In honor of Plastic Free July, more than 60 Birch Aquarium members participated in our beach cleanup at La Jolla Shores to pick up plastics and other debris! Together, aquarium members removed 43 pounds of trash from the beach and picked up about four pounds of recycled debris. We wanted to take a moment to recognize and thank members for their incredible work and our friends over at I Love A Clean San Diego for partnering up with us for this effort!
When trash is left on the beach, it’s not long before winds, rising tides, or large waves pull this trash into the ocean. According to The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, around eight million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year. That’s about the same as a truckload of plastic dumped into the ocean every minute.
To protect marine life, we must prevent our trash from ever making it into the ocean in the first place. Beach cleanups like this one are a great way to keep our beaches and ocean clean — even collecting the smallest pieces of trash can make a big difference.
“One family spent the entire cleanup removing tiny pieces of plastic from the sand,” said Paola Deguzman, Membership Program Manager.
Single-use plastics like plastic water bottles, bags, and takeout containers are only designed to be used once before being thrown away or recycled. While using these items every so often may not seem like much, it doesn’t take long to add up – humans use about one million plastic bottles per minute, according to The United Nations Environment Programme.
Finding alternatives to single-use plastic is critical. But where does one begin? A great starting point is to assess your plastic use, find ways to cut back and make a goal or commitment to reduce your use!
Shift away from plastic bags and wrappers by using reusable canvas tote bags, beeswax wraps, and glass tupperware. Reusable water bottles and mugs are an excellent way to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles produced. Instead of throwing confetti in outdoor spaces, try using local flower petals, leaves, herbs, or biodegradable confetti that naturally break down outdoors.
The Plastic Free Foundation is on a mission to eliminate plastic waste in our communities and oceans. To accomplish this initiative you can join millions of others pledging to refuse single-use plastics for an entire month as part of Plastic Free July.
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