8 Ways Your Plastic Habit Is Ruining The Planet

Plastic is everywhere. Like, EVERYWHERE. It's convenient, cheap, and is the first choice of so many companies and corporations for manufacturing their products. Unfortunately all this plastic that is usually used for mere minutes, sometimes even seconds before they get thrown into the trash and eventually end up in a landfill or worse, the ocean.

You might say to that "but I recycle all my plastics so it's fine." To that I say "yay! I'm so happy to hear that!"

However, while recycling makes us feel better about our constant use of plastics, the truth is that only 8% of all plastics are actually successfully recycled and made into new plastic items. The rest gets burned, shipped to third world countries where children often sift through the rubbage, or worse, ends up in the ocean and water supplies.

It's safe to say that until our society can perfect our circular recycling system, we need to seriously reduce our consumption and create the awareness of how dangerous our plastic habit is for the environment, our health, and our future.

So here are 8 ways that your plastic habit is ruining the planet:

1. Plastic is a main product of the fracking industry. Fracking releases a crazy amount of toxins into the soil, water, and air and can lead to earthquakes and the destabilization of mountains. Yikes!

2. Plastic is made from fossil fuels, which adds to the reliance on fossil fuels and release of carbon into the environment. Moving away from fossil fuels is going to be crucial to the preservation of our planet.

3. That plastic toothbrush of yours? It won't start to breakdown for 500 years. Something that you use for maybe 3 months will be around for centuries.

4. Plastic never actually biodegrades. Plastic will breakdown over time, but it only breaks down into smaller and smaller particles called micro-plastics. These make their way into the oceans where fish eat them, causing them harm and making their way up the food chain to us.

5. Plastics leach harmful chemicals into food, our bodies, and the environment.

6. They can accelerate biological harm when viruses and bacteria "hitch-hike" on micro-particles to new environments, speeding up their spread.

7. Marine animals that mistake plastics for food can starve to death as plastics block their digestive systems. They can also strangle animals like turtles, sharks, and seals to death.

8. Plastics have found their way into clouds. You read that right, clouds. According to USA Today, over 1000 tons of plastic micro-particles rain on national parks every year.

8 big reasons to find alternatives to that nasty plastic habit. The good news is that you're not alone, and together we can all make a big impact on how plastics will effect our future.

Find resources here and team up with a friend and see how you can build a plastic-free future together!