Reduce your waste
Never underestimate the positive impact your actions can have. Marine conservation starts with you.
Go on a 7-day plastic diet
Because plastic is a man-made, chemically composed material which does not exist in nature it doesn't biodegrade as other materials will. Instead it remain for centuries to come, piling up, polluting our nature and causing severe environmental problems.
Even when “thrown away” or photo degraded it is only moved to a different place, such as a landfill, or broken down into tiny fragments, but it still remains there. Most plastic can not be recycled more than a few times and only a small percentage of plastics actually reach recycling facilities. Some of it gets burned, and loads of it ends up in nature, polluting and severely harming nature and wildlife.
Therefore there is really no real “away” in throwing away plastics. The only way we can solve the problems of plastic pollution is by reducing our own use of it. Real marine conservation starts in our homes and our everyday habits. That´s why we welcome you to join us for our 7-day plastic diet!
DAY 1. Choose your bag
For each single-use-plastic bag that you avoid using you are eliminating several centuries of pollution time which would have been caused by that one bag of yours. So on day one, search your house for a couple of reusable bags or get a few bags made of natural fibres.
One you have them, place them somewhere clearly visible and practical (E.g. by the doorway or in your car) so that you always remember to take them with you every time you are leaving the house.
Feel great as you put your groceries into your reusable, natural bag instead of paying to contaminate your environment with another single-use-plastic bag!
DAY 2. Ride the wave towards a plastic free world with your bottle
Take a look and see if you have a reusable bottle lying around at home. If not, we can recommend getting a reusable CleanWave stainless steel bottle. Free water refills for the rest of your life in any CleanWave refill station around the Balearic islands are included! Contact us for more information.
Mark your bottle, refill with filtered water whenever empty, and just for fun, count how many single-use-plastic bottles you are not throwing out anymore.
If you are a coffee addict like many of us, get your own reusable coffee mug. They come in amazing designs and are simple to bring along and use for your take-away coffee.
DAY 3. Ditch the straw!
When ordering your next drink, tell the waiter/waitress that you don´t want your drink to be served with a straw. Or if you're having ice cream, get your favourite flavours in a cone or paper cup and ditch the plastic spoon.
If they look puzzled, feel free to explain that you don´t wish to pollute the environment with unnecessary plastics and if you feel cheeky, you can also add that you actually wish there were single-use-plastic-free bars and restaurants in the area.
Enjoy your drink (or your ice cream) knowing that for each time you do this, you are raising awareness and making bars and restaurant think twice about their practices.
DAY 4. Indulge in plastic-free fruit and veggies
Have you noticed all the fruit and vegetables in supermarkets that are wrapped in plastic? Everything from salads, peppers (single ones!), bananas.. you name it! We are then told to put them all in additional single-use-plastic bags using single-use-plastic gloves. Is that really necessary, or is it just crazy? Especially considering that plastic contains toxins which are harmful to humans!
On day 4, indulge in fresh fruit and veggies that are free of plastic. Buy only loose-weight, unwrapped fruit and veggies. Nowadays lightwight reusable produce bags for weighing vegetables can be easily bought, ordered online or self-made and used over and over again whenever and wherever buying loose items.
Get or make a few of them, bring them along, preferably to your local farmers market, and pick and choose among the goodies.
DAY 5. Enjoy the smell of newly baked bread
There´s nothing that smells as good as the warm, homey smell of newly baked bread! Avoid plastic packaging by baking your own bread at home or by getting your bread in paper bags from your local bakery. Yummy!
DAY 6. Back to the groceries
When buying biscuits, chocolate cereals, toasts etc. choose paper and cardboard packaging. When getting beer and soda packs, reach for those without plastic beverage holders or wrapping. These materials are degradable and easier to recycle than plastics.
When it comes to juice and other beverages - make your own freshly-squeezed juice or smoothie. You get to choose your flavours, enjoy the health benefits and save the environment from unnecessary pollution all in one go!
DAY 7. Take care of yourself and the environment at the same time
Most of us have no idea that many of our facial scrub and tooth paste are filled with micro-beads, nor that our clothes release plastic microfibres every time we wash them. These tiny, nearly invisible bits of plastic that come in millions in our care-products and clothes are impossible to stop from entering our seas and manage to easily enter and harm our ecosystems.
On day 7, take care of the environment while you take care of yourself. Go through your daily body care routine and try to see if you can replace or eliminate the items that contain plastic.
For example, replace shower gel and shampoo in plastic bottles with bar soap & bar shampoo. You can also get bar exfoliant and bar moisturiser. If in need of a new tooth brush, why not get a bamboo one? Or a wooden hair brush and body brush instead of plastic. In case you use cotton-bud-sticks, make sure the ones you buy are made out of natural materials like paper or bamboo instead of plastic.
Use powder detergent from a box instead of liquid from plastic bottles to wash your clothes, wash them on an as short and low-temperature programme as possible, not more often than necessary. Especially new clothes release huge amounts of microfibres and reconsidering our shopping habits to only buy the clothes we really need, will in itself make a huge difference!
You made it!
By the end of day 7, allow yourself a minute to reflect on the choices you've done throughout the week, and their results.
Take photos during your plastic-diet and share them with us through our social media, inspire others to give it a try and why not consider turning your plastic-diet week into a plastic-diet month, or a year, or a lifetime?
Never underestimate the negative effect you can have on the environment, but even more so, never ever underestimate the positive impact your choices can make. You are the impact.