It’s Plastic Free July!
You can take the Plastic-Free Pledge, join the cause of groups like Plastic-Free MKE, to reduce use of single-use plastics.
A garbage bin filled with plastic. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
The beginning of July marks a month dedicated to advocacy and awareness aimed at reducing the spread of single-use plastics.
To participate in Plastic Free July, you can try to go a whole month without using any single-use plastics or try a “simple swap” that requires switching out one plastic item in your life for something non-plastic. Switching to a reusable water bottle is one example of a swap. The month is also an opportunity to make sure you’re recycling, and to support local organizations focused on plastic pollution.
Plastic Free July, as it’s aptly called, is globally observed. Locally, the Milwaukee Riverkeepers and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District are spearheading a coalition of more than 60 businesses and non-profits called Plastic Free MKE. The coalition is committed to reducing the harms of unnecessary plastics.
The group wants organizations and individuals to take a plastic-free pledge, which is intended to raise awareness of the issue of single-use plastics.
“More than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution – or 779 dump truck loads – flow into our Great Lakes every year,” according to Milwaukee Riverkeeper. “Once there, it never really goes away. As it takes root in our river system, animals bear the burden of this influx of garbage into their habitats.”
Along with a pledge to use less plastic, or use none at all this month, there are two river clean-ups scheduled for the month. These cleanups are part of the Riverkeeper’s Adopt-A-River program. The first is at Lincoln Park on July 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The second is in Webster Park on July 8 during the same hours. Milwaukee Riverkeeper asks that volunteers register for a clean-up in advance of the event.
On July 13, there is a Plastic Free July cruise along the Milwaukee River, aboard the Brew City Queen III. The event includes a catered lunch at the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences and is ticketed, with a full freight ticket coming to $15.
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