The great debate! David Attenborough’s Blue planet II sparked the start of the single use plastic conversation we’ve all heard so much about. The movement began got underway at full speed in 2019 with some impressive actions being made by global governments and by consumers.
We don’t want to get to doom and gloom with this so let’s start with what was done in 2019 to make inroads in fixing the issue. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say. In a year that statistically showed a rise in plastic waste, there were still lots of people doing their bit.
Here at home, our Government thankfully made some promising changes. They began with the microbead ban, about time, the issue with microbeads was that they are in most of your bathroom products so are constantly getting flushed and washed down our drains into our water network and polluting our seas.
You’ll all know about the plastic bag tax by know so I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s having an impact. Their usage has decreased by 85% since the tax was brought in.
2019 saw the Government finally make industry accountable for the waste they produce, ensuring they are working towards a ‘you make it, you pay for it’ principle when coming to recycling.
Even more encouraging, we as consumers have been taking some big strides in fixing the problem. Here at Modern Milkman we know you’re plastic conscious, and by buying glass bottled milk from us you prevented the use of over half a million litre plastic bottles. Pretty huge!
Despite those huge strides we’re taking, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Despite all of these efforts, 2019 saw an increase in plastic waste that alone should start the alarm bells. Alarmingly, The UK plastic collections from the local authorities went up 10% in 2019, a scary stat. 2019 also saw a rise in single use plastic and only 10% of that is ever recycled. Imagine how bad things would have been had we not been making an effort.
So, it’s clear we all need to do more, but what can we do? It’s about making the small changes, so we thought we’d offer some tips on cutting down plastic in 2020.
-It’s a golden oldie and has been preached endlessly but it’s still so relevant, get into the habit of picking up your reusable cofee cups and water bottles.
-The supermarket fruit and veg aisle is one of the biggest culprits for unnecessary plastic usage and waste so trying to buy more loose fruit and veg (conveniently just like our fruit and veg box ranges) will make a huge difference.
-We know that we all probably have some plastic products around the house so knowing how to reuse them is a win, old water bottles are surprisingly great for being used as bird feeders, jam jars, great for storing your snacks such as buts and seeds and make the change to refillable bottles for your detergents, shampoos and body creams.
-Encourage others to do their bit too. If you’re reading this, you’re likely to be one of the good ones. Think about what your workplace could do and encourage others by telling them how easy it is.
In 2019 the conversation began in earnest and people like you made some real changes. In 2020, it’s time to accelerate!
