Reusing Packaging Waste
Finding viable ways to collect and reuse packaging waste is a challenge for modern times. Unfortunately, a lack of adequate recycling facilities has resulted in packaging waste being discarded into our seas. Trillions of plastic packaging items are floating in the great oceans and washing up on beaches.
However, one adaptive scavenger is becoming a master of packaging waste recycling. Hermit crabs do not have a permanent shell. Instead, they look for suitable-sized shells on the beach and adopt them as their new home. When one gets a bit tight, they upgrade to a larger model.
New Style Homes From Packaging Waste
In recent years, more and more people have spotted hermit crabs using packaging waste as a shell replacement. Based on data collected, scientists now believe that two-thirds of hermit crabs are using artificial, waste materials in place of shells. This demonstrates the resourcefulness of the species and their ability to adapt to their surroundings.
Whilst it seems wrong to see the crabs living in abandoned packaging, scientists are now exploring whether or not this could cause them any harm.
What we do know is that humans are the cause of this waste being in the marine environment. Like the crabs, we need to find innovative and practical ways to reuse it.
