While we were in New Zealand we forged a new relationship with Go Bamboo, a company that’s serious about keeping plastic out of our coastlines, oceans and landfills. Their first major product breakthrough was in designing a toothbrush made of bamboo, in order to combat the plastic ones that get used then disposed of.
Because there is a massive problem that we have seen first hand: plastic basically lasts forever in the natural environment.
It’s something that I’ve written at length about (click here to read a piece I wrote called “What a load of rubbish”: https://www.water-log.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1.-What-a-load-of-rubbish.pdf ), and you can also read up on a few more plastic facts here: https://gobamboo.co.nz/about-us/facts/
We’ve teamed up with Go Bamboo to not only use their toothbrushes, clothes pegs and cotton buds (all made from bamboo) for ourselves onboard but also to use for donations in some of the remote islands that we’ll be sailing to this year. I’ve heard too many stories of cruisers handing out candy and sweets to local village children. I wanted to counteract this with something more socially responsible, something that would do them more good than harm, and why not make it something that wouldn’t add any plastic rubbish to their island as well?
And you don’t have to be cruising in far off tropical islands for this to apply to you. Please, take a moment to sit and think about the plastics in your life, in your home and on your next shopping list. Are there ways that you could reduce the number of them you’re consuming?
