Did you know that all the plastic dumped in the ocean each year could fill enough trash bags to cover the beaches and shorelines of the entire planet? I didn’t. It’s an uncomfortable reality, but it’s one that we as consumers need to confront. I learned this and a lot more during my brief convo with Craig Leeson, whose film A Plastic Ocean puts our global plastic problem into perspective.
Here’s a fun sidenote that isn’t in the video: Craig mentioned that one effective way to illustrate the overuse of plastic is to unwrap the superfluous plastic packaging from your items as you hit the register at the grocery store, so that disposing of it becomes their problem. He and his friends do this. I haven’t gotten there quite yet, but I am now using bamboo toothbrushes and beeswax-infused cloth vegetable wraps. For other tips on reducing plastic use, check out how to live plastic free in the kitchen.