“Over 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean.”
The long awaited dream child of Boyan Slat was deployed from California this month with the aim to begin the clean up of the great Pacific Patch, the floating island of plastic three times the size of France. It is an amazing project and very much overdue. It is not a quick fix as the plan expects the clean up operation to last at least five years, and this is taking in the current size of the area. But if we continue to dump our rubbish irresponsibly in our oceans, this sadly may be a losing battle.
We need to take action at the source of the problem. It always amazes me how many people continue to litter, suffocating our world a little more, killing defenceless animals and poisoning fauna, with a complete disregard for our planet and a short sightedness that is baffling.
Suppressing surplus packaging is an absolute necessity but also encouraging people to choose how they buy, opting for loose vegetables and fruit rather than packaged ones. If we continue to buy ready packed then the market will continue to supply. This needs to be addressed on all fronts, by suppliers, supermarkets and customers. The government must start imposing some sanctions to make this happen like the ban of PLASTIC straws, cotton buds and stirrers.
We need to lead by example, lets show our peers and our children how to respect the world around us, understand it’s fragility and protect it, repair our damage and make sure it does not happen again. We need to create a thousand Boyan Slat.
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