Help Turn the Tide on Plastic Pollution

A Community Campaign to Reduce and Refuse Single-Use Plastics

Sponsored by the ROCKBRIDGE AREA CONSERVATION COUNCIL (RACC) WASTE REDUCTION COMMITTEE

KNOW THE FACTS about why it’s so important to prevent plastic waste from polluting our waterways and harming both humans and wildlife.

THE FACTS

• 80% of ocean plastic comes from inland sources.
  – Ecowatch
• The equivalent of a dump truck load of plastic enters the ocean every minute of every day.
  – World Economic Forum
• There are five floating islands of plastic in the oceans. The one between Hawaii and California is twice the size of Texas
  – National Geographic
• One million plastic bags are used every minute, but discarded after just 15 minutes.
  – ConservingNow
• A 2021 Rockbridge County audit demonstrated that about 2,000 cubic yards of plastic waste are
• dumped in our landfill each month.
  – Rockbridge Area Conservation Council
• Turtles, whales, birds and other animals have been found dead with a stomach full of plastic.
  – Earth Day Network
• Humans are now ingesting a credit card size worth of microplastics every week.
  – World Wildlife Fund

LET’S CHANGE THESE NUMBERS!
Join the campaign to cut back on single-use plastics.

Thanks to Professor Jay Sullivan and Engineering Students at Virginia Military Institute, who designed and built the sea turtle installation to help educate the Rockbridge community about plastic pollution.

Click the image below to download the fact sheet.