Plastic - this word probably already became a curse word for some people. There is an important reason why it is used more and more. The pollution of plastic is reaching an extreme level, pieces of plastic are found in the bodies of fishes and other ocean and sea animals. It is easy to ignore it but that is not a solution. If a wallet was stolen from you, are you going to close your eyes and pretend that nothing is happening? It is painful to watch how uneducated some people are. But the number of the ones who care is growing. I am one of them and when I met Richardas we came up with this little project. Since photography is my hobby, I try to use it for wider purposes - to introduce the society to the existence of problems in environmental protection. So, I am inviting you to look through the photos and get to know the characters in the descriptions!
Descriptions:
Picture No. 1:
• Aprox. 30 – that many years it takes for a disposable plastic cup to decompose;
• A disposable cup is made from paper and polyethylene that covers the inside. That layer is the obstacle that does not allow the cup to be recycled;
• If we would put all the daily plastic cups in a row – they would surround the whole Earth.
Picture No. 2:
• 200 – that many years it takes for a straw to decompose which was used only for ~20 minutes;
• This type of trash easily gets into the digestive tract of fish, turtles and birds;
• Calculations show that over 100 million sea and ocean creatures die because of plastic.
Picture No. 3:
• Many people think that the majority of plastic waste in oceans are straws, cotton buds, bottle caps and other plastic products;
• However, one of the main pollutants are cigarette butts!
• 10-20 – that many years takes for a thrown away cigarette butt to decompose;
• According to the research, Lithuanians smoke around 4 billion cigarettes per year and only a small amount of cigarette butts end up at the dump, other butts – everywhere else;
• Over 200 poisonous compounds can be found in cigarette butts. While the filter is decomposing, the compounds are spreading into the environment and slowly poisoning the animals living there.
Picture No. 4:
• It takes to cut 63 000 trees to print one ''New York Times'' edition;
• 2800 liters of water can be saved while recycling 1 tone of cardboard;
• A waste management company ''VSA Vilnius'' calculated that in every apartment block people throw out 3-5kg of leaflets and newspapers per week and about 80 000kg of waste paper per year is taken out from the districts of the capital.
Picture No. 5:
• Around 20 years - that many years it takes for a plastic bag to decompose;
• Plastic bags and other plastic waste are thrown into the ocean and kills around 1 million sea/ocean creatures every year;
• Manufacturing bags from recycled materials energy consumption is reduced by two thirds, 90% less water is used, 2.5 times less of carbon dioxide is being released.
Karl gets scared when he sees how many plastic cups he leaves at the dump and everywhere else. He is planning to buy a thermo cup which looks way more stylish and can keep a drink hot or cold longer.
Ingrida is confused by the way cocktails are served. Why so many straws and mini umbrellas have to be in one cocktail... From now on she will ask not to put straws in her drink, because she will buy a metal straw and carry it in her bag.
Zita does not understand why she has to eat cigarette butts. Probably because she used to throw them away anywhere. From now on she is throwing cigarette butts only into the litter bin.
Richard sees promotional leaflets and booklets everywhere. He is worried about how much energy resources and trees it takes to create them. The man is planning to put a ''NO LEAFLETS!'' sticker on his mailbox, that would be his first step to reduce waste-paper.
Natalja is tired of plastic bags, because they are everywhere - in the city, on the sidewalk, on a tree, in a shop, in a package, in the river... She doesn't understand why she has to deal with plastic bags all alone.
