The fate of our seas is not only up to the government or industry. Our individual, daily actions matter, too.

Disposable and single-use plastic is abundantly used in today’s society, from shopping bags to shipping packaging to plastic bottles.

Changing society’s approach to plastic use will be a long and economically challenging process. Cleanup, in contrast, may be impossible for some items. Many types of debris (including some plastics) do not float, so they are lost deep in the ocean. Plastics that do float tend to collect in large “patches” in ocean gyres. The Pacific Garbage Patch is one example of such a collection, with plastics and microplastics floating on and below the surface of swirling ocean currents between California and Hawaii in an area of about 1.6 million square kilometers (617,763 square miles), although its size is not fixed. These patches are less like islands of trash and, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, more like flecks of microplastic pepper swirling around an ocean soup. Even some promising solutions are inadequate for combating marine pollution. So-called “biodegradable” plastics often break down only at temperatures higher than will ever be reached in the ocean.

Now what can we do?

1. Buy smart. Be Careful of the cleaning products that you are buying.Buying cleaning products that contain natural soluble/biodegradable ingredients helps to prevent nasty fluids from ending up in natural water sources
2. Go shopping with your reusable shopping bags
3. Buy products with least amount of packaging.
4. Stop using plastic straws, there are so many exciting alternatives , such as stainless straws.
5. When you are planning to go for a swim in the sea, choose a sunscreen with the least harm to the environment.
6.  Have your reusable water bottle.
7. Try to buy your vegetables organic so you  know they are not using chemical fertilizers.