Nothing ruins your time at sea more than encountering someone else’s trash.
That’s why Hawaii-based professional diver Kayleigh Grant (@mermaid.kayleigh) organizes a weekly trash clean-up, patrolling local waters and picking up trash with her fellow divers.
@mermaid.kayleigh Picking up trash from the ocean again this week. It’s always sad to see a mix of things that have been in the ocean for a long time and things that were just thrown out quite recently. It makes me wonder… are we making progress in the fight against single-use plastics or are we only getting worse? In what ways are you reducing your plastic use? Comment below with your tips! 👇🏼 @KaimanaOceanSafari 🌊🗑️ #ocean #cleanuptheocean #singleuseplastic #marinedebris #saveourseas ♬ Belonging – Muted
And in a recent video, Kaylee noticed a worrying trend: the proliferation of single-use plastics.
“It’s always sad to see things that have been in the ocean for a long time, or that are very recent,” she captioned the video. “It makes me wonder… are we making progress in the fight against single-use plastics, or is it only going to get worse?”
The video shows her team pulling numerous plastic items from the ocean, including bread bags, pieces of buckets, plastic bottles, styrofoam, and other unidentified trash.
“That’s so sad,” one person commented.
“They shouldn’t make things. [out] “No more Styrofoam,” wrote another.
According to a study by the journal Science Advances, as of 2015, the world had produced about 7 billion tons of plastic waste since the 1950s. Plastic was originally developed as a cheap alternative to more sustainable products like wood and metal, but its rapid growth has backfired.
When plastic waste enters the environment, it slowly begins to break down. But it never goes away completely. It just gets smaller and smaller. And as it gets smaller, it releases toxins.
According to a Consumer Reports investigation and numerous studies from the National Library of Medicine, plastic contains several toxins that are believed to be devastating to the health of humans, animals and microorganisms. These toxins have been linked to a variety of problems, including cancer, reproductive disorders, neurological disorders and hormone disruptions.
Plastic also poses a physical threat: As it breaks down, Cary explains, “it’s often ingested by fish and other marine life, which can cause blockages and death.”
“I always pick up trash. [my local] “The beach is awful,” one person commented. “It’s so sad that some people don’t realize how fragile our oceans are.”
Sadly, this isn’t just limited to marine life – species from elephants to bears are dying from plastic getting stuck in their stomachs.
It’s easy to blame individuals for this problem — and littering is never the right choice — but the responsibility to reduce the amount of plastic we produce lies with the companies that make it.
“The plastic manufacturers are really to blame,” one commenter wrote.
Consumers can choose to engage with sustainable and circular brands as a way to reduce demand for plastic, as well as ditch single-use plastics like water bottles in favor of reusable items.
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