Have you ever thrown trash away in a public park trash can? Many of us are driven to keep our parks and waterways clean from plastic pollution and trash, but sometimes our ambition to a cleaner planet gets messed with. The trash we put inside a trash can has an extremely high chance of animals getting into the garbage, eating it, and pulling the trash out. Additionally, a windy day can blow the trash out of the can, leaving it out in the open to cause harm to the environment and those that live in it.

The whole point of a trash can is to discard garbage properly, this cannot be done successfully if the trash we throw away, does not stay away. Florida is such a beautiful state full of so many amazing wonders that get easily contaminated by human litter.

Trash in the environment affects so much more than one sea turtle caught in plastic, it is trash affecting the whole world. Looking more closely, microplastics, which are plastics pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, are the clutch of it all. Microplastics are consumed by humans, wildlife, and marine life, getting into bloodstreams and leaving toxicities our bodies are not immune to. Additionally, microplastics are impacting soil and the air we breathe, being another entry point of consumption. Did you know that you consume a little less than a credit card’s worth of microplastics EVERY week? Vegetables, fruits, grains, and all meats are all foods that are impacted by microplastics. Microplastics, at this point, are not something we can completely avoid, but they are something we can reduce.

The Solution to A Cleaner Environment

Installing secure, wind- and animal-resistant lids on trash cans will reduce trash from getting out into nature. The main goal of Put A Lid On It is to educate people on the importance of properly discarding their trash and the reasoning behind it. In doing so, we want to help make your ambition in discarding your trash successful. The installation of lids on trash cans in all Florida public parks (especially those near waterways) would be a tremendous deduction in pollution negatively impacting wildlife, waterways, ecosystems, and human health. Proposing Put A Lid On It as a statewide Florida policy means ensuring that the trash we throw away actually stays away.   

How Can I Help?

Signing this petition helps us get a step closer to reducing microplastics from impacting our beautiful state and negatively affecting human, marine animals, and land animals’ health. We want Florida to be safe and beautiful for everyone to enjoy!

For more information email PutALidOnItFL@gmail.com or if you would like to follow along in the campaign’s progress follow @PutALidOnItFL on Instagram and @Put A Lid On It – Florida on Facebook! Thank you so much for your support!