Reports state that, each year, about eight million tons of plastic waste enters our oceans. That is like dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute. If this continues, plastics could outweigh fish in our oceans by 2050. Unless we take drastic action now, it’s expected that the amount of plastic littering the world’s oceans will triple within a decade.

Most of our plastic ends up in landfills, our oceans and waterways, and the environment. Plastics do not biodegrade. Instead they slowly break down into smaller pieces of plastic called microplastics. They contaminate our soil and water. The toxic chemicals used to manufacture plastic gets transferred to animal tissue, eventually entering the human food chain. Styrofoam products are toxic if ingested and can damage nervous systems, lungs and reproductive organs.

Plastic items like bags and straws choke wildlife and block animals’ stomachs. Turtles and dolphins, for example, often mistake plastic bags for food.

We can all do our part to prevent further damage to our environment and our waterways from plastics! ‘Zero waste’ or ‘zero plastic waste’ movements are springing up around the world to tackle this issue. If we each do our part now, we can help stop the world’s preventable plastic problem from getting worse.

Let's Old Bridge Township take the precedent in the war against plastic. We know we can do it!!