SeaWorld is one of the top destinations in San Diego. It is right across the bay from my house. I call them to rescue animals and while I appreciate what they do… and am really glad we have someone to call.. I really wonder if they are all talk? Almost everyday in the summer there is some plastic SeaWorld souvenir left on the beach.
In June of 2018, SeaWorld along with Ikea and Royal Caribbean — ‘vowed to remove plastic straws and bags from their properties. SeaWorld Entertainment announced that its 12 theme parks had removed “all single-use plastic drinking straws and single-use plastic shopping bags.” Chief executive John Reilly called the move “a testament to our mission to protect the environment, the ocean and animals … which are currently threatened by unprecedented amounts of plastic pollution.” (Washington Post)
According to their website: SeaWorld and other parks in the SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment family have been working to eliminate single-use plastics from the park, including plastic straws, plastic coffee stirrers and plastic shopping bags. Since beginning this process, SeaWorld has avoided sending over 22 million plastic straws to landfills and often into the oceans.
Yet, when you go to their online gift shop.. it is full of plastic… junk. Even with reusable plastic straws… BPA free or not.. there is too much SeaWorld plastic.
To be fair they made their plastic reduction announcement in June of 2018 and I am sure and hope they will be selling out all their plastic novelties… as many of them come right back up on the beach. But for a ‘sustainable theme park’ I truly hope they re-look at their buying practices… 2019 is another year… we will see what happens on the beach in 2019.
For the record, SeaWorld has a total of 11 theme parks and have rescued over 33,000 animals.