World Oceans Day June 8

If you, like us, live in inland Västerbotten, near the mountain range, the world's oceans feel very far away, but the fact is that it affects us more than we think even if we are far from the oceans.

Many transports go by boat on the oceans, much of the food we buy comes from the oceans and the oceans are "our planet's lungs", as they absorb large parts of human CO2 emissions.

It is therefore so important to keep the oceans healthy and clean.
Every year, approximately 370 million tons of plastic are produced and the majority is only used once.

It is estimated that 8 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year. It is so much that it is a bit difficult to imagine how much it is, it is also easy to think of plastic in the oceans as something that is far away in a large ocean, but NRK reported as early as 2016 that every fourth cod caught off Bergen in Norway had plastic in its stomach.

Living in 2023 completely without plastic must be said to be impossible or at least almost impossible, but we can be a little wise when it comes to plastic and think before.

Our spray bottles are made so that they can be used many times and then recycled. The refills for our spray bottles are made of POP, Prevented Ocean Plastic, it is therefore plastic that has been picked up from beaches and coastal areas to prevent it from ending up in the oceans.

It has then been recycled into new plastic bottles.

Now you may be wondering why we don't have glass bottles?

There are several reasons for this, for example that glass bottles are much more difficult and heavier to ship which gives a completely different transport impact. Glass is a finite resource and a lot of sand is used for building materials so it is actually a bit of a scarce commodity. (Sand from deserts such as the Sahara is not suitable as a building material). In addition, it is a bit dangerous to clean with a glass bottle, if it breaks (easily happens for example in a tiled bathroom) you can seriously injure yourself.

Therefore, we use a plastic that is as good as possible, used for a long time and then recycled.

Together we can help each other and help the oceans to become healthier.

So today on World Oceans Day, pick up at least one small piece of plastic litter that you find outdoors, recycle cans and bottles and recycle the plastic you use.

The pictures are from when we as a family participated in a beach cleanup in November 2022.