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? Debunking the myth about biodegradable plastics – Saudi Arabia
Posted on August 17, 2017 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsOften made from farmed products, such as cornstarch, biodegradable plastic products are generally being promoted as the more sustainable option. However, little is being said about their long term environmental cost. Using biomass as a raw material puts pressure on land availability and crop farming thereby impacting global food production. In the right conditions, biodegradable plastics break down into carbon dioxide and methane that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions with serious repercussions for climate change.
Source: Debunking the myth about biodegradable plastics
A good summary of a situation but perhaps somewhat biased towards continuing to use plastic too easily? Recycling of plastic lies below , reduce and reuse in order of priorities. Those two facets should be heavily implemented first before we all sit back and say recycling will cure all our plastic waste problems. There are a lot of single use disposable items made of plastic that consumers do not need. And plastic waste from consumers is a significant contributor to overall plastic litter. Item like plastic straws, plastic shopping bags, plastic lined coffee cups, plastic cups, cutlery, plates and many more. We can easily do with out these items these days. More emphasis should be put on eliminating those first.
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