This month I am attempting to give up single use plastic. Not an easy task when living at home, but I’ll do my best and I won’t be buying anything with single use plastic when I buy things for myself. I made a step towards being less plastic reliant today when I bought a reusable take away coffee cup. I like wandering around town with a cup of coffee from one of the many coffee shops, but according to friends who work in cafes biodegradable take away coffee cups do not exist. All of the cardboard coffee cups are lined with a plastic coating that is not biodegradable. Hence the reusable cup. It’s made from bamboo and if anyone knows about the process of turning bamboo into a hard plastic-like substance I’d be very interested to learn about it.
Another important part (if not the most important part) of trying to go plastic free is to educate people about plastic alternatives and reasons for giving plastic up. This is especially important for me living at home because I don’t have control over everything that comes into the house. The colossal amount of plastic waste that England alone produces is shocking. But, conveniently for us, we have been able to ship a large portion of our waste to China for them to process and recycle.
Out of sight out of mind, right? Well not anymore. At the beginning of the year China stopped taking our waste and now we have to find ways to deal with our own rubbish. My question is: Why are we still using so much plastic when there are so many other options? And more importantly, why aren’t big businesses doing more to reduce their plastic waste and help us reduce ours? Offer paper bags in super markets, stop wrapping everything in three layers of disposable plastic, use glass bottle. These are just a few ideas but there are many solutions!
People are far more aware of plastic waste and it’s affects than they were even a year ago. David Attenborough has had a positive effect through showing what single use plastic to marine life and people have come out in force to #refusethestraw among other things. His impact has been called the “blue planet effect” and this is great. Every time someone changes a wasteful habit, refuses a straw, brings their own bag, reuses, recycles refills, every time someone does that it’s great. And yet I can’t help feeling how small an action these are, how insignificant, and it makes me feel powerless because plastic waste is only one part of a huge, global problem of consumerism. It’s terrifying and it’s sickening. Especially when faced with images of plastic polluted seas, chocking animals, and dying wildlife. Especially when I read that plastic productions is set to increase in the coming years and that by 2050 the plastic in the sea will outweigh the fish.
(Photo credit to Daniel Müller/Greenpeace from this sad but eye opening article)
But if all of us try to make these small changes, if all of us try to help and educate each other kindly and with understanding, maybe then it won’t seem so daunting.
Let me know if you have any tips on reducing plastic waste, I’d love to give them a go.
Oatly
Wild Oats 
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