*Vicious Waste - Raw Text*

in this day and age it is imperative that we are aware of how our daily behaviors are impacting the rest of the world. That hydrated feeling after the gym, the refreshing sensation of sucking down some delicious almost naturally flavored beverage, that cool gulp right out of the sensationally, wrapped liquid treats we drink all have byproducts and while we are living our healthy lifestyles, we may forget about the Garbage Patch that consists of 80% plastic, is twice the size of Texas and is floating out in the Pacific.

Despite our current era of recycling, only about 3.5% of our plastics are recycled worldwide. The problem with plastics is that they do not biodegrade. When something biodegrades, naturally occurring organisms break down natural materials into their simple chemical components. When paper breaks down, for example, it becomes carbon dioxide and water. Plastics will never biodegrade but rather go through “photodegredation” which is a process where the sun breaks them down into smaller pieces over a very long period of time. A single plastic water bottle can take up to 450 years to degrade if it is not recycled! So what does all of this mean? It means that even with all of our recycling efforts and our conscious, healthy lifestyles, every time we pick up a plastic water bottle there is a good chance it, or another one just like it, will be on this planet 5 times longer than you and contribute to taking the lives and homes of our beloved wildlife in addition to awing, disgusting and humiliating us on the nature channel late at night.