Humans are generating way too much rubbish; it is filling our oceans and landfills. Only 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled. Even those items you put in a recycling bin – only about 50% end up being recycled. The amount is not dropping, it is growing, especially under COVID, plastic levels are soaring.
Climate Change
Trash that is dumped in landfills releases methane gas – a potent greenhouse gas. The burning of piles of trash creates carbon dioxide, and releases toxic gases – approximately 40 percent of the worlds trash is burned in this way.
Health impacts
Bacteria, vermin and insects can also be added to the problem that trash causes. Plastic leaches into the soil and into our drinking water. It is estimated that each human being is ingesting plastic the weight of a bank card every week!
Impact on Wildlife
One of the most oversized consequences of our global waste problem manifests itself in relation to our marine life and waterways. Simply put, it affects the people who depend on the ocean for their livelihoods. They cannot distinguish between what is or isn’t food. They consume the trash, which results in death because the aquatic animal could not process it. This affects fish, seals, turtles, whales, and many other aquatic animals, as scientists have also found many plastic fragments in over a thousand species. Due to ingestion of trash or plastics, starvation is usually the next step because some species do not have high acidic levels in their stomach to break down the object that they ingested.
So, what can we do?
The first thing is to recognise that – it is not my rubbish – but it is my street, my community, my beach, my river. Everyone of us needs to be part of the solution and inspire others.
In your street: Make a habit of taking a bag with you when you walk or jog and pick up litter that you see on the last part of your walk. Get the local kids together and have a clean up
In your community: Can you put pressure on your municipality to provide a recycling service? Make sure you have the contacts of the cleaning department so that you report quickly when rubbish has not been collected (otherwise the dogs break the bags open).
In your church: Adopt your local street, or park and have clean ups and plant trees/succulents to beautify the area.
Organise a beach or river clean up with your youth or join in an existing one. Clean ups can be great fun!!
Celebrate Plastic Free July!
https://www.earthday.org/how-our-trash-impacts-the-environment/
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/health/microplastics-ingestion-wwf-study-scn-intl/index.html
#Lent2022 #fast4earth #carbonfast #pollution #litter #mylittlebitofgood