Being able to walk George on the beach again means becoming re-aware of plastic pollution. I know you can't tell from this photo but that's because it's below the tide line. Last year a campaign started - actually it was probably before that but it gained fame on social media last year - to encourage beach visitors to pick up three pieces of plastic each time.
But it's impossible to stop at three. Once you start you just can't stop. A bit like Pringles.
In a very short time from a very small stretch of beach
I collected this much:
And that doesn't include the very many plastic bottles that littered the beach. And I could have gone on and on.
On the plus side I did find a headless Lego man who isn't going in the plastic recycling bin.
7 comments:
It is difficult to stop picking up trash once one starts, isn't it, Liz? Good for you and good for the "take three" rule.
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That's a great campaign. I hope more people are good citizens like you.
I am like you, when I walk in my neighborhood and along the bay twice a day I pick up plastic before it gets washed into the sea. I wish other people would join us! In front of my house I pick up cigarette butts using a piece of paper, they are very toxic to marine life.
Surprisingly to me, there was almost NO plastic on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, nor in the Gulf of Riga either. Lots of flotsam trees though, so it's not that the waves wash it all out to sea. Your action is commendable (and much easier than helping the homeless ;-)
I suppose the best thing we can do, apart from picking up plastic rubbish, is to make sure we recycle as much plastic as we can. And avoid buying anything that includes plastic wherever possible.
I'm encouraged to see that there are now several types of alternative plastic being developed, made I think from plant-based ingredients like yuca (not yucca!). So we'll eventually be able to phase out oil-based plastic.
One can never have too many Lego men. There was a shop in Leicester years ago where you could buy five bits for a Pound. Grandsons would fill big bags.
Thanks all.
Stu, I saw a programme once about a couple in America or maybe Canada somewhere who made a living out of finding washed-up trees and selling them to Europeans as sculpture. I would love that job.
We do lots of recycling, Nick, and now I'm trying to be more careful about what I buy wrapped in plastic.
I would love that shop, Sonata! Lego is so expensive today.
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