Hit 10,000 plastic bottles saved from the landfill and it got me thinking

I started rinsing and recycling every single plastic bottle back in 2018 after a trip to the beach in Santa Monica where I saw piles of trash washed up. This week I did a rough count and realized I've kept over 10,000 bottles out of the trash just by being consistent. It's a tiny thing but it made me wonder how many of us are actually making a dent versus just feeling guilty. Anyone else track something small like this and surprise yourself?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_torres1mo ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard! I started doing the same thing back in 2019 after I saw a video of turtles getting tangled in plastic straws and it just hit me different. I don't track my bottles super carefully but I bet I'm up there too because I'm always rinsing out Gatorade bottles and those big juice jugs from Costco. It's crazy how fast those little daily choices add up when you just stay on it. Even if some of them get shipped overseas, at least I know I did my part on my end, you know?

ray3561mo ago

Has anyone here actually looked into what happens to the plastic after you sort it? I did a deep dive last year and found out most municipal recycling programs in the US can't even process certain plastic types, especially if they're colored or have that crinkly label. So a lot of those bottles you rinse end up getting burned for energy or just sitting in a warehouse. I'm not saying recycling is pointless, but I think we need to stop patting ourselves on the back and start pushing for better systems, maybe even cutting back on buying bottled stuff in the first place. It's more about changing the supply than just cleaning the demand side.

sage3081mo ago

Right, because those 10,000 bottles definitely aren't just getting shipped to a country that dumps them in the ocean anyway.