Recyling, reusing, upcycling, repurposing are all good but REFUSING plastic – especially single use – is a powerful move.
We need to get on the backs of supermarkets, cafes, food brands and packaging companies/distributers and force them to offer safe-for-the-planet alternatives, like:
– loose, weigh-and-pay wholesale food stores (bulk/zero waste)
– STOP wrapping fruit and veg in plastic (and stop eco-damaging consumer incentives – like making carrots in plastic bags cheaper than loose carrots!) Coconuts don’t need plastic wrap??
– ditch single use/take-away lunch plastic cutlery and use wood or bamboo instead (as Marks & Spencer’s have done)
– Wimbledon! (And other sporting events) Every time I saw those plastic Evian bottles swivelled round so that the word “recycle” faced the BBC camera during player interviews….grrrr! Why not take a more intelligent, earth-compassionate approach and provide every player and staff instead with a special reusable Wimbledon 2019 eco bottle? Show those eco-bottles on camera during the BBC interviews? The organisers could sell the eco-bottles to spectators/the public as special Wimbledon 2019 souvenirs, whilst providing numerous drinking fountains/water fill up pop-up stands? THAT’s a good message/move. Intentionally swivelling a plastic Evian bottle around so the “recycle” strip faces the BBC camera? One reason I hate sponsorship!
The world is drowning in plastic bottles and most are not recycled (even if they were it’s not an ultimate solution). Recycling plastic bottles is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It doesn’t fix the problem.
Anyway, the list of plastic polluters is endless, so it’s our job to call out supermarkets, complain, dump the plastic back at the source it came from. If we don’t buy products in plastic companies will find a better way of packaging them!! Dwindling profits have a sting to them. It’s up to us to inflict it. If we wait for legislation we’ll be floating on one giant plastic bottle lilo the size of the Titanic before anything happens. People are faster than governments. That’s the beauty and power of activism at ground level.
VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET. REFUSE.
Coming soon…
The Plastic Problem – Part 2
Following The (Beauty Industry’s) Plastic Problem post recently, I’m working on a new Part 2, which focuses on solutions.
So if you have any ideas, suggestions or recommendations around plastic-free beauty, home, food…anything!…feel free to share them.
I’ll also be covering natural packaging alternatives to plastic, so any brands/innovators tackling this problem, do get in touch.
Plastic bottles are among the WORST polluters for many reasons: like cockroaches they’re hard to get rid of, they planet for centuries (approx 450 years), they pollute our beaches and oceans and they take up a lot of space. They leech toxins into the water (never leave a plastic water bottle in sunlight in a car!) and we JUST. DON’T. NEED. THEM.
