According to research, more than 20,000 tons of plastic debris were found on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia in 2010? This amount is equivalent to the weight of 1050 whale sharks.
Plastic is the second most abundant waste material in Saudi Arabia and less than 15% is recycled. Plastic is convenient, and it is everywhere. Travel along the motorway between KAUST and Jeddah, or go to Rabigh beach for a snorkeling trip—plastic jugs and bottles are everywhere. And it’s not just unsightly, it endangers sea creatures and birds.
Most of the plastics found at sea are single-use packagings, such as plastic bottles, film wrap or bags. Abandoned fishing gear, particularly nets, is also commonly found clogging up areas of the world’s oceans.
Fish, marine animals and birds die every day when the get trapped in wrappers, and ingest plastic debris and microplastics (plastic particles of 0.1 μm–5 mm in size). Microplastics, in particular, have now entered the global food chain threatening the oceans, the fish, and us.
About 15% of the marine pollution floats at the ocean’s surface, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Single-use plastic bags take about 10 to 20 years to degrade. A typical plastic water bottle takes around 100 years to decompose, add a straw to drink the beverage and you’ve added another piece of plastic trash that will be around for 200 years or more. Meanwhile, millions of sea birds and hundreds of thousands of sea animals die annually from ingesting this kind of plastic waste.
What’s the solution? There are many ways to avoid plastic accumulation in our oceans and on the shores. Change starts at home. Here are a few tips to make a difference:
- Carry with you a reusable bag for grocery shopping (Tamimi gives away 5,000 single-use plastic bags daily!)
- Refuse single-use plastic wrappings and bags
- Use a refillable bottle for beverages
- Say no to plastic straws
- Recycle your trash properly
- Pick up your trash after a picnic
- Be creative and up-cycle your recyclables into crafts!
Have ideas on how to reduce plastic use? Share them with the community!
Celebrate World Environment Day on June 5 to help raise awareness of this critical problem facing our oceans.
A few ideas to reduce plastic use on Campus:
* All food outlets on campus should ban straws and plastic bags. They should propose paper cups. I know some paper cups are lined with plastic, but at least there is less of it. They should also promote bringing your own thermos and containers through posters and training of the employees.
* The campus diner should not offer plastic bags, cups, styrofoam or cutlery. They should also promote bringing your own thermos, containers and cutlery through posters and training of the employees.
* Tamimi should not use plastic bags, styrofoam or plastic film. They should aim to offer products with as little packaging as possible.
* At the Tamimi vegetable corner, if they must use plastic bags, they could at least encourage customers to group fruit and veges in same plastic bag.