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? ACOR: recyclers must have seat at table with product stewardship -Australia
Posted on April 11, 2024 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingThe Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) has released an issues paper that lays bare the challenges of many product stewardship schemes.
Source: ACOR: recyclers must have seat at table with product stewardship – Inside Waste
While product stewardship and extended producer responsibility can be an effective way to reduce waste and lift recycling rates, their efficacy hinges on robust collaboration with recyclers.
Key Recommendations:
- Rethink and restructure product stewardship to align with circular economy principles.
- Encourage design for recycling and reuse to enhance material recovery.
- Create market demand for recycled materials to ensure the viability of recycling operations.
- Enhance collection infrastructure and consumer incentives
- Implement comprehensive governance structures that ensure accountability and transparency across the entire supply chain and all product stewardship schemes.
- Ensure compliance whilst supporting a more aligned regulatory framework for resource recovery.
“Recyclers are critical to the success of product stewardship initiatives, yet they are often sidelined in the establishment and ongoing operations of schemes. Recyclers must have a real seat at the table if these product stewardship schemes are to work for all Australians and our environment,”
We are making a big mistake to think that just recycling products as they are will form the circular economy. Product manufacturers have to change their ways to make their products with recyclablity in mind, not just leave the problem to downstream enties like local government or waste collectors.
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