Understanding Your Local Recycling Program

« Back to Home

Scrap Plastic Recycling, The Ocean, And You: How To Make A Difference

Posted on

Every year, eight million metric tons​ of plastic ends up in the ocean. That is a mind-boggling number, to be sure. Of that eight million metric tons, 236,000 tons is microplastic​, tiny bits of plastic that many people think are not a big deal if tossed into the ocean or accidentally dropped in the water. Perhaps what is really distressing is that all of that plastic could have been recycled. Scrap plastic recycling services exist nearly everywhere in the world. If you want to make a difference in the oceans, here is how you can help.

Do Not Contribute to Plastic in the Oceans

​Tiny plastic rings from drink bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic party favors, leftover plastic bits from model toy kits; all of these are examples of the bits of plastic that go into the water and float along until fish or other wildlife eat the plastic or get caught on the rings. Before you buy a product, examine it for plastic parts. Make sure the plastics are safe to recycle, then hold onto the plastics in a recycling bin. Do not allow them to become part of the massive plastics dumping process that happens nearly every minute of every day.

Find a Scrap Plastics Recycling Plant Near You

​When you want to be absolutely sure that the plastics are being recycled completely, you have to see it in person and do it yourself. Find the nearest scrap plastics recycling plant near you. Then take your saved bits of plastic, put them in your vehicle, and drive them to the plant. Some plants will even pay you by the pound for collecting the plastic bits and bringing them directly to the plant. 

​Doing More to Save the Oceans

When you want to do even more to save the oceans and take the plastics out of the waters of the world, you can go trolling for plastics on beaches or fishing and netting plastics floating along the surface of the oceans, and bag all of the plastics to take to a recycling plant. There are active organizations who already are busily collecting the floating oceans of plastic. You can join their organizations and their causes and help out whenever you can. The more people that help, the more plastic that can be removed from the waters. Avoid drinking or eating anything from a plastic container while on a vessel or on the beaches, and you will help stop the plastic waves from pounding the shores.


Share