The Other 90%

So, we are lucky enough to live by the water. And since we work from home now, we take lots and lots of walks. And see the beach almost everyday. And sadly, each day, there is garbage on the beach. It washes up from the ocean mostly, but sometimes people throw things away or leave things on the beach. And it breaks our heart.

Often, we just take an hour and go and pick up the beach trash. It's a drop in the bucket we know, but it makes us feel a bit better. We have gloves, a handy garbage picker and a bucket. We pick up balls, beach toys, food wrappers (so many food wrappers), balloons, bottle caps (feels like hundreds of bottle caps), Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks drinks cups and of course, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. We just did one last week, on a beach that was maybe 30 ft long and walked away with a full bag of trash.

And when we were lugging that bag home, we couldn't stop thinking about the other 90%. The 90% of trash and waste that is put in the ocean that does not float to the surface. That does not wash up on the beach. That sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor where it takes hundreds of years to degrade. Where marine life gets caught in it. Where it gets ingested as food and then ends up in our food stream. Were it is creating an environmental disaster of epic proportions. And we just can't help but wonder why.

Why are we doing this? Why are we allowing an industry to fail us? Why are we not standing up and demanding proper recycling and waste management outcomes? Why are we allowing companies to make packages that can't be recycled? And recycling companies landfill up to 40% of what they collect?

The answer is likely "out of sight, out of mind" in many ways. We think that if we are recycling, the system is working (it's not). Or if we buy things that can't be recycled, they will not end up in our environment (they will). Or if we just don't think about it, the problem will go away (it won't).

But here is the hope. There is something we can do. We can stop the 72% of plastic and 54% of aluminum bottles and cans going to landfills and oceans by ensuring that they get returned to be recycled properly. And we can do that with confidence, from our own homes with MeCycle.

We are building this company so that you have the power. The power to change the way we manage our waste and the power to stop sending things to landfills and oceans. When you walk by a beach and see a bottle or a wrapper there - think of the 90% you can't see. The billions of things in our oceans with hundreds of millions getting added each year.

Let's take back our power and make a change. The other 90% needs us.