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How do you feel when you see videos of turtles choking on plastic bags, or the ocean littered with plastic waste? It is a terrible sight to see, and it is killing marine life. However there is good news… YOU can help!

Consistently follow these 7 simple steps and you will help reduce your plastic pollution drastically.

Learn exactly why plastic pollution is bad

Innocent sea turtles are dead because they suffocated in humans plastic. Plastic bags are a big threat to turtles and other animals who live in the ocean.

These animals are innocently swimming, looking for food, when they get struck by a plastic bag. They cannot see, they cannot breathe, and they cannot swim. How are they expected to survive? Many do not.

We need to work together to STOP plastic pollution once and for all.

Cut your plastic waste in half with these 7 easy steps

1. The first tip is pretty simple. If littered garbage is laying on the beach, pick it up and place it in the garbage bin or recycling. Make sure to wash up after, or bring gloves if you’re planning to pick garbage up when visiting the beach. Garbage can easily be mistaken for food by birds or sea life. Therefore by picking up a single piece of trash, an animals life could be saved.
2. It is great to pick trash up on the beach, but it is better to eliminate that problem before it becomes a threat. So tip number two is to always carry a reusable drink bottle and never buy disposable plastic water bottles. In 2017, National Geographic stated that 91% of plastic isn’t recycled. That statistic is extremely threatening because according to The Guardian, we now use over 1 million plastic water bottles per minute.
   
3. Tip number three is easy to start but can be difficult to stay consistent. The third tip is to buy food in bulk and skip the excess food packaging. Canada has a nation-wide store called “Bulk Barn.” Bulk Barn stores allow people to bring in reusable containers like mason jars to fill up with food. Some of these foods include pasta, rice, nuts, spices and many more food products. Buying in bulk completely eliminates food packaging waste.
   
4. Ditch plastic bags, and always use a reusable shopping bag. According to the Australian government, 150 million plastic bags end up in their oceans and waterways every year. And it’s not uncommon for plastic bags to be found in seals and whales body’s. It’s super easy to use a reusable shopping bag when grocery shopping, and the price is extremely cost effective.
   
5. The fifth tip is to only eat sustainable seafood. Ask local grocers restaurants where their seafood comes from, see if it is bought from sustainable fisheries or look for the SeaChoice logo. Also look for wild caught fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and farmed fish approved by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). These certifications mean that the seafood is safe, and the companies that provide these fish are not over fishing.
   
6. Say no to disposable straws. Globally humans use over 500 million plastic straws every day. A simple solution to this problem is to ask for no straw in ordered drinks. If a straw is necessary, purchase a reusable straw and bring it to restaurants.
   
7. Swap out plastic ziplock bags for reusable containers. This may not seem like much of a change, but millions of people pack their lunch with plastic every day. If everyone switched from plastic disposable bags to reusable containers, humans would reduce a lot of unnecessary waste.
   

That concludes the top 7 ways you can reduce plastic pollution. Be sure to let me know what you think of these tips in the comment section below!