In Davao City, Philippines, a young, emaciated whale was found to be vomiting blood, having trouble swimming and ultimately looked like it would die soon. The whale did eventually die shortly after the sighting by a local marine agency. A necropsy performed by a curator at the D’Bone Collector Museum, found 88 pounds of plastic in the whale’s stomach. The whale likely died of starvation and dehydration due to all the plastic inside of its stomach. The curator describes that plastic possibly caused the whale to starve to death due to the fact the plastic blocks food from traveling from the stomach to the intestine.
This issue of plastic pollution affecting animals and the ecosystem is not a new issue. Animals have been ingesting plastic left about by humans for many years all over the world. According to National Geographic, a 2015 report estimated that around 90 percent of all seabirds have ingested some amount of plastic. National Geographic also says a study by UNESCO estimates that 100,000 marine mammals die each year due to plastic pollution. The large amount of animals being harmed and even dying due to plastic pollution has caused great concerns from environmental activists across the world and many are stepping up to do something.
The fight against plastic pollution is even being taken here at Winthrop’s with many students attempting to lower their own plastic consumption to better the environment. Environmental studies major, Heidi Hearne is well aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and the harm it can do to wildlife and the ecosystem.
“Plastic pollution is harmful due to its inability to decompose. Plastics will outlive humans causing damage in many different ways. Most infamously, becoming food for marine life and birds,” Hearne said.
Hearne does what she can on the individual level to cut down on plastic waste.
“Personally, I try to cut down on plastic waste by using reusable water bottles, straws and limiting the amount of food I buy that is packaged in plastic. At Winthrop, the best way to prevent plastic from ending up in landfills is to use the recycling receptacles across campus,” Hearne said.
As far as limiting single use plastic waste at Winthrop specifically, there seems to be only a few initiatives actually being taken.
“I know Sodexo [food company at Winthrop] tried compostable plastic cups but then switched to the paper ones in Markleys. There are no more plastic straws in Thompson, only paper,” Sara Mulligan, president of Winthrop’s SEAC, said.
There is a growing movement happening currently across the globe to drastically reduce plastic use, it is called the Zero Waste Movement. The Zero Waste Movement is a consumer-led, grassroots movement of individuals who are advocating for consumers to limit their waste and for businesses to develop more sustainable practices such as using less plastic when packaging their items.
Theses zero waste activists argue that recycling is no longer enough to save the planet. According to a National Geographic article written in 2018 only nine percent of plastic is getting recycled. Therefore, according to Zero-Wasters, it only makes sense to not create the plastic waste in the first place.
The Zero Waste Movement has pushed for the creation of expanding bulk sections in grocery stores so one can buy staple goods such as rice, beans, nuts, baking good items and various snacks in a zero waste way by placing these goods into a reusable bag instead of a plastic one. There are also fully zero waste stores becoming more popular, mostly in European countries. However, there have been a few completely zero waste stores built in the United States. One of the most famous ones is Package Free Shop.
Package Free is located in Brooklyn, New York. Lauren Singer founded Package Free Shop after she gained popularity for herself and the Zero Waste Movement through her blog, Trash is for Tossers. Singer is known to be a “zero waste guru” in that all of the waste she has produced in the past five years fits inside of a 16oz mason jar. Package Free Shop has everything from bamboo toothbrushes to reusable sandwich bags. Package Free has an online store, ships anywhere in the United States and no plastic is used in the packaging when being shipped, of course.
Most zero waste veterans recommend to begin a zero waste journey doing one’s own research and not being afraid to mess up and fail. In all, the zero waste movement seems to be expanding across the globe quite rapidly and perhaps in the near future could even catch on right here at Winthrop.
