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Plastic Pollution We Can All Do Better Here and Now
Every single day WE ALL USE PLASTIC, in one form or another. It has become so second nature, that most of us don’t even think about it as anything more than normal. The fact of the matter is, we have to start thinking about it. Plastic is one of many types of daily garbage waste we create, that simply takes too long to decompose. Typically, items of plastic can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills, let alone our ocean where a lot of it actually ends up. Plastic bags, we get them every day from supermarkets and stores can take as much as 10-1000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles can take 450 years or even longer also.
The Brutal Truth About Plastic Pollution
With these kinds of time scales in play, It is clear to see that we are producing plastic waste faster than it is actually decomposing.
Recently a diver in Bali recorded a sensationally beautiful encounter with Manta Rays which fast became a viral video, but not simply due to the magnificent encounter with the Mantas, but due to his encounter with Plastic Pollution.
During this video, diver Rich Horner filmed himself diving through plastic infested waters with a beautiful Manta Ray amongst it all . The footage from Manta Point is just horrific for most to watch but truly heartbreaking for divers to see.
This video highlights to the mainstream public what scuba divers around the world have been witnessing for a long long time now. Plastic Pollution is at an all-time high and isn’t going away. Every single piece of plastic we have ever created STILL EXISTS!
Lets Look to the Future!
There are many ways we can all play a part in reducing plastic pollution. With so many everyday plastic items, we could be here all day but I’d like to focus on the one really easy way you can reduce single-use plastic water drinking bottles. Here in Thailand is obviously hot, so we need to drink water all the time. 1 person could produce as many as 5 plastic bottles per day in drinking from small water bottles alone, Thailand has approx 68 million people, imagine is only half of these people drank individual water bottles from 7/11 5 times a day, that would produce 170,000,000 plastic bottles per day!
Recycling is actually very common in Thailand for plastic bottle thank goodness but ultimately said recycled plastic goes back into creating more plastic. What we need to really do, is simple use and make less Plastic pollution. Here at Our Pattaya Dive Shop, we have switched to a large water dispenser and refillable water bottles. We sell these refillable water bottles and offer free refills to people who purchase them. You will find this is also quite common around most of the Thai islands, so next time you are on holiday in the sun or even at home and need to hydrate, consider using a refillable water bottle to help reduce Plastic Pollution!
EDIT UPDATE:
After posting this blog we learnt that partly in response the exposure that above Bali Divers story got, One Island One Voice hosted Bali’s biggest clean up ever, where 20,000 people came together collecting 65 tons of trash, of which alot was plastic wrapping. We just wanted to focus on the positive note and outcome to this story and it does go to show we can all do better! Well Done Bali!!
We also Run Pattaya Beach Clean Ups and Project Aware and Green Fins Conservation Days so if you are diving in Pattaya, Check Out Our Facebook Page or Our Scuba Blog For The Next Event. Happy Plastic Free Dives Everyone![/vc_column_text][vc_facebook css=”.vc_custom_1554537724476{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar_4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
