plastic

March 16 – Say NO to single use plastic bottles

Leave a Comment / Fast for the Earth 2020 / /

“Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” ~ 1 Kings 17 :10   “PLASTIC CHOKES WATER RESOURCES” / “SAY NO TO BOTTLED WATER” Every year, billions of kilograms of waste ends up in the oceans, forming city sized islands made entirely of trash. A vast majority of this trash is plastic, which will take thousands of years to decompose. Plastic bottles make up a large proportion of plastic waste, and only about one in five bottles are properly recycled. The advantages of using refillable water bottle: Reduce plastic waste: single use plastic water bottles take up a vital amount of space in landfills and causes litter. Using reusable bottles will reduce plastic waste Prevent using non-renewable resources: Every year, 17 million barrels of oil are used to create 50 billion disposable water bottles in the United States alone! Switching to a reusable water bottle would surely decrease the oil used, greenhouse gasses emitted, and bottles thrown away, reducing pollution threefold and therefore slow down global warming Prevent harmful toxins leaching into your drinks: Single-use plastic water bottles can have health implications. Plastic water bottles leach harmful chemical toxins in. The toxins have been linked to reproductive issues, asthma, and even cancer Save Money: Using a reusable water bottle is cheaper than buying single-use plastic water bottles in the long run. Prevent Microplastics Ruining our Environment: The plastic water bottles slowly break down into small microplastics. These microplastics eventually make their way into the ocean suffocating and entangling animals. Both terrestrial and aquatic animals often mistake the small pieces of plastic for food. Using reusable water bottles will decrease plastic pollution and harms Reusable water bottles are a cheaper, safer and more sustainable alternative to disposable ones.

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March 11 – Bring Your Own Bag

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“You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”  ~ Haggai 1 : 6 Buy reusable shopping for yourself and for a buddy When one goes to the grocery store and gets ready to leave, a commonly asked question is; plastic or paper bag? Whatever your response may be, there is a batter way to carry your groceries.  The movement of using reusable shopping bags is becoming more popular and everyone needs to part take in it. The world seems to be suffocating under endless piles of plastic bags and we need to act as soon as possible to prevent further damage to the environment and ourselves. While reusable shopping bags cost a little more up front, there are many benefits of reusable bags, particularly when it comes to easing plastic bag pollution and the effects of plastic on the environment. Benefits if using reusable shopping bags: Using reusable bags over plastic bags can save money. Many stores impose an extra charge for plastic bags. By bringing your own reusable bag, you will be saving money each time you go to the grocery store, buy a new outfit, or run errands. Save Resources. Plastic bags are non-biodegradable, use crude oil and natural gas to manufacture, and require even more fossil fuels to ship. Protect wildlife. More than 100,000 marine animal deaths are caused each year when marine animals mistake plastic shopping bags in the ocean for food, according to SPREP.org. Plastic bags also get snagged in trees, and small animals can become trapped in them, leaving to even more wildlife deaths in the environment. By using a reusable bag, you are not only reducing the amount of non-renewable resources necessary to produce plastic bags, but you will also be reducing the amount of money your community spends on waste clean up costs each year. Decrease pollution. The effects of plastic on the environment can be devastating. Plastic products such as plastic bags can take between 15 to 1,000 years to break down, and that’s assuming they make it into a landfill instead of winding up in water such as streams, rivers or the ocean or floating around the neighbourhood. Of the 100 billion plastic shopping bags Americans use each year, only about 1 percent are recycled, and therefore a lot of plastic bag pollution is generated annually. Reusable bags are durable and reliable. Unlike plastic bags, reusable bags can carry more items at a time, it will not break and will result in less amount of shopping bags to carry. Their durability prevents them from tearing and because they are reliable, you can use them for multiple purposes and multiple times. Make a positive environment impact by buying a reusable bags or better yet buy a bag for you and a loved one. The next time you are asked; plastic or paper bag? Ask to purchase a reusable bag, or better yet take out your own reusable bag https://plastic.education/benefits-of-using-reusable-shopping-bags/ https://totebagfactory.com/blogs/news/8-reasons-you-should-use-reusable-grocery-bags Photo by bach hanzo from Pexels

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February 27 – Pledge to Fight Plastic

Leave a Comment / Fast for the Earth 2020 / /

CREATION IS GROANING FROM PLASTIC POLLUTION  “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” Romans 8 :22 Creation is groaning because of plastic, it oceans are polluted, the rivers are clogged. In the words of Pope Francis “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”. Today we focus on plastic, in our landfills, our oceans and rivers. One hundred  years ago most waste was biodegradable or reusable. Here are some scary facts: Nearly all of the plastic ever produced still exists By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish Plastic comes from oil and fossil fuel companies are planning to increase production by 50 % in the next 15 years By 2050 there will be 40 billion tonnes of plastic on the Earth, up from 4.5 billion now. Marine plastic kills over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals annually Micro plastic is entering the human food chain through fish. Once in the ocean, much of the plastic gets broken down into pieces so small they are hard to see named “microplastics,” which are virtually irretrievable. Plastic waste in the ocean is equivalent to having fifteen  plastic grocery bags filled with plastic trash sitting on every meter of coastline around the world The ice floating in the Arctic as it melts over the next decade, could release more than a trillion bits of plastic into the water On some beaches on the Big Island of Hawaii, as much as 15 percent of the sand is grains of microplastic. This Lent, take the challenge to pledge to fight plastic. Reduce your personal usage, buy a reusable shopping bag, a reusable water bottle, stop using straws, refuse, and reuse as much as possible Put pressure on the local shops or restaurants you use Join Campaigns to reduce plastic Use social media to influence your friends and contacts Take your money out of fossil fuels https://theconversation.com/fossil-fuel-industry-sees-the-future-in-hard-to-recycle-plastic-123631 Plastic bank interfaith social plastic manual “Fighting Ocean Plastic Using Principles of Christian Spirituality” Photo by Stijn Dijkstra from Pexels

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April 4 – Avoid Plastic Accessories

Leave a Comment / Plastic Fast 2019 / /

“I brought you into the fruitful land To eat its fruit and its good things But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. Jeremiah 2:7 Avoid “cheap” plastic accessories It is so easy to stock up on cheap earrings and jewellery made of plastic. We buy them without thinking and buy them for our children.  But where will they end up when they are lost or thrown away? What was the environmental impact of their production? There are health hazards too, in cheap jewellery. Studies show that many items of jewellery contain lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, brominated flame retardants, chlorine, mercury and arsenic When you buy a gift for somebody or an accessory for yourself it is an opportunity to think of the impact on the Planet. If you buy a locally made product, you create work for a local person, and avoid air miles on the item. There are beautiful products made from recycled materials. You can buy products that are made from natural materials.  Search for beautiful vintage jewellery. The ‘bargain’ label does not take into account the cost to the workers who were underpaid, the cost to the environment of the impact of that product, and the environmental impact of the air miles it took to bring it to you. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costume-jewelry-found-to-have-high-levels-of-toxins-and-carcinogens-tests-show/

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March 30 – Catering without bottled water

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“We have to pay for our drinking water: Lamentations 5:4 Cater without plastic Our churches should be models of sustainability. When we have a function let us model ways of being environmentally conscious so that people can copy those ideas for events in their own families. No bottled water Look at other ways of serving water  – large dispensing containers with filtered or boiled water. Put some ice and lemon in to make it taste nicer if there is fluoride in the water. There was a time when it was safe to drink the water from our faucets. But for the past 50 years, pollution has become a concern that people became afraid that the toxins were seeping into our water system, especially in the cities. The past 20 years has seen a surge in people’s desire to be healthy and drink safe water… and the bottled water became a regular and popular commodity. But is drinking bottled water really a health solution, or is it adding to our environmental problems, or maybe masking a problem that most people are not aware of? Is bottled water really safer than tap water or is it just commercial propaganda? The facts Here are some bottled water waste facts that you need to know, so you can make an informed decision when it comes to choosing the water you drink. Most of the bottled water you buy is just glorified tap water. There are a few brands whose water really comes from springs and mountain streams, but most are just tap water that’s been purified. Only 1 out of 5 plastic bottles is recycled. The rest just becomes litter or get buried somewhere. (1) It takes 1 PET plastic bottle 700 years to start decomposing. Bacteria, which usually helps in breaking down organic materials, don’t like petroleum based plastics. Technically, they can last forever. More than 100 million plastic bottles are used worldwide every day! (2) 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the packaging, not the water quality. (3) 3 liters of water is used to package 1 bottle of water. Plastic water bottles are petroleum based. In the U.S alone, it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to meet the demands. An estimate 1,500 plastic bottles end up as waste in landfills or thrown in the ocean every second. There’s an area in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas – known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – which is composed of plastic. (2) Plastic is listed as the number one threat to our marine ecosystem. The energy used to manufacture bottled water can power 190,000 homes. Antimony, which causes dizziness and depression and even death can be found in PET plastic bottles. (4) Plastic bottles also contain Bisphenol A which has been linked to obesity, diabetes and cancer. The plastic bottles may be BPA-Free but there are chemicals in the bottles, such as phthalates, can seep into the drink and be harmful to your health. From these data, it’s clear that bottling water is not a health solution, but an illusion that needs to stop. Due to these environmental issues, some countries are thinking of banning the manufacture of water bottles. From your end, how can you do your share in stopping the accumulation of plastic wastes? References http://thewaterproject.org/bottled_water_wasteful.asp http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/how-long-does-it-take-for-plastics-to-biodegrade.htm http://www.safebottles.co.nz/News/Plastics+and+the+Environment.html http://greenupgrader.com/3258/plastic-bottle-facts-make-you-think-before-you-drink/ http://www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts/  

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March 21 – Say No To Plastic Packaging

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This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is.  Joshua 9 v 12 1. Bread bags Whoever coined the expression “the best thing since sliced bread” must have worked for the plastics industry.. Unfortunately, once a loaf is sliced, it does not remain fresh for very long, unless air is kept from it. In the 1930s, sliced loaves came wrapped in wax paper (and later cellophane) with the folded-over ends sealed with glued-on labels. This kept the bread fresh until the package was opened, but then it was not easily resealed. The polyethylene bag [developed in the mid 50’s] clearly solved that problem, because it could be closed, opened and re-closed easily with a tie. Twist ties are often coated with PVC, one of the worst plastics. Besides twist ties, many bread bags today are held shut by plastic bread clips, those flat little squares with a hole in the middle Take a reusable cloth bag to the bakery and ask to have my (unsliced!) bread placed directly inside it. Bring the bread home. Slice a piece and eat it. Yum!  Return the remaining unsliced loaf to the cloth bag and store it in an airtight tin. 2. Boxes not bags If you hunt around and are prepared to change your brand, you can find boxes instead of plastic bags for many items such a laundry detergents, cereals etc. Make sure to tell the company why you are no longer buying their product, post your new choice of product on social media and tag the company (@company) to tell them you have changed to a different supplier.

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