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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/Troy Mayne

Single use plastics might be convenient for you but theyare deadly for wildlife.

Avoidthesetroublesome,unnecessary single-useplastic products to solveplastic pollution problems:▀ Straws: Requestdrinks

without them. Refuse dis-posable drink boxes thatcome with single-usestraws and start a skip-the-straw effort at school,home and places you eat▀ Plastic bags: Bring

your own reusable canvasbags when you shop andreplace sandwich bagswith reusable containers.▀ Plastic utensils: Use sil-

verware. Keep a set at the

office, and bring a set withyourlunchorapicnicortothe beach▀ Plastic single-use cof-

fee pods: Buy coffee inbulk and make it in reus-able coffee pots and mugsto eliminate all of that un-necessary plastic waste.▀ Bottled water: Bringyou

own refillable containerwherever you go, or usethe water fountain.▀ Foam take out contain-

ers: Bring your own reus-able ones for any leftoverswhen you go out to eat.

— Anna McCartney

Try these alternativesto single-use plastics

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Perry students document trash for the 2015 ICC.

Perry ElementarySchool students are con-cerned about the plasticpollution accumulating onland, in waterways and intheir food chain. Earlierthisyear,theydocumented20poundsofmostlyplastictrash around their schoolneighborhoodfortheInter-national Coastal Cleanup.

Recently they learnedabout plastic microbeadsthat are being releasedfrom wastewater treat-ment plants and accumu-lating in Lake Erie and theocean. Their teacher, JoyGalvin, is participating inthe Center for Great LakesLiteracy (CGLL), a collab-orative effort led by GreatLakesSeaGranteducators.Theirgoalistoincreaseop-portunities for educators,their students and otherstolearnmoreaboutandbe-comebetterstewardsoftheGreat Lakes environment.

Students share whatthey learn with their fami-lies, other students andthe community. For moreinformation about CGLL,contact Marti Martz atmam60@psu.edu. Beloware letters students wroteto their parents after read-ing about microbeads inthe Erie Times-News:

I have some bad news.Some bath products haveharmful microbeads inthem. These microbeadsare getting into the lakeandtheysuckuptoxinslikea sponge. Fish eat them

and can die. If we eat thefish, the toxins will be inus! So, you should not buythese products and savethe fish.

— Joshua FreemanSome shower gels and

toothpastes include tinymicrobeads or microplas-tics. Microbeads are wash-ing into Lake Erie. Theycontain toxins and poisonsthat are bad for sea life.Pleasedonotpurchaseanyproducts with microbeadsbecausetheyareextremelydangerous to sea life.

— Abby McFaddenMicrobeadsareharming

the environment and hurt-ing animals and killingthem. So, please don’t buyanything with microbeadsbecause I don’t want anyfish, sharks, crabs or evenseagullstobecomeextinct.

— Romeo KeysPeople have found new,

harmful microbeads ormicroplastics from ourbody washes, toothpastes,and clothes that are su-per harmful to our envi-ronment. When you washyourself,themicrobeadsgodownthedrainandintothelake and the fish eat them.Because they carry toxins,ifweeatthefish, thatisnotgood. So please don’t buyproducts with microbeadseven if they are on sale.

— Layla Kopkowski

Note: OnDec.28,PresidentBarack Obama signed a banon plastic microbeads.

Perry students sharemicrobead information

TEAMMARINE.ORG

Team Marine is a group of Santa Monica students who are determined to help ban single-use plastics, one of the majorsources of trash in the ocean. They reach out to others through community events, student-led research, socialnetworking and social media.

Young people are not waiting foradultstotaketheleadinsolvingplas-tic pollution.

Why are they so adamant abouttackling this growing problem?

Companies that market conve-nience have sold consumers unnec-essary “quick and easy products”that are piling up in landfills, alongstreets, shorelines, streams, lakesand the ocean.

Plastichasbecomesopopularthatmore was produced from 2002-2012than in the entire 20th century! Butbecauseplasticisnotbiodegradableandcannotbedown-cycledforotherusesindefinitely(somecannotbere-processedatall),itlastsforever.Evenworse, 50 percent of plastic productsare designed for use just one time.

Data collected for the yearly In-ternational Coastal Cleanup showseight of the top 10 items found aresingle-use plastics. But while thesecleanups provide very importantinformation, they cannot solve plas-tic pollution. Neither can recycling,since companies continue to createever more disposable single-useplastic products. Manufacturershavelittle incentivetodesignfor theenvironment instead of the trash be-causetheyarenotresponsibleforthe

full life cycle of their products. Ex-tremely wasteful and irresponsiblesingle-serve plastic coffee pods andfoamcups,platesandplasticutensilscome to mind.

The total amount of plastic pol-lution in the world’s oceans is over-whelming: about 130 million metrictons. And the world is adding some5 to 13 million additional tons a year,accordingtoapaperpublishedinthejournal Science. At that rate, in thenext10yearstherewillbe250milliontonsoraboutonepoundofplasticforeverythreepoundsoffish,accordingto the Ocean Conservancy.

Sunlight and waves cause floatingplastics to break into progressivelysmaller particles that never com-pletely disappear but act as spongesfor waterborne pesticides and othercontaminants. This makes themmore toxic to wildlife, especiallyfish, turtles, whales and birds thateat plastic objects, which can sickenorkillthem.Furthermore,thesetoxicparticlescanbepassedontouswhenwe eat seafood. Ocean animals alsodie when plastic waste entangles ortraps them, often suffocating themunderwater.

Since these facts are not pressur-ing companies to eliminate theirproduction of unnecessary single-use plastics, the best solution is forpeople to stop using them.

KidslikeMiloCressinspiredotherchildrenandadultsaroundthecoun-tryandtheworldtoseebigpossibili-ties inlittlechanges. In2011hestart-edacampaigntoreduceplasticstrawuse and waste when he was 9 yearsold. He approached a restaurant inBurlington,Vt.,wherehelived,toaskit to adopt an “offer-first” policy forstraws instead of serving them au-tomatically. They agreed and Milo’sBeStrawFree campaign has beenunstoppable ever since.

Just two years after starting hiscampaign,schoolsandbusinessesinmorethan30countrieshelpedhimtoreduce unnecessary single-use plas-tic straws. Thanks to Milo’s efforts,theNationalRestaurantAssociationnow recognizes “offer-first” as a bestpracticeandthepolicyhasevenbeenimplemented in National Parks.

But you don’t have to be a kid orstop at straws. Just think of all theplasticwecouldpreventfrompollut-ing the environment. Ask the placesyou eat to go back to reusable cups,platesandsilverwareandstopusingsingle-use plastics on the go and athome — choose reusable instead.

A N N A M c C A R T N E Y , acommunications and educationspecialist for Pennsylvania Sea Grant,can be reached by e-mail at axm40@psu.edu.

The last straw?How 9-year-old helped to stop plastic pollutionBy ANNA McCARTNEYContributing writer

LEATHERBACK TRUST

After a 2015 video of researchers removing a plastic strawembedded in this sea turtle’s nose went viral, thepowerful film created more awareness of destructivesingle-use plastics.

HOUSTON ZOO

The Houston Zoo has gone completely bag-free. Zoo giftshop customers can choose to be bag-free, purchasethese reusable canvas bags or use one they’ve broughtfrom home.

MARK LEFFINGWELL, LONGMONT TIMES

In 2011 Milo Kress created “BeStrawFree” to reduceplastic waste by asking restaurants and schools to offerstraws instead of serving one with every drinkautomatically.

STATESMAN.COM

Students Carlee Young, left, and Katie Werdenberg showoff a water bottle filling station at their Texas High School.This student-led campaign is reducing the large amount ofunnecessary single-use plastic bottles.

Plastic beverage bottles, food wrappers, cigarettebutts and cigar tips, toys and straws are all made ofplastic and eventually make their way to the ocean.Learn more about plastics in the environment byvisiting today’s web sites. Write a letter for “yourspace” encouragingyour fellow students,parents and neighborsto refuse disposableplastic to keep it out ofthe environment. E-mailit with your photo toaxm40@psu.edu.

Check out these websitesto learn more:

www.5gyres.org/www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/www.algalita.org/http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/http://seagrant.psu.edu/

6D | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Tuesday, January 5, 2016