One million plastic bottles are sold per minute around the world. That’s enough plastic bottles in a day to give the entire population of Brazil, United States, Russia, Japan, Mexico, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Vietnam, Germany, and a few major U.S. cities a soda. In. One. Day.

Yet, what are the chances that every one of those plastic bottles finds their way to recycling? The odds don’t look good.

It even takes plastics over 400 years to decompose. To add insult to injury over this matter, some countries elect to burn their plastics which produces contaminants that are linked to cancer and neurological diseases in humans.

Alison Teal | Photo courtesy of Mark Tipple

Alison Teal, who’s been dubbed a female Indiana Jones by Time Magazine, has released a short film depicting the dismays of single-use plastics in the Maldives, Bali, Mexico, and California, showing how it distresses our seas and ecosystems in general:

“As plastic bags literally coated my face while swimming with the marine life, the toxic smoke from the burning plastic seared my lungs as I walked through what looked like an apocalyptic wasteland,” Teal said. Watch her encounter here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwqi0lER7e8

You can join the movement by replacing your typical, wasteful plastic water bottle with a Mobot https://mobot.com/ water bottle, which doubles as a massage foam roller. A Zoetica https://www.zoeticalife.com/ bag which features reusable items like straws, utensils, and cups is a smart choice as well, considering almost half of all plastics are used only once.

Orca 365 https://www.orca365.com/, a conservation group, has many short trips available revolving around educating participants on the importance of recycling, all the while operating in thrilling locations that are visually memorable and magnificent.

It’s your turn to help combat the extravagance of plastic bottles and do something forward-thinking about it.

Photos by Mark Tipple