Today is World Oceans Day. Why not celebrate by educating yourself on how you can make a difference in the world? Every effort helps. You can start by making a simple transition to eliminate single-use plastics in your daily routine. Think of how many plastic straws you’ve used in your lifetime. How many pieces of plastic silverware have you used? These are things we take for granted, myself included. We have evolved into a world of speed and simplicity. Hence all the single-use items we now have in our lives today.

Mass production of plastics began in the 1950’s, and not until recently was there any survey or tally as to what those numbers look like. The scientists involved were horrified by the numbers they found. Click here to read an article from National Geographic titled, “Planet or Plastics? A whopping 91% of Plastics isn’t recycled”. There are plenty of people who still don’t recycle, and for those of us who do, we assume we are doing the good thing and everything we throw into those bins is being recycled. No harm, no foul right? From what I’ve been reading, a large majority of those recyclable items are NOT in fact being recycled. A massive quantity is ending up in landfills and the ocean.

I could go on and on regarding this topic, but I’ll spare you. What I can suggest are a few items to try. The first being a stainless steel straw. If you follow Frugal Fashionista then you have probably heard about the Mermaid Straws. They are amazing! I have replaced my single-use straws with ONE Mermaid Straw. How simple is that? If you’re interested in giving one a try click here. They make a wonderful gift as well. I chose to partner with Mermaid Straws because a portion of the proceeds goes towards funding an ocean clean-up project every month. So not only are you eliminating a single use item from your life, but you’re helping to fund an ocean clean-up at the same time.

Today I ordered these reusable sandwich bags. I can’t wait to give them a try. I’m not sure about you, but I go thru disposable sandwich baggies very frequently. If these work well, this will be a simple but HUGE change for the amount of waste our household produces. I’ll update you guys on their arrival and provide you with a review.

I close in challenging you to own up and take part in saving our oceans. Sit for just a few minutes and brainstorm on how you can eliminate single-use plastics in your life.