Sunday, May 27, 2018

Beach Bottles

My parents have a beach house on Vashon, just a short ferry ride from Seattle. It's on a short strip of private beach, so fortunately, we very rarely see any trash on the beach, let alone piles like this:

 (Image from Timothy C, Trip Advisor)

To some extent, it makes us forget that this is a real problem on non-private beaches. But every once in a while, we get a reminder of how long our waste makes an impact. Playing with my dog, we came across this bottle:


Based on their website, it looks like this is the 1960s packaging!! 

This is a good reminder that plastic is designed to be durable and not degrade. What can you do? 
  • Be sure to pack out your trash when visiting beaches and parks.
  • Minimize your use of plastic, especially single use. 
  • If you see something, pick it up!
  • If you are inspired to bigger action, join a local beach cleanup. The Ocean Conservancy is a great place to get started.
Happy beach season, everyone. :)