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? 
How do we create a real circular economy? – Waste Management Review
Posted on August 9, 2023 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling
Mike Ritchie, Managing Director MRA Consultancy Group, delves into resource consumption and the creation of a more circular economy.
Source: How do we create a real circular economy? – Waste Management Review
So what does a circular economy look like? Try this:
“In a circular future, we maximise the use of materials already in the economy and reduce reliance on virgin materials. We do this by designing for longevity, making smart material choices, emphasising repair, reuse, and refilling opportunities and by establishing efficient recycling systems with robust end markets.
All levels of government commit to ‘upstream’ interventions including brave targets, multi-pronged circular policies, financial mechanisms and regulatory instruments.
Industry makes products to last, while consumers value and revalue products throughout their multiple life cycles.
Recycling is part of a circular economy but a circular economy is much more than recycling.”
We have a long way to go in waste volumes, also manufacturers and consumer attitudes to disposing of their ‘waste’.
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