Plastic, Plastic Everywhere
The level of plastics in landfills - and in us - requires our attention.
By Bruce Saller
COLUMNIST
The amount of plastic waste being discarded into our landfills and waterways continues to increase.
It takes hundreds of years for plastic bottles and straws to breakdown. Microplastics are now showing up in our food and beverages. A study on how much plastic is in a plastic bottle of water found an average of 10,000 pieces of micro-plastics (> 1 micro-meter) and 100,000 pieces of nano-plastics (< 1 micro-meter). Studies are being conducted to determine the effects of these plastics on humans, but we can assume that consuming all that plastic is not a good thing. So how can we help?
Most importantly, reduce your plastic usage:
Use a metal water bottle and fill from your tap vs buying plastic bottles.
Buy other liquids in glass, aluminum or carboard containers.
Don’t use plastic straws. Use paper ones if necessary.
Bring your own containers to restaurants to carry home any leftovers.
Utilize reusable bags instead of plastic bags at stores.
Refill your plastic containers for laundry detergent, liquid soap, etc. instead of buying new ones. You can do this at the Filagreen store at 716 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg. See their website for all their products. (Most refills will also save you money.)
Recycle all the allowable plastic items.
When possible, buy items containing recycled plastic. These include furniture, clothing, plastic items, and carpets. Labels should say “Made with recycled content," "Made with recycled plastic," "Post-consumer recycled plastic" or "100% recycled plastic."
Everyone must do their part to help solve this problem.
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Excellent suggestions. Let me add one more: don't buy liquid laundry detergent or pods. Liquid is water with cleaning agents so you have the environmental cost of the large plastic container and that of shipping all that weight from factory to warehouse to store to house. Use laundry sheets.