Ocean waste: A Threat to the living

  Ocean waste: A Threat to the living

By: Izzabella Uy


Ocean waste mostly originates on land, mainly coming from people who use items that are used then discarded. The discarded items can be washed away by flooding, storms, hurricanes and tsunamis, and natural disasters, leading its way to the ocean. Ocean waste contains several contaminants that pose a threat to every living thing and may have possibilities of spreading poison and sickness such as chemicals that are thrown or washed to the ocean. Here are ways to prevent it, prevent waste from entering the ocean by reducing, reusing, and recycling materials, particularly plastics.

Photo credit :Paulo de Oliveira

Link :https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science-conservation/conservation/ocean-trash (photo)

Here are ways to prevent the risk of Ocean waste :


  1. Skip single-use plastic
  • Wherever you live, the easiest and most direct way that you can get started is by reducing your own use of single-use plastics. Single-use plastics include plastic bags, water bottles, straws, cups, utensils, dry cleaning bags, take-out containers, and any other plastic items that are used once and then discarded.

Photo from : Expatica

Link : https://www.expatica.com/living/household/how-to-reduce-plastic-waste-20686/ 

  1. Reduce or reuse
  • Using a single-use and other plastics can be recycled and always be sure to recycle them. Recycling helps keep plastics out of the ocean and reduces the amount of “new” plastic in circulation. 

Photo from : Acea (Waidy.wow)

Link : https://waidy.it/en/green-life/creative-plastic-recycling-ideas.html 

  1. Avoid products containing Microbeads
  • Tiny plastic particles, called ”Microbeads” have become a growing source of ocean plastic pollution in recent years. These microbeads are found in some face scrubs, toothpastes, and body washes, and easily spread all over our oceans and waterways through our sewer systems, and affect hundreds of marine species. To prevent plastics from polluting the ocean it is better to avoid products containing plastic microbeads by looking for “polyethylene” and “polypropylene” on the ingredient labels of your cosmetic products.

Photo from : Greenpeace

Link : https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/banning-microbeads-in-household-products 

  1. Carry out beach cleanups

  • It's important to continue cleaning up the planet whilst also cutting off plastic pollution from the source — and beach cleanups are one of the easiest ways to do this. Just how effective is this method? Well, each organization doing a beach cleanup can make a huge dent in the amount of plastic prevented from going into the ocean.

Photo from : Panda

Link :https://www.panda.ie/the-benefits-of-beach-cleaning/ 


References: 
Singh, M. (2019, September 13). Most ambitious US law to tackle single-use plastics faces make-or-break moment. The Guardian. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/13/california-plastics-legislation-single-use 

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