Water pollutants in the home

As awareness has heightened about ocean pollution, habits have been altered to mitigate to minimize mistakes. The low hanging fruit has been:

• Stop trash from going into the water: This is simple enough, but we either think of the ocean as a trash bin, or we see waste near the water and don’t prevent it from blowing in.

• Reduce use of single-use plastics: This includes water bottles, drinking cups, utensils, straws, bags, etc. There are easy alternatives to nearly every example of single-use plastics.

• Reduce your rubbish and recycle: Play the game of, “How little is in my trash cans each week”. Also, get educated on what can go into the recycle bin. It may be more than you think.

Types of products
While this period of “shelter-in-place” is assisting, we are still polluting from home by our use of products with chemicals or microbeads that readily enter the oceans and waterways through our sewer systems, and affect hundreds of marine species.

Some examples:
• Personal hygiene soaps and scrubs
• Toothpastes
• Laundry soaps

Scuttlebutt HQ is taking steps to improve our products, but we want suggestions on what to use. Please submit your ideas and we will share them too. Send to editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com