Plastic waste can take up to 1000 years to decompose. As a planet we are producing and using 300 million tonnes of plastic every year. Schemes and projects have been set up in an attempt to fight this battle against plastic consumption. However, with 50% of all plastic used just within a few moments before being thrown away, the question must be asked - how are we going to reduce plastic consumption?
From all the plastic produced from 1950 to 2015 just 9% was recycled. This figure is embarrassing, but compare it to the predicted recycled percentage of 4.4% in 2018 and the statistic only becomes more damning. As far back as the 1970s the population realised we must recycle in order to ensure the sustainability of our planet. 50 years later and have we really shown any progress other than simply stating recycling will work? People do not recycle and the plastic production is only growing. When plastic decomposes (which can take thousands of years, as stated earlier) it causes pollution. Plastic pollution affects all organisms in the food chain. Henceforth, not only is it damaging our health directly, it is infecting what we eat.
Recycling is not the ultimate nor single solution to winning this war against plastic, if anything it should be used as a last resort. As alluded to before, a large majority of plastic is produced for single-use activities. The world has finite resources, the production of plastic uses these resources. If we could simply reuse the 5p plastic bag we bought at Tesco then we can savour these finite resources. The longer we are able to obtain these finite resources the more time we will have in order to create biodegradable substitute materials to plastic.
However, the numbers are bleak. The figures regarding the quantity of plastic waste won't drop anytime soon as a plastic bottle takes almost 6 human lifetimes to decompose. But there are several statistics we can improve on:
The % of plastic recycled. Increasing the amount of plastic recycled can have a variety of benefits. Not only does it reduce plastic waste but it can be used to create more products without the use of finite resources.
The % of products we reuse. Humans are selfish. We throw away products and materials that can be realistically used again. We have this insane opinion that a product becomes worthless after one use. This is almost never the case, reuse everything you can at least once (within reason) and you’ll be making a difference.
The amount of plastic you actually buy. Before buying a product that contains plastic, stop and evaluate your options. Are there any alternatives which give you the same outcome at a much lower environmental cost?
Ideally, you would want to address these issues in reverse order: Do I need this product? How can I use it again? Where will I recycle it after I’ve used it? These are all questions to think about as we charge forward in the war against plastic.
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