Recycle Our Seas

How many times have we sat on a lovely sandy beach only to discover as our children make sand castles that they are unearthing far more than sand? Much of the waste that finds its way into our once clean and pure seas will not biodegrade for many, many years. This causes pollution on such a scale that it becomes quite breathtaking and unbelievable!

Much of this pollution appears to be caused by either fishermen or yachtsmen. It is very easy to think that the wrapper you so casually discarded overboard will not have any great effect. This is very small minded of each and every one of us, we all need to take responsibility for our own actions.

There is nothing more disgusting than finding sanitary napkins, diapers and condoms washed up on beaches or floating in the sea. This is usually the result of untreated sewage that is pumped straight into our rivers and waterways; do we really want our children to be playing sandcastles in amongst this?

Some of the most horrific photographs are of animals entwined in plastic. Often whales and other large mammals become caught in submerged discarded fishing nets, these poor creatures die the most horrific and painful deaths often by drowning.

Take a moment to read the chart below and see just how long that plastic water bottle whose remains you discarded will take to completely degrade!

Lets look on the positive side, after all generations to come could quite easily find the same plastic bottle washed up and recycle it, finding that it is still perfectly usable in many years to come!

The length of time before the following materials become bio-degradable

1. Paper towels 2/4 weeks

2. Newspaper 6 weeks

3. Apple core 2 months

4. Cotton gloves 1-5 months

5. Waxed milk carton 3 months

6. Cotton rope 3/4 months

7. Cardboard box 2 months

8. Pieces of plywood 1 to 3 years

9. Photodegradable beverage holder 6 months

10. Tin can 50 years

11. Painted wooden stick 13 years

12. Styrofoam cup 50 years

13. Styrofoam box 80 years

14. Wool gloves 1 year

15. Disposable diapers 450 years

16. Plastic bottles 450 years

17. Aluminum cans 200 years

18. Plastic beverage holders 400 years

19. Plastic bottles 450 years

20. Monofilament line 600 years

21. Polypropylene line(the nasty stuff that floats) 700 years plus

22. Nylon/Dacron line Sinks to the bottom and stays there, waiting to meet unsuspecting fish!!

We should ALL act responsibly and take the time to think before we discard garbage in such a way that the problem becomes our ancestors and not ours.