Single use plastic is one of the biggest sources of marine debris. Some of the problems with plastic are:

• Plastic doesn't biodegrade. Ever.
  
• Birds, fish and marine mammals can mistake plastic for food like plankton and jellyfish. One washed-ashore seabird was found to have 1,603 pieces of plastic in its stomach.
  
• The same animals get tangled up in lost nets, or the infamous six-pack rings.
  
• Chemicals from plastic leach into our oceans and humans in turn are drinking, eating, and absorbing them through their skin every day.
  
  

Much about plastic can be misleading. For instance, those circular arrows stamped into each piece mimic our recycling symbol leading consumers to believe when they're through with it, the product will be recycled when in fact the symbol only denotes type of plastic. Of the seven types of plastic available only three-PET (1), HDPE (2) and PS (6)-are considered "easy" to recycle. The vast majority of municipal recycling centers don't even accept the other types which include such heavily used plastics as wrapping films, dry cleaning bags, sandwich bags, grocery bags, baby bottle nipples, medical tubing, shower curtains and Tupperware. According to Algalita's website, of those plastics collected, less than three percent actually end up recycled. Reheating temperatures run too low to burn off contaminants, plus it's often cheaper to produce virgin plastic than to recycle it. So most of the plastic our recycling companies are so diligently collecting ends up in landfills or in our oceans.

The best way to help alleviate the plastic problem is by eliminating your use of it, for occasions where you can not eliminate plastics from your event, you can make use of corn-based, biodegradable products, including cups, napkins, plates, forks, knives. There are many resources for these products, and we recommend sourcing locally where possible.  Some helpful websites include:   

• World Centric (Available at some Whole Foods, ships nationally)
• Vegware (Based in Connecticut)
  
• Greentech (Based in British Virgin Islands)
• Good2Go SXM (Based in St. Maarten)
  
• Natureworks (Worldwide resource for many plastic products made from plants not oil)

Plastic makes it into our oceans in a variety of ways. About twenty percent of it comes from goods lost from boats: i.e. accidental loss of fishing tackle and other recreational gear, massive shipping containers carrying millions of plastic items washed overboard during severe storms; litter from pleasure boats, or illegal dumping of unwanted goods. Beachgoers' debris is also a contributor. The other eighty percent is swept in from land. For this reason it's important to be careful with debris not only on the water, but especially on land. In addition to using the right products, make sure they get recycled, and disposed of properly.

Explore our other Clean Regattas Resources to find out how to eliminate the use of plastic water bottles, and establish effective trash and recycling stations.

For more information on plastics in the oceans, read some of our Ocean Watch Essays:

• Plastics in our Oceans
  
• Don't Plastic the Pacific
  
• Inside the Plastic Vortex