As an avid traveller and admirer of our earth, Does the amount of rubbish left on land and dumped in the ocean bother you? I’ll tell you right now it grinds my gears!
So many times during my travels I have been had my breath taken away by the sights, sounds and smells.. and other times I’ve had the smells take my breath away and the sight of man made waste and it’s effects break my heart.
If you really need the push to start small and ditch even just plastic straws and cutlery.. jump on YouTube to find the videos of both being removed from sea turtles noses, nothing short of horrific- because it’s so damned preventable.
Now we could talk all day about what can happen in those places to help turn this around, better education of the public, better infrastructure, less tourism, banned packaging and the list goes on. But the sea turtles video got me thinking, aside from saying no to plastic straws and cutlery- what am I actually doing myself to help?
Oh yeah- I recycle! Job done.
WRONG!
Did you know;
In 2017-18, we used some 3.4 million tonnes of plastics in Australia. Just 9.4% - 320,000 tonnes - was recycled. Of that amount, 46% (145,700 tonnes) was reprocessed in Australia and 54% (174,300 tonnes) was exported for reprocessing.*
So buying a recyclable container, knowing I will put it in the recycle and feel like Captain Planet- was a total myth all along. We need to break the chain and this starts with avoiding the production of the plastic product in the first place.
And into my life comes Zero Co! The kitchen/laundry/bathroom cleaning heroes!
These guys are a start up company here in Australia who salvage plastic from the ocean for keep forever packaging, along with diverting plastic from land fill to make refill pouches. I keep my forever bottles to refill, and send my empty refill pouches back to be cleaned and used again! Hows that for disrupting the plastic waste chain!
It can be hard to change a product or brand you’ve been using happily at home too but the below is certainly hard to counter;
“Our range of plastic-busting products are made from plant-based formulas, meaning they're good for you and the planet. Our goodies are made in Australia and perform as well as the big-name supermarket brands and come backed with a 30-day money back guarantee.”
It was a no brainer for me out on the farm to use kinder products as our waste water (shower/kitchen/laundry) really does go straight back into our ground. The costs stack up to the supermarket prices so there is absolutely nothing to lose, my bill averages out at just under $20 a week for ALL cleaning products.
So here it is- my first prepaid envelope filled with 15 refill satchels to go back to my new friends at ZeroCo. That’s 15 single use plastic products that haven’t needed to be made and tossed into the recycle, with no knowledge that is actually whats is going to happen to them.
Imagine how happy those turtles would be if we all did this!
As a lover of travel and an advocate for a cleaner planet for us all to enjoy, I’m writing this post from the heart. There’s no sponsorship, no referral link I get discounts from (although they do have a referral program if that’s your thing).. I’d just like to introduce you to a better way of looking after our planet and all it’s creatures!
Now to date there are 33,393 households around the country that have made this change.. you should totally be 33,394!
