Did you know that every second, more than 200 kg of plastic are dumped into the seas and oceans of the world? Learn more about the reality of plastic and how every action counts.
As you probably know, plastic has flooded our daily lives in an alarming way, and although there are more and more projectsto change this (many of them altruistic),we throw more plastic into the ocean than we are capable of collecting.
According to the study “Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans”, there are more than 250 thousand tons of plastic floating in the sea, mostly in microscopic pieces “invisible” to humans and not easy to pick up. The really frustrating thing is that the vast majority of the plastic created is to manufacture disposable products, instead of durable ones.
Half of all these micro particles are concentrated in five large “islands” of garbage around the world, concentrated in eddies that create water currents:
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is estimated to have a size of 1,400,000 km²
- North Atlantic Garbage Patch, estimated to be hundreds of kilometers long
- South Pacific Garbage Patch, with an approximate size of one million square miles
- Indian Ocean garbage patch, discovered in 2010
- Mediterranean Sea Plastic Accumulation, which has between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of floating plastic
Click here to simulate the release of a plastic duck and see its probable route around the ocean.
And … where do you think these plastic microparticles go after traveling the world? Yes, to our body!Probably in the form of grilled fish, after whales, fish and mollusks absorb or eat them without even noticing.
And that isn’t all; besides the ocean, it is becoming more frequent to see the world’s beaches full of plastic garbage, so taking immediate action is vital if we want to continue enjoying our stay on the beautiful planet Earth.
At Sandos Caracol, we want to make a difference with some important actions:
We say NO to plastic bottles. In our rooms you will not see plastic bottles big or small, which is why we have a water dispenser with fresh water so that you can drink it without generating waste every time you’re thirsty.
Goodbye, disposable packaging! At Sandos Caracol, we want to make a difference as a sustainable hotel, so if we ever have a case where it is really necessary to use, for example, disposable cutlery, we use a biodegradable version made from corn starch.
Plastic bags. At Sandos Caracol, we use biodegradable bags to collect garbage from rooms and common areas, thus reducing our impact on planet Earth. Did you know that plastic bags take 55 years to decompose? They are not even that old, meaning that all plastic bags that have been made, still exist. Alarming, right?
NO straws. We know, straws are “comfortable”, but not so much so that it is worth the giant contamination these disposable products cause. At Sandos Caracol, you will not get drinks with a straw, and although we have some available if you ask for them, we invite you to become asustainable traveler and decrease your carbon footprint as you pass through the Caribbean.
Beach clean-ups. We love our heavenly landscapes, so we have to take care of them. Each month we carry out a beach clean-up where our volunteer employees show their commitment to the Earth and collect the garbage that people throw away or that the sea brings in. If you see the volunteersduring your visit, you are welcome to join! Together we can make a difference.
Although the road is still long, these are some of the actions Sandos Caracol Eco Resort takes in terms of plastic, in addition to the many pro-environment initiatives and policies.
If you want to visit an eco-friendly hotel in the Riviera Maya, you and your loved ones are welcome. Let’s change the world!