40 % of all plastic waste is single-use plastics. Plastic bags, plastic wraps, plastic bottles, containers, utensils, and similar, easily replaceable items. They are so commonplace that we may not always know how to avoid using them. The basket challenge provides the starting tools for changing such unsustainable behavior patterns in everyday living. These are simple changes but without commitment they come to have grave consequences on our ecosystem. Plastic waste collects in our lands and rivers only to end up in our oceans. It pollutes our food, our water. It lives on for centuries without degrading and becomes a host for pollutant chemicals. It breaks down into microplastics that are eaten first by marine species of all sizes and consequently by us. The solution is simple: we collect the plastic waste, either to recycle or to eliminate. But even better is to prevent the waste from generating in the first place, often with simple yet critical changes.
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