As soon as I got out of my car, there it was. If you read The Daily Ocean consistantly, you may be tired of the plastic water bottles. Enough alredy, right? Since August 19 I have commited to sharing a photograph of a water bottle from every cleanup that I find one. Even though I've snagged them off the sand all summer, (I went back and looked at my cleanup posts) finding one as soon as I open my car door got my attention because this intention is on my mind.
lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min.
2.1 pounds
1,211.3 pounds total
6 cigarette butts
Here are some of the facts I've learned about plastic water bottles that go through my head when I see one. In case you're thinking, recycle it already and be done with it! What's the big deal?
1. Many plastic bottles put into your "blue bin" (even in CA) end up on shipping containers to Asia where they accumulate in other county's landfills. (The Story of Bottled Water)
2. If you fill up the bottle about 1/4 of the way with oil, that's approximately as much of the fossil fuel it takes to make the bottle.
3. Environmental pollutants spew from bottle plants into the air and water of communities around them, causing cancer in local residents (TAPPED - the movie)
4. If exposed to high temperatures (the back of delivery trucks get pretty toasty, so does the trunk of your car) and sunlight (sitting in the window of your local Trader Joe's) then chemicals from the plastic (like BPA which is linked to cancers, autism, diabetes and heart disease) leech into the water. (BAG IT)
I used to think about recycling these bottles when I saw them but see number 1 above. I used to buy them when I was thirsty, especially Smart Water. I used to drink a lot of Smart Water and still would if I didn't know 1 - 4 and more than there's room for here.
A man walking his son asked as he saw me collecting trash, "Are you just picking that stuff up?"
"Yes, I'm just picking it all up."
I smiled.
Her looked perplexed and kept on walking.
