Got a plan(et) B?
A little over a year ago, Mr Green started the ‘Clean the Sea‘ initiative in the hopes of leaving the most ‘green’ footprint possible.
As the Mr Green Head Office is based on the sunny island of Malta, our company has worked closely with the University of Malta to study the health of the Maltese coastal waters.
Last summer, Mr Green’s rib collected a total of 140kg of plastic – and that’s just from the Maltese coastal waters. According to Greenpeace, ‘12.7 million tonnes of plastic – everything from plastic bottles and bags to microbeads – end up in our oceans globally each year. That’s a truck load of garbage a minute’!
So when I got the opportunity to volunteer for Mr Green’s ‘Clean The Sea’ project this year, I was hopeful, excited and thrilled, all at the same time. To be honest, I didn’t exactly know what to expect.
Bright and early at 9am, my co-worker and I arrived at the Portomaso Port in St. Julians to board the Mr Green rib. The strong winds sent us on a bumpy ride towards the water front that hugs Valletta so beautifully.
From afar I gazed at the surface of what ought to have been the crystal-clear Maltese waters I am so familiar with, but I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic and all kinds of garbage.
Bottles, cups, plates, take away boxes and more plastic. I couldn’t believe my eyes. You see, you constantly hear about how the amounts of garbage in our oceans is destroying our planet, but until you see the disastrous conditions with your very own eyes, it just doesn’t feel real. But let me assure you, the problem is more than REAL.
Together with my co-worker, who accompanied me on this life changing experience, we filled up 5 large garbage bags full of…CRAP! I must say, it felt good. It felt good to know that all that waste is not going to be ingested by fish or seabirds and that it won’t stay in the water for 100s of years until it (maybe) decomposes. According to Sea Turtle Conservancy, over 100 million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean.
It made me wonder how the heck did the trash end up in the ocean in the first place? Careless BBQs at the beach? Lack of ashtrays? Not enough bins? Pure laziness? But why use plastic to begin with, right? You can easily reduce your plastic footprint by bringing a reusable shopping bag with you when you go to the grocery store, pack your lunch in glass containers, simply avoid foods with excess packaging and just say no to that umbrella straw.
One thing was instantly clear to me, we need to stop treating planet earth like it’s one giant garbage bin, instead we can all become part of the solution. If you too want to make a difference in the world, why not join Mr Green and our mission to strive for a ‘greener’ planet? See what positions are available on our Mr Green Career Page.
