It’s time to rethink how we make and use plastics. We all need to do more.
The recycling industry is failing to make a difference and is becoming a problem in its own right, which is why we need to rethink how we make and use plastics.
Rather than recycle, we need to use less plastic in the first place.
Supermarkets, since the demise of the humble plastic bag, have increased the use of plastic in the fresh food domain.
We have been told to recycle our waste and to use cloth bags for shopping. It helps us to ignore the broader issue because we think we are doing our bit. But it is not even touching the problem. We are simply shifting the problem of plastics and other harmful by-products of our consumerism from one place to another.
We need strong voices and call on governments to take regulatory intervention with economic incentives to solve what amounts to market failure.
Some Small Things We Can Do To Help Besides Recycling
When you go shopping for vegies or go to a farmers market select the produce that is not boxed in plastic and use a box or a material or paper bag. Some fast-food outlets will allow you to take your own containers when buying takeaway foods.
If you are like me and you like your takeaway coffee when travelling, you can use a “keep cup.”
Now that we are past the intense Covid restrictions we can take up these environmentally friendly practices again.
The Shocking Truth about Plastics
One of the key findings in the Plastic-Waste-Makers-Index-2023 report shows that recycling is failing to scale fast enough and remains, at most, a marginal activity for the plastics sector. From 2019- 21, growth in single-use plastics made from virgin polymers was 15 times that from recycled feedstocks. Only strong regulatory intervention with economic incentives can solve what amounts to market failure.
Below is a link to a report that I encourage you to read.
by Jacquie Walker Conscious Living Magazine
https://cdn.minderoo.org/content/uploads/2023/02/04205527/Plastic-Waste-Makers-Index-2023.pdf
