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? 
Interpol report shows increase in illegal plastic waste imports – Australia
Posted on February 25, 2021 by DrRossH in Landfills and DisposalSource: Interpol report shows increase in illegal plastic waste imports – Inside Waste
A report by international enforcement agency, Interpol, has noted that there has been a marked increase in the illegal importation of plastics to lower Asian and eastern European countries since the China Sword policy was introduced in 2018.
Most of those involved in the trade get away with it using fraudulent documentation and by the misdeclaration of plastic waste. What is compounding the issue is that there is a noticeable lack of traceability, which is making it hard to find out the source of the original waste.
While this world-first legislation [Basel Convention] rolls out in Australia right now, it is clear to see that a simple shift to ‘reprocess’ this same waste into a range of exportable products like Process Engineered Fuel (PEF), Refuse Derived Fuel(RDF), Waste Derived Fuel(WDF) and plastic pellets, will in effect see the continuation of waste exports from Australia to the AP region as ‘plastic waste fuel’ and contaminated plastic feedstocks for the recycling sector.
It appears we have no shame when it comes to handling plastic waste. To knowing let plastic waste be exported to destinations that cannot handle it is a terrible situation. “We use it, we should deal with it”. That alone would drive the market to even out costs and make it more justifiable to handle the plastic was here.
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