Plastics in Waterways

Every country on each continent is contributing to the plastic garbage patches in our oceans through watersheds (creeks, streams, rivers or lakes flowing to an ocean) or directly into an ocean. Every human can do something to reduce and stop the plastic garbage patch messes.

Innocent fish, animals and birds are hurt or die a slow painful death. What will you do today to change this destruction? Make a promise to help today!

Hints: keep plastics away from all shorelines (creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, oceans), retrieve all fishing equipment from waterways, never use styrofoam products, demand that food concessions/take outs replace plastic & styrofoam with paper products. Your planet, your rights, your choices!

There are 3 Plastic Garbage Patches in the Pacific Ocean, 2 in the Atlantic and another in the Indian Ocean.

How do plastics enter our oceans ?

            Answer is... us, all of us.... are guilty

Scientists believe 80% to 90% of plastics entering our oceans come from land; while some is litter along our ocean beaches most plastics flow down our streams, creeks, lakes and rivers to our oceans.

While many marine researchers agree 5 Asian countries are responsible for a high percentage of plastics entering our oceans that still leaves the rest of us around our world guilty, very guilty.

Municipalities report only 9% of plastics are turned in for recycling leaving the rest littering shorelines or sent to landfill where these light materials blow into our local waterways, all of which flow to our oceans.

In 2016 the World Economic Forum warned “there will be more plastics than fish in our oceans by 2050 if we continue on the path we are on”; we now dump eight million tonnes of plastic into our oceans every year, killing and harming marine life.

So what can we do?

1. Carry a reusable water bottle and/or coffee cup
2. Save money, avoid bottled water, put safe city water in the fridge, tastes great
3. Put all plastics into a recycling bin, not the garbage bin where wind carries plastics from landfill to our rivers and lakes then to our oceans
4. Never litter
5. Say no to plastic plates and cutlery, carry your own spork, ask for paper plate
6. Ditch the plastic wrap, foil is recyclable
7. Use plastic free tea bags or loose leaf tea, disposing of regular teabags ultimately leads to microplastics entering our waterways and eventually our food chain
8. Say no to plastic straws and stir sticks, ask for an alternative or carry your own
9. Give up the gum, it is made of plastic
10. Use biodegradable glitter, all others are made of plastic
11. Ditch balloons, decorate with paper items and soap bubbles
12. Choose not to purchase items encased in plastic
13. Refuse the plastic bag, ask for paper bags or use reusable bags

World Oceans Week is June 1 to 8 and World Oceans Day is June 8; other ideas to help as well as events filled with fun, education and action can be found on World Oceans Day www.WorldOceansDay.ca

MEASURE YOUR PLASTIC FOOTPRINT
Omni Calculator https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/plastic-foo...
The Weather Network on South Pacific Plastic Garbage:

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/oc...

RESOURCES, Reducing Plastics: (contributed by Student - Heather)

www.bottlestore.com/the-dangers-of-plastic-polluti...

Article: Clean Our Oceans: The Impact of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

http://www.bbcleaningservice.com/great-pacific-gar...

This article was sent to us by David, a student in Colorado, USA. Thank You David. 

 What will you do today to change this destruction? 

Make a promise to help today!

Styrofoam kills: Volunteers picked up pails of small styrofoam pieces along the shoreline on World Oceans Day before the fish and birds could eat the pieces, which cause a slow painful death. Likely sources of the styrofoam are take out drink cups, styrofoam coolers, packing materials and styrofoam life rings & boat bumpers. Styrofoam and plastics must be kept away from shorelines!!

PLASTICS in creeks, streams and rivers flow into lakes and eventually some flow to our oceans. Other plastics sink to the bottom of waterways in the watershed and break apart. Fish eat the plastic pieces and die a slow painful death. 

Note: Photos below were taken in British Columbia (Toffino on the Pacific Ocean and Kelowna on Lake Okanagan) https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bc-plastic-beach-cleanup-1.6103786