Plastic Plastic EVERYWHERE!

Some of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic in the oceans of the world

Plastic is the bane of the oceans and also plagues the terrestrial environment all over the planet. If you want to learn more about the amount of plastic in our oceans simply Google ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. In the Pacific alone the amount of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch alone is estimated at 100 million tons!!!

On my journey so far I have seen a lot of plastic! In India it was everywhere… on the streets, beside railway lines, in and along rivers, lakes and ocean. Everywhere I looked I saw it (yellow, blue, green, orange... every colour of the rainbow). Nepal’s plastic problem is similar to India's but I was very impressed with China’s country wide decision to ban plastic bags (they did so in 2008) which is a huge step in the right direction!

Thailand and Malaysia (as most countries around the world) also have huge plastic problems. As I have traveled across Asia over the past few months it is apparent that the average citizen thinks nothing of tossing plastic bags or plastic water bottles out the window of a bus or car or simply throwing it down on the street.  We simply have tons and tons and tons of plastic in the environment and we are the ones putting it there.

There is hope though. I was very impressed by the efforts of some companies (e.g. KFC) in Malaysia and also the Rotary Clubs of Malaysia in their efforts to curb the plastic problem.
The Rotary Clubs across Malaysia have created a program focusing on reducing plastic across the country. It is called, “I choose to re-use”. Have a look at the video!