August 21, 2012

Plastic is Invading our Lives (and Environment)

Yummy...
I love drinking DanActives. You know, those mini pro-biotic yogurt drinks? So, a few days back, I discovered a little fun fact on the bottle: "More than 120 bottles of DanActives are being consumed each second around the world!" And that fun fact soon becomes into a pretty horrifying fact. 120 bottles of plastic used every second! Now, if this fact proves to be true, that'd be 10 036 800 of DanActive bottles consumed every day! To put this into perspectives, it'd be roughly equivalent to 49 127 of those water cooler jugs! Or it also means that all these bottles of DanActive could fill roughly 140 Olympic sized swimming pools each year! I know that may not sound like that much, but think about it, this is only DanActive bottles we're talking about here. Milk jugs, yogurt cups, frozen meal trays... They are also thrown in the garbage.

 Our use of plastic is soon going to go overboard- or has it already? There is only so much a garbage landfill or an incinerator can do. I once read that there is a mass of plastic garbage floating on the ocean that is the size of Quebec! Not only are we occupying an enormous amount of space because of our garbage, we are also endangering the lives of sea creatures and alike! I learned that from "Happy Feet". Remember that penguin who had those soda can holders around his neck? Yup. Approximately 1 000 000 sea creatures are killed every year from plastic bags or other plastic garbage. A very scary fact.

I want to change this, and I'm pretty sure you'd like to also. But it's not as easy as it seems. We can't just stop using plastic containers and all start buying bulk food or anything. But little steps can make a difference:

1. Use fabric bags at the grocery store instead of plastic bags.
This one is pretty straight forward. Fabric bags don't cost much and they are re-usable, so you don't have to get plastic bags every time at the checkout.

2. Re-use your plastic bottles as paint brush cleaners, etc.
If you paint, like me, you can always use your Yop bottles (or any other kind of bottles or cups) as the container to hold your liquid that cleans your brushes.

3. Recycle your plastic!
I don't know about you, but a while back, I wasn't even aware that you could recycle plastic! If you see a recycling sign on your plastic item, that means that you're free to recycle it! (And I hope you do!)

Well, these are extremely basic ideas, and if you'd like more, here are a few links that gives you great ideas on how to re-use your plastic:

-20 Ways to Reuse Old Plastic (and Paper) Bags
-5 Creative Ways To Reuse Plastic Bottles (And Jugs) (I love #4!)
-Reuse Trash Ideas (I didn't read the whole thing but they seem like great ideas!)

Well, I hope that this post will inspire you to make better choices with your plastic! And if you have any more ideas or opinions, feel free to post a comment below!

8 comments:

  1. Haha, such basic ideas. But the basic ones are always the ones that help the most! Did you know in L.A. that you have to pay more to get plastic now? It encourages people to buy their own reusable shopping bag. Pretty smart, right? We should do it everywhere, in my opinion.

    XOXO Kim @ Snuggle

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    1. I agree with you Kim! And here in Manitoba, there are a few stores that charges extra for plastic bags, but I do hope that one day this rule will apply for all stores!

      -Grace :)

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    2. Ooh! You DID reply to me. For some reason, I haven't been getting your blog updates on my WordPress reader. :/
      Something's wrong here! But I just wanted you to know, that I am a dedicated follower. :)

      -Yours truly, the Insomniac Bee.

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    3. Aw, you're too sweet! Me too, I try to be a dedicated follower :)

      -Grace :)

      Delete
  2. Hi,
    Saw the link to your blog in a group on GR. Following you via GFC. My blog is at: 365 Books A Year
    My Twitter if you want to exchange follows. Just follow me and I'll follow back within 24 hours.

    I never really thought about it, but we rarely buy prepackaged foods. I know some states/cities are talking about outlawing small bottles to encourage people to use reusable ones. You should try making your own yogurt. I make it in a crockpot.

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    1. Hi! Thanks for following! I just started following your blog via GFC, and I'm looking forward to reading more of your book reviews!

      And I've never thought of making my own yogurt, but it seems really interesting! (And more eco-friendly) Thank you for the suggestion, I just might give it a try!

      -Grace :)

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  3. Hi Grace,

    many thanks for following, I'm now a follower!

    I see we have the same taste in favourite books - Harry Potter, Hunger Games... amazing. Have you reviewed the books?

    Sophie (Verdict)

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    1. Hi Sophie!

      Thanks for following :) And as for the reviews go, I have a short Hunger Games review on Goodreads, but as for Harry Potter, I actually haven't gotten the chance to write one! Though I will most definitely write one when I re-read them! (For the eight time ;)

      -Grace :)

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Hi! If you are here, I'm assuming that you've just read my post. If yes, don't hesitate on leaving a quick comment, I truly do appreciate each and every single one of them!

-Grace :)

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