Plastic Pollution: The Dangers of Not Recycling

Have you ever thrown even a bottle cap in the garbage?
The effects may surprise you.

Did You Know...

That there is such a thing as plastic pollution?  You might have heard of air or water pollution- but plastic pollution actually causes devastating effects to the environment.

We are surrounded by plastic throughout the day.  Plastic drink-ware and utensils, products for work, decorations in our homes, etc.  If you throw out even one of these products, instead of choosing to recycle, think about these consequences:

• Americans throw away approximately 35 billion plastic water bottles every year (source: Brita).
• It takes at least 500, and up to 1,000, years for plastic to degrade.
• In the Los Angeles, California area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments (including straws, bottle caps, etc.) are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.
• One million sea birds and 100 thousand marine mammals are killed annually from plastic pollution in the ocean.
• Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form except for a very small percentage of products that have been incinerated.
• 46 percent of plastics float (EPA 2006) and it can drift for years before eventually concentrating in the ocean.

Try to do you part to prevent plastic pollution.  Recycling and reuse whenever possible.

These facts were re-purposed from the article "22 Facts About Plastic Pollution (And 10 Things We Can Do About It) from EcoWatch at ecowatch.com.

Grady Management was founded in 1965 and continues to provide a full service residential, commercial, and consulting real estate firm in the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan area.  Learn more about Grady Management on our website or Facebook page.