How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? 
A circular economy approach to waste: GHD – australia
Posted on May 24, 2023 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling
Dr Sarah King explains how a circular economy approach to waste can help Australia meet current needs without compromising the future.
Source: A circular economy approach to waste: GHD – Waste Management Review
With the National Waste Policy and associated targets encouraging state government and councils to take innovative approaches to divert waste from landfill, there has never been a more exciting time to be working in the waste space.
As Australia tackles one of its greatest challenges – the transition to net zero – the circular economy addresses 70 per cent of global greenhouse emissions attributed to resource use and handling.
With the National Waste Policy and associated targets encouraging state government and councils to take innovative approaches to divert waste from landfill, there has never been a more exciting time to be working in the waste space.
As Australia tackles one of its greatest challenges – the transition to net zero – the circular economy addresses 70 per cent of global greenhouse emissions attributed to resource use and handling.
Australia needs to acknowledge that there are less-than-ideal outcomes as it shifts from the linear status quo. Simple sounding solutions such as converting all plastics to biodegradable polymers ignore the complexity of the challenge.
Biodegradable plastics are certainly one option but are not always fit for purpose when suitable composting facilities don’t exist, collection arrangements are not aligned, standards and labelling is voluntary, and consumers are confused about what bin to use.
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