Why Plastic?
For the love of nature and wildlife.
Conventionally, in the world of sustainability, we think of plastic as something that is cheap and bad. But plastic is actually a very valuable, useful and versatile material – it is both light and strong, can take any shape and literally lasts forever. It is a material that has helped us tremendously in the health and clean energy sectors.
So then the problem is not the material itself, but its casual use and over-consumption in the form of single-use plastics. Like plastic bags, straws, coffee cups and water bottles.
They consume so much energy and so many resources to manufacture, yet, they’re so cheap. And they are used only for a few moments before they are thrown away. Just for convenience.
Once discarded, instead of decomposing, plastic breaks down into smaller, toxic pieces called micro-plastics that are harmful to us and wildlife – it is a material the environment simply cannot digest.
Nearly 2 million
The number of single use plastic bags used and discarded globally every minute.
10 - 1,000 years
The time they take to decompose in a landfill where they break down into toxic particles.
> 1 million animals
Marine animals and birds that die each year because of plastic in the ocean.
If you would like to know and understand more about this global environmental problem, visit Plastic Pollution Coalition.
