Nancy Lund
When thinking about what to write, I got to thinking about what irks me? At the moment it’s plastic. Now don’t get me wrong – I do not live a plastic free life – but boy would I like to.
So, what’s stopping me? I guess the fundamental problem is, that it is easy to use and hard to avoid. Although there have been many initiatives from supermarkets, to get rid of their single use bags in favour of “Bags for Life”, there is still a lot of packaging which I have to deal with when I unpack at home.
So where does all this single use plastic go.
In the UK I’m sure that many of us are doing our bit to try to reduce our plastic waste but the truth is that plastics are still being produced. With this being the case and knowing that there is a fundamental problem with it, something surely has to change!
A report in 2020 by National Geographic, predicted that – “plastic trash that flows into the oceans every year is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons”. This astounding and somewhat depressing figure was part of a two year study by Pew Charitable Trusts & System IQ Ltd.
They report that global plastic production is on track to increase 40% by 2030, with hundred of billions of dollars being invested in new plastic production plants, locking us into the status quo. Their solution is for a complete overhaul of the plastics industry, replacing it with a circular economy, which recycles and reuses whatever we have already in the system, rather than creating more. They estimate that to implement this new system would cost $600billion which, believe it or not, is in fact a saving of $70billion on the current cost of running the plastics industry currently.
73% of all litter on our beaches worldwide, is made of plastic and 40% of all plastic made, is single use, meaning it can’t be recycled! These figures are not only disturbing but worrying for our wildlife. The fish in our seas are now being affected by these plastics which start to break down into micro plastics which can end up inside the fish we eat!
You see its one thing to do a litter pick and clear up all the large pieces of rubbish we see – but trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are now floating around in the world’s oceans. These are then ingested by wildlife including those in our own food chain.
A review of four decades of research conducted in 2016, indicates that the number of marine fish species found with plastic inside them has quadrupled over that period. It is not surprising that the actual amount of plastic that fish consume depends on how much plastic is in their immediate environment. It stands to reason then, that species that live in ocean regions known to have a lot of plastic pollution, such as the Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of East Asia, were found with more plastic in their stomachs.
Of course many of us are concerned with the amount of plastic ending up in our oceans and it is easy to point the finger at other countries, for example around East Asia, for their shoddy practices of getting rid of their plastics. Indeed certain countries are less regulated than others and this can sometimes mean that rubbish ends up being dumped in places like the sea, rather than being recycled.
In 2020, a study by RAJA, rated India as the top worst offender for plastic waste in the oceans, with a staggering 126.5 million kg of plastic per year being dumped into the ocean. The USA actually produces double this amount of plastic but not as much of it ends up in our oceans, or does it?
Now before we all jump up and down and declare India to be failing in its duty to help the environment, it helps to know the truth behind the waste disposal of other ‘developed’ countries.
You see the USA actually exported the equivalent of 1.07 million kg of plastic to other countries to deal with their own waste problem. Some of the countries they exported their waste to, have better waste disposal programs than others, such as Canada or South Korea. But huge quantities of waste were also shipped from the USA to countries with poor waste management systems like Malaysia, Thailand and India, which took 19%, 10% and 12% of US plastic waste respectively.
When countries such as the UK and the US, ship their plastic waste abroad they are unbelievably, able to claim it has been recycled! This then remarkably, fulfils the ‘obligation for developed countries to effect a greater positive change for the environment’. So, whilst it is easy for us to point the finger at many poorer countries for their recycling practices, lets not forget the amount of plastic we ‘developed’ countries are sending their way in our own attempt to claim that we are fulfilling some environmental obligation. Well over half of the household plastic packaging the UK government claims is recycled, is actually sent abroad! This is equivalent to three and a half Olympic swimming pools every single day! A few years ago most of our plastic “recycling” went to China; at the moment, more than half is going to Turkey and Malaysia. Once it has left our shores there is no way of tracking the methods of supposed ‘recycling’ of our waste and our Government chooses to turn a blind eye to the issue. Out of sight out of mind. The problem isn’t that people aren’t recycling enough. The problem is that there is still far too much throwaway plastic being produced – so much in fact that we’re having to burn it or dump it on other countries to deal with. If the UK produced half as much single-use plastic as it currently does, we could end waste exports altogether, and send less plastic into incineration and landfill. However, the production of plastic has been and still is, a profitable prospect which began way back in the early decades of the 20th century. The petrol and chemical industries began to form alliances with companies like Dow Chemicals, ExxonMobil, DuPont and BASF. These companies are still the major producers of raw material resins for the plastics industries today. These alliances were driven by the desire to make use of waste material from processing crude oil and natural gas. Unfortunately, with these big companies still making a profit from the use of their waste materials from oil and gas, the likelihood of anything changing soon is remote.
Unfortunately, the UK makes it into tenth place of the top ten of plastic dumpers in the world, with 703 thousand kg of plastic dumped each year! This is clearly nothing to be proud of and is not going to reduce all the time new plastics are being made.
Surely the solution has to be to stop producing any more plastic. Yet the way we consume, we are constantly perpetuating the problem. Packaging materials, account for almost half of all plastic waste globally! This is a staggering amount of plastic. So, while we wait for our own governments to get on board with a total ban on creating more plastic – what can we do to be part of the solution?
Here are 10 top tips to help you reduce your plastic waste.
- Lobby your MP to make the move to a plastic free world.
- When buying fruit and veg go for the ones which are loose.
- When ordering things online – look for recycled packaging solutions often offered by environmentally conscious businesses.
- Carry a reusable bottle for cool drinks
- Say no to plastic straws
- Take your own reusable coffee cup if buying a takeout coffee/tea.
- Say no to plastic cutlery – just pop a fork into your bag and have it ready if you need it.
- Go to your local refill shop and take your own bottles and containers
- Use bees wax wraps, baking paper or tin foil instead of cling film
- Think carefully about your party decorations – use cloth bunting & tissue rather than balloons!
If you feel passionate about the planet and all things green – please feel free to join us at Green Westcott – where you will find a bunch of likeminded people hoping to make small changes to our lives in order to help the environment.
https://greenwestcott.org/ or follow us at Green_Westcott on Instagram.