Plastic plastic everywhere, challenge

[flowerseverywhere]

During the summer we camp around in state and national parks, army corps of engineer lands and so on. There is plastic strewn everywhere. Bottles, caps, broken toys, plastic bags, wrappers. I fill a crochet bag that I rinse out everyday. On the shores of pristine lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, trails, sides of roads. I use a grabber and I am very careful, but I am appalled.

What do do you do to fight this plastic everywhere? Besides grocery reusable bags, what can be done to get all these plastics out of the waste stream.

[Teacher Terry]

I have never seen litter in the state or national parks we have gone too. That sounds awful.

[bae]

Small scale individual action is fine and dandy, but won't remotely influence a problem this size. The amazing quantity of stuff I see wash in on our shores here, or when I am offshore, is unbelievable.

Switching from plastic straws isn't going to save us.

[KayLR]

Bottled water drives me nuts. I know it's necessary after disasters where there is no clean water source, but our receptacles here are just crammed with them. They also litter the gutters, sidewalks, roadways....

They make reusable ones, but people are lazy. It's too easy to simply buy another pre-filled bottle.

[catherine]

Small scale individual action is fine and dandy, but won't remotely influence a problem this size. The amazing quantity of stuff I see wash in on our shores here, or when I am offshore, is unbelievable.

Switching to plastic straws isn't going to save us.

+1
And thanks for the Derrick Jensen reference. This, and Vol I, were great books.

[Yppej]

I wish I could find the article. Years ago I read about a guy in Oregon. His only trash was the miniature stickers that come on pieces of fruit. He found a store that would let him refill his existing shampoo containers, kind of like using bulk bins at Whole Foods in concept but you provide your own container.

[flowerseverywhere]

Small scale individual action is fine and dandy, but won't remotely influence a problem this size. The amazing quantity of stuff I see wash in on our shores here, or when I am offshore, is unbelievable.

Switching to plastic straws isn't going to save us.

thank you for this recommendation. I found lots of info about his talks and they are archived on Facebook. I agree 100% with all you have said here. But I can’t stand to leave the plastic on the bank of a body of water. A tiny drop in an ocean of debris, I know.

[flowerseverywhere]

I wish I could find the article. Years ago I read about a guy in Oregon. His only trash was the miniature stickers that come on pieces of fruit. He found a store that would let him refill his existing shampoo containers, kind of like using bulk bins at Whole Foods in concept but you provide your own container.

. I did this when I worked in Syracuse NY. I bought my own containers and avoided packaging as much as I could. Have not found many stores like this

[flowerseverywhere]

I have never seen litter in the state or national parks we have gone too. That sounds awful.

It’s on the trails, and once a bottle gets in a body of water by a boater or careless person, it can travel for miles. Washing up on a distant shore is causing havoc around the world. I believe what Bae describes is the current reality.

[Teacher Terry]

I have seen it on the news but haven’t seen it when we hike.