THE REAL TASTE OF PLASTIC
Despite being banned in baby bottles, and infant packaging, BPA-Bisphenol is still widely used in reusable water bottles, plastic plates, canned goods, and even grocery receipts. BPA is a known hormone disruptor causing all sorts of health problems.
Products being touted as BPA free, often release chemicals that have more hormone disrupting effects than the BPA products they replaced. For example, Formaldehyde and Styrene, found in disposable coffee cups, are known carcinogens listed by the US Department of Health and Human services. Additionally, The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned that people can be exposed to small amounts of styrene found in food packaging.
Even the plastic we reuse in our households to store and reheat food, are exposing us to leached chemicals due to the stress of daily use.
MICRO- AGGRESSION
Microfibers are plastic fibers that shed from synthetic clothing. Microfibers can be released from any synthetic- fabric, including polyester, rayon, acrylics or blends of these materials with natural materials. So our high tech jackets, sports-wear, and even our underwear, have synthetic materials woven into the fabric.
Scientist and researchers estimate that synthetic microfibers are the single largest contributor to watershed and ocean plastic pollution.
Tests on 150 samples of tap water, on five continents, found microscopic plastic fibers. Nearly every sample in the US, 94%, contained plastic microfibers.
We are drinking our clothes!
DEATH BY PLASTIC
Recent studies have concluded that almost all seabirds and sea turtles have ingested plastic items. Whales often wash up on shore having died from ingesting from 80 to 100 plastic bags and other plastic items.
PLASTIC BAGS LOOK LIKE FOOD
Marine turtles are especially threatened because their favorite prey, jellyfish, look extremely similar to plastic bags.
JUST RECYCLE, AND WE'RE GOOD RIGHT?
Plastics have been around since the early 1950's. At first it was touted as a miracle of modern convenience, and would promote our safety. Steadily it became more and more of a part of the products we consumed, and the single-use culture we promoted. But out of 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste produced, only 9% has been recycled. Of the rest, 12% has been incinerated, and 79% has accumulated in landfills and the natural environment.
THE TRUTH ABOUT RECYCLING
Much of what we do recycle ends up shipped to South East Asia, where lax environmental laws allow them to incinerate or discard the waste in landfill, and then finding its way to waterways which feed into the ocean.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND.
WHY DOESN'T PLASTIC DEGRADE?
Plastic can survive for 1000's of years because its made out of petroleum and synthetic materials that nature doesn’t have a way to decompose. The Center for International Environmental Law predicts that by 2050, over 20% of all fossil fuel production will go toward making new plastics.
LIVE PLASTIC FREE.
SOURCES:
https://ipen.org/sites/default/files/documents/ipen-ocean-pollutants-v2_1-en-web.pdf
https://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/04/bpa-free-does-not-mean-safe-most-plastics-leach-hormone-disrupting-chemicals/
http://naturalsociety.com/styrene-deemed-probably-carcinogenic-humans-by-iarc-1461/#ixzz5bbhKZkT4
https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Styrene_FactSheet.html
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tfacts53.pdf
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/listed_substances_508.pdf
https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/
https://storyofstuff.org/uncategorized/the-story-of-microfibers-faqs/
https://www.cawrecycles.org/ab-2379-bloom
http://theoceanproject.org/
https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics/