Plastic Oceans Canada helping to #StopSingleUse
Plastic Oceans Canada is proud to have joined forces with the Canadian Wildlife Federation to raise awareness and activate Canadians to “Rethink Plastic” with their petition to stop single use plastics.
We are the ‘plastic’ generation. With more plastic being produced in the last 10 years than in the previous century. We are producing nearly 300 million tonnes of new plastic every year and half of this is designed for single-use.
Single Use Plastics have an average life use of only 12 minutes yet they are made from an indestructible product. Did you know that it takes 250ml of petroleum oil and 3 Litres of water to make a 1 litre bottle of water and 4000 plastic water bottles are used every second!
Plastic is pervasive. It is estimated that over 2.86-billion bags are used annually in Canada – 200 for every one of us! Through our “to-go” lifestyle, we have become blind to its total over use. From the pre-peeled fruit in plastic tubs and coconuts wrapped in cling film lining the shelves of supermarkets to the straws and lids on our take-out containers. Our demand for convenience has inadvertently created a throw away lifestyle with an indestructible product – I truly believe that we need to rethink our plastic behaviour. We need to consider whether the plastic we accept daily is destined for “single use” and most importantly, is it “essential” that we accept it?
It is the mission of Plastic Oceans Canada to help end our acceptance of plastic as a risk-free, ‘disposable’ material of convenience and increase demand for alternatives to single-use plastics.
Working together with the Canadian Wildlife Federation for this single use plastic petition, we will trigger real social change toward how we think about plastic and the steps we can all take to safeguard the world’s oceans, animal life, and our own. Our goal is to help shape future demand for environmentally sensitive products and solutions.
It is only through awareness of the issue that people will begin to care. I believe we must be part of the solution, not just part of the problem.
The CWF #StopSingleUse petition has potential to make great contributions to the way Canadians begin to engage in behavioral change in their own lives and families. For even greater impact. The Plastic Oceans Canada ongoing ambassador campaign will support a core subset to become activists for this issue – going beyond their own homes and motivating others in their workplaces, schools, and communities to create an ongoing ripple effect to break our plastic addiction.
By engaging people of all ages in all demographics across Canada we will allow people to understand the danger of continuing to perceive plastic to be disposable and we will activate people to make changes in their own lives. Once they become aware of the impact our disposable lifestyle is making, it will become a personal choice to prevent plastic waste from entering the environment again.
Plastic Oceans Foundation Canada —through the power of film and in partnership with local community organizations—is helping Canadian consumers to become plastic literate, so they can make informed decisions about how and when they accept and manage plastic. We need to value this important material more and create a circular economy for plastics. We must all rethink plastic so that the risk to health and the environment is eliminated and the true cost and value of this amazing material is realized.
Signing this petition is the first step in helping.