Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Along with cleaning up the beach regularly, it is important to reduce and reuse products so there is one less piece of trash that can become part of the litter and affect wildlife and people. Recycling is a solution to the ocean pollution problem because a lot of our litter is misplaced, such as a recyclable can or bottle carelessly tossed on the beach instead of being properly disposed off in a recycling bin.
It is important to note how long different products within the litter take to break down:
| Cotton rags | 1-5 months |
| Paper | 2-5 months |
| Rope | 3-14 months |
| Orange peels | 6 months |
| Wool socks | 1-5 years |
| Cigarette butts | 1-12 years |
| Plastic coated paper milk cartons | 5 years |
| Plastic bags | 10-20 years |
| Leather shoes | 25-40 years |
| Nylon fabric | 30-40 years |
| Tin cans | 50-100 years |
| Aluminum cans | 80-100 years |
| Plastic 6-pack holder rings | 450 years |
| Glass bottles | 1 million years |
| Plastic bottles | Forever |
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The clipart on this page is from Clipart ETC, which is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse.
