Oceans Day is celebrated around the world on June 8th. With many of the usual gatherings, activities and celebrations not possible this year due to the ongoing global health crisis, we thought this is a perfect time to consider our everyday activities and how we can make a positive impact. Our personal actions and can have a big impact on our oceans, so in the week leading up to Worlds Oceans Day, we have decided to explore waste generation and conscious consumption.
There are currently 5.25 trillion pieces of micro and macro plastics in our oceans and every year another 8 million tonnes of plastic waste makes it way into our oceans. It’s hard to imagine just what 8 million tonnes looks like but it’s roughly the equivalent of:
- 16 million grand pianos
- 80 million manhole covers
- 22 Empire State Buildings
- 8 million 1979 Volkswagen Beetles
That’s a lot of trash!
Most of what ends up in our oceans are single use plastics, many of which have never been recycled. The best way to prevent more plastics from entering our oceans is to avoid purchasing and using single use plastic items. By eliminating plastic consumption, there is less opportunity for plastics to find their way to the ocean.
It can be very difficult to avoid plastic packaging entirely, but by making an effort to reduce the amount of plastic we use and recycling what we can, we can have a positive impact on our ocean environment. That is why we at Ocean Sonics have chosen to take a waste reduction challenge in the lead up to World Oceans Day.
Recent studies have shown that Canadians produce more garbage per person than residents of any other country. Every day, the average Canadian generates 2.7kg of trash. Of this 2.7kg, only about 30% is recycled or composted, the remainder is sent to landfill and often finds its way into oceans and waterways.
Our goal is to consume consciously, reduce our use of single use plastics and see if we can reduce our waste to 1kg or less of non-recyclable, non-compostable waste over the course of the week.
On June 8th, we will reveal how successful we have been and share our most useful tips and takeaways from our week of conscious consumption.
We hope you will join us this week in our challenge. Don’t forget to share your experiences with us on social media. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
