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? 
Is the Australian Recycling Label a joke? – Australia
Posted on April 30, 2024 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingThe continued use of the Australian Recycling Label on soft plastic packaging has gone beyond a joke according to some.
Source: Is the Australian Recycling Label a joke? – Inside Waste
‘‘The continued use of the Australian Recycling Label on soft plastic packaging has gone beyond a joke,’’ said Jeff Angel from the Boomerang Alliance of 55 NGOs.
‘‘We have had an overwhelming public response to our recent callout of greenwashing using the Australian Recycling label (ARL) by major supermarkets and brands. The ARL label is intended to provide consumers with accurate information on how to discard product packaging, but we know there has been no soft plastics collection service available at supermarkets for two years.’’
‘‘Despite the collapse of REDcycle it is still being widely used to promote in-store soft plastics collection.’’
As part of our supermarket investigation, the Boomerang Alliance focused on a random list of fresh produce and common items; products that would have been packaged more recently. Virtually all still featured the ARL advising in-store soft plastic collections. In some cases, the ARL label has been changed to advise consumers to ‘Check Locally’. This simply leads to a local list of recyclers, with few accepting soft plastics. According to the qualifying rules of the ARL for a product to be recyclable it must be available to at least 60 per cent of the population.
‘‘‘Check locally’ is just another attempt at greenwashing customers by the supermarkets,’’ said Angel.
The Alliance did find some examples, such as Bega Cheese and Smiths Crisps, who had changed their labels to advise that soft plastic packaging now went to the waste bin. Not a great outcome, but an honest one from these suppliers.
‘‘Labelling is important and consumers need to have trust in its accuracy and veracity. Producers and suppliers have had ample time to change these labels when a service is not available,’ said Angel.
‘‘Is there any wonder that consumers are increasingly sceptical of supermarket and brand environmental claims on their products when this greenwash is allowed to continue. What are the Commonwealth Government and the ACCC doing about this?’’ said Angel.
‘The Boomerang Alliance is calling for the immediate removal of labels featuring any in-store collection service if none exists or better still, the re-establishment of soft plastics collections at supermarkets, backed up by a more comprehensive collection and recycling scheme.’’
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