The focus is on plastic waste but will there be lasting change?

1. Plastics – an environmental turning point?
Slowly, slowly, governments and businesses are starting
to look at ways to reduce plastic waste as the public
demands a response to the effects of plastic on marine
life, highlighted on the BBC programme Blue Planet 2.
With a good start in charges for plastic bags and
increasing pressure to impose a deposit scheme on
plastic bottles, governments, manufacturers and
retailers are attempting to halt the tide….but there’s a
very long way to go.
For a product that was still in the developmental stage a
mere 100 years ago, it is remarkable how thoroughly
plastic has infiltrated our lives. Look at any corner of
any room in your home or office and you will see
plastic. Go shopping and try NOT to buy things
wrapped in plastic. Even items we had no idea
contained plastic, turn out to be awash with them;
teabags, cosmetics and even our clothes are pouring
tiny little beads of plastic into the waterways and,
ultimately, out to sea.
We won’t find easy – we may not even find it is possible
– to turn our backs on plastic. These days we have
much higher standards of cleanliness and presentation.
A couple of generations ago, for example, we would buy
meat in a butcher’s shop which would be wrapped in
greaseproof paper and then placed inside a paper bag.
Nowadays there would be concern about
contamination without a plastic outer layer. From a
retailer’s point of view, the fewer processes and
products the better. In a supermarket context, the
contents of packaging needs to be clear to the checkout
staff so paper bags are no use. We as consumers no
longer wish to queue at counters or in shops whilst our
purchases are counted out, weighed and wrapped.
Besides food shopping, plastic touches us thousands of
times a day. The TV remote, phones, handles, car trim,
electricals, bank cards, plant pots…it’s impossible to
make an exhaustive list. So now we need to look at
what HAS to be made of plastic and what COULD be
made from other things. We have to tackle the issue of
weight, of environmental impact in alternatives, of
transparency and – plastic’s greatest advantage – of
range. Very few other products can be light and thin,
solid and heavy, shaped in any direction, adapted for
any use.
We also, most importantly, need to embrace change.
Maybe we need a little bit less convenience. Maybe we
need think a little bit harder about re-use. Maybe we
need to spend a little bit more money. We have done it
before – we no longer have lead, arsenic or asbestos in
everyday items – and if humankind is bad at polluting
the planet, we are also pretty good at finding solutions.
The most important factor is to embrace the need for
change and pull together to clean up our mess.
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