There’s no time (or plastic) to waste
The year is 2450. Alexa is now Prime Minister, robotic Ant and Dec have just won their 353rd TV Choice Award, and the polystyrene container from which you demolished that donner kebab on your mate’s hen do in 2017 has just swept onto the windscreen of your great, great, great, great grandson’s hovercar.
Plastic packaging can have a lifespan of minutes (or seconds, depending on how hungry you are for that kebab), but it can persist in the environment for over 400 years.
Single-use plastics are made to be used and abused
But our planet isn’t. That’s why, for the last two years, reducing plastic waste has been the most common way consumers have embraced a more sustainable lifestyle, with three in every five cutting back on single-use plastics in 2021.
According to a recent Deloitte study, almost half of all consumers are looking to buy more sustainable produce, with 39% also buying more locally produced goods. As a milkround that delivers plastic free groceries from independent suppliers and farmers, we couldn’t be prouder! But the hard work doesn’t stop here.
Keep reading to learn how you can become a greener you in 2022.
How does going plastic free help?
Imagine waking up to sticky coffee cup lids spilling out of your duvet, or emerging from a relaxing bath with a soggy plastic plate stuck to your freshly moisturised cheek. How about sinking your teeth into a used cotton bud when munching on that ham and cheese sarnie you’ve been looking forward to all day?
This is an everyday reality for our wonderful wildlife, with 700 species affected by plastic waste, 88% of the sea’s surface polluted by plastic, and 8 million pieces escaping into our oceans each day. Meanwhile, manufacturing plastic creates billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases, and disposing of it in landfills contributes heavily to climate change.
30% of the plastic produced every year is single-use (National Geographic), but it doesn’t need to be, and it’s great to see consumers turn their back on these one-hit wonders and look towards more sustainable, reusable packaging.
We’re counting on you
There are no shortages of scary statistics and frightening facts about the future of our planet. But a bit of positivity can go a long way, which is why we’ve added a personal counter to each of our customer’s milkround.
Now, from the day of your first delivery, you can see just how much plastic you’ve saved through our return and reuse bottles and sustainable packaging.
Teamwork makes the dream work, and we’d like to thank our customers, hard-working milkies and incredible independent suppliers, who have collectively saved over 28 million plastic bottles from entering our oceans and landfills. That’s the equivalent of over 66,900 wheelie bins!
Our pledge
This year, we’re aiming to save over 50 million plastic bottles from landfill, creating a brighter, greener, more sustainable future for our planet, oceans and environment. But we need your help.
How to be a greener you in 2022
Making the most of reusable packaging is an easy, sure-fire way to reduce plastic waste. From return and reuse drink bottles to plastic free, recyclable, farm-fresh groceries – small changes add up to be a part of the solution and enable you to become a greener you in 2022.
