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? Charlie’s water bottle – the recycling debate continues – Story – Campbell Live – TV Shows – 3 News
Posted on May 9, 2012 by DrRossH in BioPlasticsCharlie’s water bottle – the recycling debate continues – Story – Campbell Live – TV Shows – 3 News.
The media did an accurate story on this product and concluded to the firm disagreement of the bottler, that this Charlies bottle is not recyclable in NZ with the current infrastructure and it has to go to a landfill.
Even though the bottle is covered with green labelling terms, like Eco Bottle, recyclable, Honest Water and more, the simple truth is that at this time, this is a bioplastic that cannot be mixed with other plastics and it has to go to landfills. Until such time as the whole infrastructure of plastic waste recycling is changed to accommodate bioplastics, then bioplastics are going to go to landfills and they are more of a problem than simple conventional bottles who can be easily recycled.
Not that ‘Can’ be recycled does mean ‘Are’ recycled. In most places bottle recycling is about 20-30% at most, many are littered on the ground and the rest dumped in trash bins (even though there may be a recycle bin 1 m away) to go to a landfill. In localities where there is a container deposit scheme then recycling rates are in excess of 80%.
The is increasing discussion about EPR or Extended Producer Responsibility. Under EPR the manufacturers are in part responsible for the plastic waste their products are making. This could be in the form of bottle recycling schemes, extensive advertising campaigns to educate the people that this plastic waste has value for the economy if recycled and so it should not be trashed, or the supply of a lot more recycling bins and arranging for their collection and other ideas.
In this case the company Charlies wants the government (us) and consumers to foot the bill for the management of the incompatible plastic waste their products are causing. They are the ones who need to start this EPR, they could put a deposit refund on their bottles, though it would be unlikely to work for such a small percentage of bottles, they could relabel their bottles to tell consumers they have to take their bottles to a commercial compost facility for the ‘eco’ claim to be achieved.
Let’s not forget they are selling water at an estimated 2000 times the price people can get from a water tap. Consumers need to be educated to be smarter to not buy into this green washing and feeling they need to buy bottle water too. Review this video for a great fun expose on bottled water.
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