CuriOdyssey is celebrating Defy Plastic July 2019, click here to join our team online!

It’s everywhere, but how much do you really know about plastic?

Synthetic plastic was first created by Leo Baekeland in 1907. Plastic is lightweight, durable, versatile, and cheap to produce. These qualities meant that this new material on the block changed the world. It revolutionized sanitation in medicine and made many products affordable and practical for widespread use.  

Plastic is a precious and finite resource and it should be treated in that way, used only in times when it is necessary and in line with its qualities, especially its potential for durability.  

Plastic has instead become completely ubiquitous. It is found in everything from our clothes to our furniture, our toys to our food packaging.

Single-use plastics, in particular, are a misuse of plastic. Plastic is designed and created to be strong and durable, yet single-use plastics like Ziploc bags, Saran wrap, produce bags, straws, food packaging from the store, and more are used one time and then tossed out. Because of its durability, 79% of all plastic created since 1907 is still sharing the earth with us – buried in landfills and scattered in nature. Only 9% has been recycled, and the remainder incinerated.  

Now is the time to defy superfluous plastic.

Join CuriOdyssey’s team for Defy Plastic July by clicking here. This easy to use web platform helps you choose steps that are right for you and will help empower you and your family to start reducing your single-use plastic footprint.  Thank you, and remember – it doesn’t have to be #DefyPlasticJuly to start cutting down on your use of single-use plastics!

Dive in and learn more, check out our sources:

Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. R., & Law, K. L. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), e1700782. 

Knight, L. (2014, May 17). A brief history of plastics, natural and synthetic. Retrieved December 3, 2016, from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27442625.