MIAMI \u2014 As plastic pollution continues to choke oceans and waterways, a global movement is challenging people to be part of the solution.<\/p>\n
Wednesday marked the first day of Plastic Free July<\/a>, a campaign encouraging people to reduce their use of plastics. Miami-Dade County is joining the effort with a new initiative.<\/p>\n Miami-Dade County unveiled its first Hope Hydration Station at the Government Center Metrorail station in downtown Miami, offering free cold, filtered water to anyone who wants to refill a reusable bottle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to really change culture. I\u2019m sure we\u2019re going to see more people utilizing this and saying no, refusing those plastic water bottles,\u201d Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.<\/p>\n The goal is to encourage people to switch to reusable bottles and refuse plastic ones to help curb the massive amount of plastic waste ending up in the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s super easy. Place your bottle, water comes out chilled, it\u2019s filtered, it\u2019s free, and our whole thesis is that if these are more accessible, more beautiful and easier to access, then everyone is going to be more sustainable. There\u2019s no need for a plastic bottle if there are Hope stations everywhere,\u201d said Cristina Gnecco, co-founder and COO of Hope Hydration.<\/p>\n Hope Hydration founder and CEO Jorge Richardson said the timing of the station\u2019s unveiling ahead of Plastic Free July was intentional.<\/p>\n Plastic Free July is a global movement urging people to reduce their plastic waste one reusable choice at a time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need a few people doing this perfectly. We need a lot of people trying, and that\u2019s how we will actually start to have this ripple effect impact,\u201d said Maddie Kaufman, program director for Debris Free Oceans.<\/a><\/p>\n The idea is to start small by eliminating one plastic habit from daily life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes, like, two weeks to build a habit. So take two weeks to try to build a habit with one item,\u201d Kaufman said.<\/p>\n The need for action has never been greater.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a scary number. And yes, we are in crisis mode,\u201d said Marcus Eriksen, co-founder and director of research for the 5 Gyres Institute.<\/p>\n Roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, adding to the more than 171 trillion plastic particles already there. Plastic production is projected to double over the next 25 years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe pick up 20,000-plus pounds of trash per day on International Coastal Cleanup Day. Our landfills are filling up with plastic. Our bodies are filling up with plastic,\u201d Kaufman said.<\/p>\n Advocates say recycling alone will not solve the problem. Globally, only 9% of plastic is ever recycled, and they say the only way forward is to refuse plastic whenever possible.<\/p>\n \u201cRecycling does not work. We cannot reasonably keep up with the plastic that\u2019s produced now and will be in the future,\u201d said Catherine Uden, senior field representative for Oceana South Florida.<\/p>\n With Florida law preventing local governments from regulating most single-use plastics, much of the responsibility falls on consumers.<\/p>\n Programs like Plastic Free Miami Beach<\/a> and Plastic Free 305<\/a> help consumers make better choices by highlighting businesses that have significantly reduced their plastic packaging and single-use items.<\/p>\n \u201c73% of visitors, tourists and consumers want to spend their money on sustainable businesses and their products,\u201d said Cynthia Seymour of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District.<\/p>\n Hope Hydration plans to install 15 more stations throughout Miami-Dade County at public parks and other county venues. The goal is to expand to 250 stations over the next year, making it easier, free and more convenient for people to stop buying bottled water in plastic containers and use refillable bottles instead.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 As plastic pollution continues to choke oceans and waterways, a global movement is challenging people to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-326853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}