When LB and I were at the Texas State Aquarium, they had a display about plastics found on the beach. There was a whole section of the aquarium dedicated to informing the guests about the dangers of plastic in our oceans.
When LW and I were at the Bush Museum in College Station, they also had a display on plastics and the beach.
All this got ME thinking.
Here are some facts from those two displays to get YOU thinking.
- Worldwide 73% of beach litter is plastic.
- Packaging materials account for nearly half of all plastic waste generated worldwide.
- The first plastics were invented 150 years ago.
- Around the world, nearly a million plastic beverage bottles are sold every minute.
- More than 9.2 billion tons of plastic have been produced since 1950.
- More than 40% of plastic is used just ONCE and then discarded.
- Less than a fifth of all plastic gets recycled globally.
- More than 5 trillion pieces of plastic are already floating in our oceans.
- Some 9 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the ocean each year.
- Over 60 billion tons of plastic are produced in the world each year, with the majority being single use items.
- The areas of our world most devastated by plastic pollution are our oceans.
Here are pictures to add to your amazement from both of the exhibits I saw.
These are from the displays at the Texas State Aquarium. The sculptures were created by Washed Up Texas, a non-profit based in South Padre Island. The sculptures are made from the things left behind or washed up on beaches. You can learn more about their mission at www.washeduptexas.org.
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| This is Dolly. She took 6 months to build.. |
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| Close up of things collected on beach and used for sculptures. |
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| Made from things collected on the beach. |
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| Made from things collected on the beach. |
The lettuce coral in this display is made from Mexican Clorox bottles. The white coral is mostly the soles of white shoes
These artful displays were created by Sheila Rogers. She started collecting pieces of plastic on her beach walks, cleaning and drying them and sorting them by color. She created display boxes for them. Her intent is to raise awareness of plastic pollution and its effects on our ecosystem.
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| bottle caps |
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| the strips from bottles |
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| straws |
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| lighters |
Sheila Rogers said she wanted to motivate people to think about how we can reduce the use of single use plastics and make small lifestyle changes that reduce the amount of waste we are putting into our environment.
Each of us CAN make a difference.
Did that get YOU thinking?
