Have you ever considered that the first toothbrush you’ve ever used is out there somewhere?
When things are out of sight—down the trash bin and off to the dumpster, never to be seen by you again—they’re definitely out of mind. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they’re completely gone. Chances are the first napkin you’ve used the first time you got your period, or even the plastic bags you used for grocery shopping five years ago are just sitting in a landfill somewhere. They’ll be there for a while, as plastic takes decades, sometimes centuries to be decomposed.
A heightened awareness of this problem has led to people adopting a zero-waste lifestyle, and while it’s hard to achieve perfectly, a lessened amount of the waste we generate makes a significant difference. It does require changing some habits and forming new ones, but Mother Earth will thank you, and so will generations of people to come.