whether traveling or back home, these items form part of our daily lives. The extreme demand for these items result in products designed for high quantity at low manufacturing costs.
Hydration.
Bottled water can be sold in glass but due to the competitive industry and high demand for convenient, single serving water, it is in plastic.
A report by the Guardian found that 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and this number is set to increase by another 20% by 2021.
The same report said more than 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were purchased in 2016 across the world — up from 300 billion a decade ago.
Additionally, less than half of the bottles purchased in 2016 were recycled.
Only 7% of bottles collected were turned into new bottles, and the rest ending up in landfill sites or the ocean.
If you would normally purchase one plastic water bottle a day, you would be adding over 339 plastic bottles a year, to the current plastic pollution.
Simple things we can do.
Reusable bottles
Look out for natural or mineral sunscreens available.
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Filter
Filter your water at home or when travelling. Dont rely on plastic bottled water for clean water.
Buy bulk
If traveling in a place where tap water is bad, consider purchasing a 5 litre plastic bottle to refill your own.
Food packaging.
Plastic packaging was designed for one purpose, to preserve food until consumed.
In some cases, packaging prevents food waste, which in the greater scheme, the damage would be greater than the litter.
Excessive packaging
Bananas have their own perfectly designed wrapper. Too often these items are in plastic for selling stratagies (profit driven).
Mixed plastics
Too often packaging consists of two or more types of plastic. Example a bottle and cap. Due to limited sorting facilities these items often bypass recycling and go straight to the landfill.
Single-use plastics
The extensive numbers of these items being used every day across the globe are far too much to even consider recycling. They should be banned, period.
Simple things we can do.
Push back
Refuse to buy items that are unecessarily packaged. Eg. find a store that sells loose fruit and veg.
Recycle
Split packaging before entering the bin. Lids from bottles, outer linings etc. Find out if your neighbourhood has a recycling system. Often different colour garbage bags are meant for plastic and food waste alike.
Avoid Single-use
Avoid single-use plastics and encourage your local coffee spot or takeaways to switch to biodegradable packaging.
Reusables
Carry your own reusable water bottle, cutlery, straw, coffee cup, etc..
Clothing.
The UN estimates around 10% of global CO2 emissions come from the fashion industry. It’s also responsible for 20% of global wastewater.
Only 15% of clothing is recycled or donated. Of the remainder, 60% of disposed clothes are non-biodegradable and will remain in landfills for hundreds of years.
The solution to this problem is not in finding another way to feed this fast industry. But, rather slow it down and change the way consumers value their clothes.
Fast fashion
Inexpensive clothing is produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends. This high-speed industry is running at a high cost to the environment.
Waste water
Dyes used are highly toxic and pollute waterways.
Micro plastics
Polyester fabrics shed microfibres that enter the ocean only to be consumed by marine life and inevitably ourselves.
Pesticides
Cotton is high water and pesticide-intensive crop.
Deforestation
Wood-based fabrics like rayon, modal and viscose contribute to deforestation.
Simple things we can do.
Take care
Take better care of your clothes.
Buy quality
Buy quality items that will last longer. Its often cheaper in the long run.
Recycled
Choose fabrics that are or can be recycled.
Natural
Choose natural fiber items like hemp or bamboo that are biodegradeable.
Organic cotton
Make sure cotton items are made from organic cotton without the use of harmful pesticides.
Shoes.
Much like clothes, shoes are made from toxic materials that are harmful to the environment.
Large brands like Adidas have started to make shoes from recycled plastic pllution. Some of their shoe soles are made from natural foams using Algae.
Other brands like Indosole are using recycled rubber tyres to make sustainable high quality footware.
Simple things we can do.
Take care
Take better care of your shoes.
Buy quality
Buy quality shoes that will last longer. Its often cheaper in the long run.
Recycled
Choose shoes that are or can be recycled.
Natural
Choose natural fiber items like hemp or bamboo that are biodegradeable.
Sunscreen.
oxybenzone and octinoxate is the bad stuff in sunscreen that kills coral.
These chemicals enter the ocean when we go swimming or through wastewater treatment systems.
Chemical sunscreens soak into your skin and absorb the UV rays whereas mineral sunscreens physically block the rays out. Besides… applying hormone-disrupting, harmful chemicals to your skin is not a healthy choice.
Coral bleaching
Oxybenzone accelerates coral bleaching, a disease caused by the increase of sea-surface temperatures relative to climate change. It may increase the susceptibility of coral to bleach at lower temperatures resulting in global mass mortalities.
Damages DNA
Oxybenzone damages the DNA of coral making it difficult to reproduce. It also results in an unhealthy or deformed offspring that may not be strong enough to survive.
Hormone disrupter
Oxybenzone is a hormone disruptor causing young coral to unnaturally encase itself in its own skeleton which then leads to death.
Simple things we can do.
Go natural
Look out for natural or mineral sunscreens available.
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