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? Waste Green Report highlights Concerns – Europe
Posted on November 11, 2013 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsWaste green paper highlights concerns
The use of non biodegradable virgin plastic should be discouraged though a tariff. If people can use recycled plastic they would be exempt of that. People that make compostable or landfill-biodegradable plastic (That passes ASTM D5511 or Euro Equiv) would be exempt too. Degradable plastics ought to be banned due to their environmental hazards.
We have to reduce our use of disposable plastic as it just accumulates and accumulates. Most of it is unnecessary, just for show. Making an item just for show is not worth it polluting our lands for 100’s of years. Manufacturers need to contribute to the solution to the problem their packaging is making. Contribute through a tariff scheme where the funds are use to set up more efficient recycling, transport to WTE plants, or R&D to get away from these materials that are being used irresponsibly. When they pay this plastics tariff it will incentive them to use alternate environmental options. As it stands now they can produce anything they like without being involved in any of the consequences of what their product causes. That is out of balance and not right. Industry responds to financial incentives quite quickly.
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