When Stikeez first came into popularity, parents were pissed of at Pick n Pay for creating yet another thing for children to whine about (you have to read this letter).

But now that the retail store is bringing them back, there’s another issue at hand – and one that is a lot more serious.

You see, unfortunately the saying “out of sight, out of mind” has, for many years, applied to the way humans dispose of their rubbish.

Once rubbish has been put into a bin, loaded onto the back of a rubbish truck, and left your section of the pavement, no one cares where it ends up.

So the announcement from Pick ‘n Pay that they are bringing back Stikeez has people who are concerned about our planet’s future very worried.

But why? This, from Two Oceans Aquarium:

The announcement of another Pick ‘n Pay Stikeez drive has raised concerns among members of the public and environmental organisations. The issue is the fact that more unnecessary (and essentially single-use) plastic waste is being introduced into the environment via a major national retailer, utilising their substantial customer base.

The current Stickeez theme is a marine one and some people thought that this would be a perfect match with an organisation such as the Two Oceans Aquarium. The vision of the Two Oceans Aquarium is “Abundant and Healthy Oceans for Life” and our mission is “To Inspire Action for the Future Well-being of our Oceans”. Bearing in mind our clear objectives, our conservation efforts and our journey of sustainability on behalf of the ocean, the Aquarium cannot endorse the Stikeez campaign in any way.

Some people do not understand what the fuss is about one more plastic item when, day to day, we are surrounded by plastic and indeed depend on plastic in many different ways. However, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released research in January this year revealing that the equivalent of one dump truck of plastic pollution currently “leaks” into the ocean every single minute. This means 60 trucks in one hour. “Leakage” is the term used to describe plastic that mistakenly ends up in the sea.

An alarming rate of horrifying images of scenes depicting the gross amount of rubbish found on beaches, in sea animal’s stomachs, and floating in the ocean have been making their way to the public and still hardly anyone lifts a finger to make a change.

Here’s some information about it you should know:

According to the WEF, if we continue doing things the way we are, we can expect that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans, by weight, than fish.

It is terribly sad and I ask you ever so kindly to please start practicing a conscious way of life.

You can start by refusing to drink out of straw, plastic bottles, and accepting Stikeez from Pick n Pay.

Was that a little environmental preach right there? Yeah dude. Totally.

[source:aquarium]