[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A plastic footprint isn’t something that a plastic monster leaves in its wake. Rather, it’s a way to measure the monstrous amounts of plastic that people and organizations are wasting.
ALLCOT, a company that helps businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
says calculating a plastic footprint represents the first step in the “reduce, reuse and recycle” approach to getting a handle on our consumption of plastics.
By every measure, the U.S. plastic footprint is much too deep and wide.
In 2016, the average American generated
roughly 290 pounds of plastic waste — the highest per-person rate of any country. That works out to more than 14,000 empty half-liter plastic water bottles. In 2018, only 11.5 percent of the plastics generated in the U.S. was recycled,
according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To make matters worse, a study published in 2020 in the journal Science Advances shows the U.S. is the world’s No. 3 generator of plastic waste found in oceans.
Unfortunately, plastic waste in the U.S. ends up in waterways and landfills far more often than it does in recycling bins. And,
according to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, there’s no proof that the recyclability of plastics or access to recycling bins “genuinely reduces plastic pollution.”
“Plastic pollution is one of the most important environmental problems that we face today. It impacts the environment and our health and wellbeing,”
according to EarthDay.org.
How to calculate your plastic footprint
That stark reality is why it’s helpful to compute your own plastic footprint.
EarthDay.org is among the organizations that provide plastic footprint calculators. The math you do on one of these calculators can turn out to be rather ugly. For instance, the EarthDay.org calculator shows that if you use three plastic water bottles per day, you’re generating 1,095 plastic water bottles’ worth of potential waste in a year’s time.
Another means of measuring your plastic footprint is the
My Little Plastic Footprint app. The app focuses on plastic items that are part of your everyday life — water bottles, shopping bags, food containers and so forth — and enables you to come up with your own Plastic Mass Index. The index measures your contribution to plastic pollution. A score of zero on the index is best, while a score of 100 is the worst.
Once the app spits out your score, it can help you go on a “plastic diet.”
“With every item you add to your diet, you will discover a sustainable alternative that you must achieve,” My Little Plastic Footprint says.
How to reduce your plastic footprint
You can take a number of steps to reduce your plastic footprint.
Omni Calculator, whose tools allow you to compute your plastic footprint, the nonprofit
World Wide Fund for Nature, the nonprofit
Global Citizen, the nonprofit
Plastic Collective and the nonprofit
Greenpeace say these steps include:
- Relying on reusable cups rather than disposable cups when you’re ordering your favorite brew at a coffee shop.
- Replacing plastic shopping bags with reusable cloth bags.
- Giving up plastic straws. As an alternative, try paper or steel straws.
- Using a reusable glass or plastic water bottle instead of a one-use water bottle made of plastic.
- Cutting back on plastic utensils. Reuse plastic utensils, switch to wooden utensils or look for compostable alternatives to plastic utensils.
- Using aluminum foil rather than plastic wrap. Aluminum foil can be recycled, but plastic wrap cannot.
- Ditching chewing gum. Believe it or not, chewing gum often contains plastic. You can, however, purchase plastic-free gum to help save the environment.
- Staying away from cosmetics that contain microplastics or microbeads.
- Opting for bars of soap rather than plastic bottles of body wash.
- Shopping in person instead of online. Boxes of e-commerce purchases often are filled with plastic. In 2019, e-commerce giant Amazon produced an estimated 465 million pounds of plastic packaging.
- Doing business with brands striving to decrease their plastic footprints. One of them is the Corona beer brand. In June 2021, Corona said it had become the first global beverage brand to achieve a net-zero plastic footprint. This means Corona recovers more plastic than it generates.
- Avoiding brands that produce lots of plastic. In October 2021, Break Free From Plastic’s annual ranking named Coca-Cola as the world’s top plastic polluter, followed by PepsiCo and Unilever (a conglomerate whose consumer brands include Dove, Hellmann’s and Vaseline).
“There is great empowerment when we make environmentally conscious decisions,” the Plastic Collective says, “and choose to refuse and reduce plastic.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="157177" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1641652971644{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/ecovessel-summit-trimax-vacuum-insulated-stainless-steel-water-bottle-silver-express"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="157178" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1641652992921{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/u-konserve-stainless-steel-mini-straws"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="157179" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1641653013476{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/momremedy-reusable-glass-spray-bottle-teal"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
