Plastic: One of the greatest challenges facing our planet
Your Bodhi bottles are plastic free! Why are we doing this? Why is it important? What are we using instead?
Why Plastic Free is important - The Impact of plastic on our environment!
Plastic is very prevalent in our lives, not just in foods but in almost everything we have around the home from wifi boxes to our healthcare products. It was, and remains, hugely important in medicine as well as in industries such as energy, and manufacturing. However despite the merits of plastic, it’s cheapness and practicality, a UN report recently named it as one of the greatest challenges facing our planet.
Normally, plastic waste takes 100 of years to break down. If we are serious about creating a sustainable environment, plastic cannot be part of it.
Plastic is not biodegrade - so what really happens when it's sent to landfills or incinerators?
A plastic water bottle takes around 450 years to decompose: if Elizabeth I had used bottles in 1570, they would only just have broken down.
Plastic packaging accounts for about half of the plastic thrown away worldwide - think about how much plastic you have used today, your toothpaste, your toothbrush, body wash, the milk bottle, the cereal packet - and that’s only for breakfast.
Much of this plastic ends up in landfills or the ocean where it begins its slow journey to decomposition, often breaking down into smaller pieces called microplastics. Microplastics contaminate the soil and water around them, often polluting waterways on route to the ocean.
A recent survey of the Mersey river in Liverpool found that there was, on average 84,030 particles of microplastics in each square metre of water.
Whether plastics are found in our soil, water systems, or oceans, the true impacts remain unclear but it’s certainly not good news.
In soil, microplastics have been found to alter the stability of the soil, altering its density and composition, negatively affecting both flora and fauna, for example damaging the roots of plants or lowering germination levels. Soil pollution can be considered as a bottom-up problem and will have immeasurable implications within the food chain.
Microplastics find their way into freshwater ecosystems either from the soil, but the greatest proportion come from wastewater treatment plants. Once in the water they can easily be ingested by humans and other living organisms, causing serious health problems.
A Science Direct report reads:
“The microplastics can act as carriers of various toxins such as additives from industrial production processes... A few studies on the fishes demonstrated that the microplastics and the associated toxins are bio-accumulated and cause such problems as intestinal damage”
Similarly, in the ocean, filter feeding plants and organisms ingest microplastics which are then transported up the water column, as these are eaten by larger organisms such as crabs fish and seabirds. Although we don’t know the full implications of plastic as it moves up the environmental chain, what we are sure of is that a serious societal shift is needed.
Small changes we can all make towards sustainability: step-by-step
It’s obvious that although systemic change is needed to reduce the amount of plastic used globally, but it’s also super important that businesses and individuals try to reduce the amount we use.
That’s why Your Bodhi is thrilled to announce that we have filled our last plastic bottle and are now making the shift to biodegradable packaging!
Your Bodhi have always held ourselves to a high standard when it comes to our company, whether that’s the highest purity of curcumin at a massive 95%, or packing as much into one small capsule as possible.
It’s the same ethos that has led us to make the switch to biodegradable.
Why Plastic Free is important - The Impact of plastic on our environment!
Plastic is very prevalent in our lives, not just in foods but in almost everything we have around the home from wifi boxes to our healthcare products. It was, and remains, hugely important in medicine as well as in industries such as energy, and manufacturing. However despite the merits of plastic, it’s cheapness and practicality, a UN report recently named it as one of the greatest challenges facing our planet.
Normally, plastic waste takes 100 of years to break down. If we are serious about creating a sustainable environment, plastic cannot be part of it.
Plastic is not biodegrade - so what really happens when it's sent to landfills or incinerators?
A plastic water bottle takes around 450 years to decompose: if Elizabeth I had used bottles in 1570, they would only just have broken down.
Plastic packaging accounts for about half of the plastic thrown away worldwide - think about how much plastic you have used today, your toothpaste, your toothbrush, body wash, the milk bottle, the cereal packet - and that’s only for breakfast.
Much of this plastic ends up in landfills or the ocean where it begins its slow journey to decomposition, often breaking down into smaller pieces called microplastics. Microplastics contaminate the soil and water around them, often polluting waterways on route to the ocean.
A recent survey of the Mersey river in Liverpool found that there was, on average 84,030 particles of microplastics in each square metre of water.
Whether plastics are found in our soil, water systems, or oceans, the true impacts remain unclear but it’s certainly not good news.
In soil, microplastics have been found to alter the stability of the soil, altering its density and composition, negatively affecting both flora and fauna, for example damaging the roots of plants or lowering germination levels. Soil pollution can be considered as a bottom-up problem and will have immeasurable implications within the food chain.
Microplastics find their way into freshwater ecosystems either from the soil, but the greatest proportion come from wastewater treatment plants. Once in the water they can easily be ingested by humans and other living organisms, causing serious health problems.
A Science Direct report reads:
“The microplastics can act as carriers of various toxins such as additives from industrial production processes... A few studies on the fishes demonstrated that the microplastics and the associated toxins are bio-accumulated and cause such problems as intestinal damage”
Similarly, in the ocean, filter feeding plants and organisms ingest microplastics which are then transported up the water column, as these are eaten by larger organisms such as crabs fish and seabirds. Although we don’t know the full implications of plastic as it moves up the environmental chain, what we are sure of is that a serious societal shift is needed.
Small changes we can all make towards sustainability: step-by-step
It’s obvious that although systemic change is needed to reduce the amount of plastic used globally, but it’s also super important that businesses and individuals try to reduce the amount we use.
That’s why Your Bodhi is thrilled to announce that we have filled our last plastic bottle and are now making the shift to biodegradable packaging!
Your Bodhi have always held ourselves to a high standard when it comes to our company, whether that’s the highest purity of curcumin at a massive 95%, or packing as much into one small capsule as possible.
It’s the same ethos that has led us to make the switch to biodegradable.