Crédit: Pexels. Mark Production

Do you know where all the plastic you throw away goes? Every July 3 is International Plastic Bag Free Day, a day to raise awareness about the serious problems of plastic pollution and the serious threat it poses to the natural environment, both on land and at sea.

Plastic bags take between 100 and 500 years to decompose and they produce pollution from their production to their disuse. To manufacture them, petroleum is extracted and since they are single-use plastics, they are quickly discarded after use, contaminating our Common Home to a great extent. 

Plastic bags are among the 150 million tons of plastic waste that end up in the seas and oceans every year. But ending the plastic business is not only a matter of climate justice, but also of social justice.

In partnership with the Vatican and the Laudato Si’ Movement, Plastic Bank is empowering Catholic communities around the world to help them in the mission to stop plastic in the oceans and improve the lives of vulnerable communities living on the coasts.

Plastic Bank builds “ethical recycling ecosystems,” that is, it encourages coastal communities to collect plastics and then reprocess and reintroduce them into the global supply chain. 

Its mission is to stop plastic reaching the ocean and, at the same time, fight poverty by making plastic too valuable to throw away.

WATCH: Listen to the testimony of those who are part of Plastic Bank

What are you going to do to reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans? Tell us in the comments and help us spread the word about this important mission.

Calculate your plastic footprint and start reducing it today!