That’s the number of single-use plastic bottles used around the world every single minute. Break it down further, and that amounts to 20,000 bottles per second. Zoom out to a full year, and we see sales of over 480 billion plastic bottles worldwide in 2016 alone; to put this outrageous figure into perspective, that’s enough plastic to wrap around the Earth’s equator more than twice (every year, mind you). And that data, painstakingly gathered by Euromonitor International in their Global Packaging Trends report, is already 6 years old… (so, ancient, basically).
With all of this single-use plastic changing hands so quickly, you may be wondering, where does it all go? While it’s nice to imagine that each of these bottles is rinsed, shredded, melted, and molded again into its former shape, shiny and good as new, this is far from reality. Truth be told, approximately 91% of plastic is not recycled. For the marvel that recycling is, an item can only be transformed into something else if it is put in the right bin in the first place, a shockingly unpopular occurrence considering that a majority of plastic bottles end up in landfills or the ocean. Once there, these menaces of marine-fairing life take over 450 years to degrade, breaking down into extremely harmful micro- and nanoplastics in the meantime. If I still haven’t gotten my point across, listen to this: The World Economic Forum predicts that, in 2050, the ocean will contain approximately 937 million tons of plastic and only 895 million tons of fish. That is to say, plastic will outweigh fish.
Terrified by these statistics? Maybe a bit frustrated, even? Good. Those are normal, yet powerful reactions. In truth, in order to combat plastic bottles, as well as the environmental degradation and human health risks that come along with them, we are going to need strong-emotioned individuals and groups who embody change. The kind of people wielded with knowledge, aware that one reusable bottle can save 160 single-use plastic bottles per year. The ones who understand that small changes in each of our individual lives result in big changes in aggregate.
Whether you’re a sustainability pro with less trash than Lauren Singer, or just want to start living a more environmentally responsible life, a reusable bottle is a great way to reduce your impact and contribute to realizing a world free of single-use plastic. But which bottle should you choose?
Luckily, GEA and the ESCP Madrid Sustainability Team have put their heads together to make your decision that much easier: In an effort to reduce plastic bottle consumption on campus, they have partnered up to develop a high-quality, ESCP-branded thermos. Hand-picked by the university’s Madrid Sustainability Team and tested rigorously by GEA’s very own Project Development Manager, Lina Bghiel, you can be sure this bottle will keep hot liquids hot and cold liquids even colder. Yours for just €8, all proceeds will go to a local reforestation project – so not only will you eliminate your consumption of single-use plastic bottles, but you’ll also enable the sequestration of plastic-related CO2 emissions!
Pick up your thermos at the Arroyofresno’s cafeteria today!
P.S. Be on the lookout for a special announcement on our social media channels. We will be giving away an ocean-friendly, tree-planting, single-use-plastic-free thermos to 3 lucky individuals.
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