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? December 2021 - Plastic Waste Solutions
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Major companies sign ‘radical’ deal to drastically reduce plastic waste by 2025 – Australia
Posted on December 27, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource article Major supermarket chains and multinational brands are among more than 60 organisations to sign up to a long-awaited pact to reduce plastic waste across Australia and the region. The ANZPAC plastics pact aims to by 2025 drastically reduce the amount...
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South Australia’s CDS reform needs direction – Australia
Posted on December 21, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource: South Australia’s CDS reform needs direction - Inside Waste Beverage industry control of Australia’s CDSs is now at the core of the policy debates across all states and the SA paper begins examining mechanisms to loosen this grip on...
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Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds
Posted on December 17, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource: Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds | Plastics | The Guardian Microbes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study. The research scanned more than 200m genes found...
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The role of business to help reduce plastic pollution – Australia
Posted on December 14, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource: The role of business to help reduce plastic pollution - Inside Waste With an aim to reduce pollution and confront some of the world’s most challenging environmental problems, a circular economy uses a multitude of approaches. Whether through design,...
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What Are the Most Polluted Rivers in the World?
Posted on December 12, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource article While the word “river” might conjure up images of gushing white foam spilling over rocks or recall sounds of a babbling brook, the truth is that in today’s modern world, clean rivers are few and far between. The...
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‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter – USA
Posted on December 10, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource: ‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter | Plastics | The Guardian The US is the world’s biggest culprit in generating plastic waste and the country urgently needs a new strategy to curb the vast amount...
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‘Disastrous’ plastic use in farming threatens food safety
Posted on December 10, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource: ‘Disastrous’ plastic use in farming threatens food safety – UN | Plastics | The Guardian The “disastrous” way in which plastic is used in farming across the world is threatening food safety and potentially human health, according to a...
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Cascade shifts from shrink wraps to cardboard – Australia
Posted on December 9, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource Article Cascade Brewery will no longer use plastic shrink wrap packaging on its six-pack bottles of beer, opting to use Westrock-designed cardboard packs instead, saving around half a million pieces of plastic from entering the environment each year. “We know some...
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Aldi’s boxed drinks pilot paper straws – Australia
Posted on December 9, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsSource Article Aldi Australia will replace all plastic straws in its boxed drinks range with paper alternatives in a bid to remove more than 40 million plastic straws annually, becoming the first supermarket in the country to do so. Aldi will...
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A Commonsense Proposal to Deal With Plastics Pollution: Stop Making So Much Plastic – USA
Posted on December 7, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource Article The United States leads the world in the generation of plastic waste and needs a comprehensive strategy by the end of next year to curb its devastating impacts on ocean health, marine wildlife and communities, a new report...
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