The most common uses of plastic are in packaging and building components, such as piping. In the medical industry, plastic is often key to contamination and infection control.
Syringes, pipettes and gloves used in healthcare and biomedical research cannot be reused. While the excessive use of plastic packaging is concerning, some form of packaging is often necessary to maintain the hygiene or freshness of food, or maintain the integrity of a product during freight.
Small or travel-size toiletries and personal hygiene products are sometimes seen as wasteful, but are vital in providing affordable sanitation options for some of our most vulnerable communities , such as the homeless or low-income families.
Replacing plastic with other materials is neither simple nor straightforward, mainly due to the challenge of finding an alternative that combines all the most desirable plastic properties.
Biodegradable alternatives—such as special plastics, paper, or cardboard—may well have a higher greenhouse footprint because of the amount of water or natural resources consumed in their production.
A study conducted last year by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found that reusable plastic bags are more eco-friendly than paper and cotton alternatives, but only in cities and countries with a well-structured waste management system that prevents leakage.
While plastic is durable, this also means plastic waste can be trapped in our environment for centuries, if not managed well. While plastics deteriorate into fragments easily through wear and tear, their polymer chains only break down into other smaller components at very high temperatures, such as during some chemical recycling processes.
Transitioning to a more sustainable model is not rocket science, if we can remember the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—in that specific order of priority! R educing our overall consumption is about respecting our natural resources, only using what we need, and refusing unnecessary excess. Reuse is key to increasing the lifespan of the things we use.
This includes repairing or upcycling our items to give them a new lease on life. Recycling the waste we eventually generate is key to closing the loop in a circular economic model. Plastics can be sorted into two broad categories: easily recycled and hard-to-recycle. Easily recyclable plastics—such as PET in most bottles, or HDPE in pipes and containers—can be washed, ground into a powder, melted, and then extruded into pellets ready for reheating and remoulding. This process is known as mechanical recycling.
For other hard-to-recycle plastics—such as LDPE, polyethylene film, or contaminated plastics like unwashed food containers—they can sometimes be recycled by using chemical recycling. This is a process where the polymer structure of the plastic is changed and converted into feedstock that can replace virgin materials used in the production of plastics. Plastic recycling is a crucial step towards a circular economy, but achieving circularity calls for action at every point in the lifetime of a product: from design to waste management.
At the Alliance, we focus on six action areas that advance our trajectory toward a circular economy and ending plastic waste in the environment. They are:. Front-end Design Designing products that can last long and are easy to repair, and eventually can be recycled.
Access to Collection Providing basic infrastructure enabling convenient and necessary recovery of waste, preventing leakage into the environment. Participation and Engagement Raising awareness and inspiring participation in sustainable practices and clean-up. Sorting The first step of any recycling system is sorting waste according to type, wet or dry; recyclable or non-recyclable; plastic, paper, metal, or glass.
Sorting like this can happen right inside your home, or at a formal waste management facility. Processing Scaling solutions of new advanced recovery and recycling methods, including both mechanical and chemical recycling. End Markets Growing market demand for recycled materials from all recycling methods. The world is beginning to accept that it is time to tackle the plastic waste problem. This also requires addressing the lack of proper waste management systems. There is no silver bullet solution.
Whilst governments and environmental agencies investigate the issues of the plastics recycling industry around the world. The obvious solution to our plastic problem is to produce and use less of it. Sounds simple right? At City to Sea, we are most excited by projects that move beyond recycling.
We need to reduce the sheer volume of single-use plastics we use and shift away from our throwaway culture to value the products we have and start prioritising refilling and reusing over recycling.
But did you know that the industry also has a HUGE problem with Organic and plastic-free options feel like Cut the cutlery campaign win! The cutthecutlery campaign is making waves as the government has finally announced that they'll be launching a consultation into Is recycling the answer? Could this be the solution to reducing plastic pollution? The decomposition rate of plastic can vary depending on the type, however, this typically ranges from 50 to years.
In other words, according to the US EPA Environmental Protection Agency in the United States , almost every bit of plastic ever made and sent to landfill or dumped in the environment still exists — a sobering thought for us all. The shipping and fishing industries are also responsible for contributing towards plastic waste and pollution, particularly in our oceans.
Plastic waste is often washed to shores from ships and nets used for fishing, which — you guessed it — are usually made from plastic.
Overall, the shipping and fishing industries have a lot to answer for when it comes to plastic pollution. Especially when most plastics come from fossil fuels.
Bioplastics, on the other hand, may come from plant-based sources, such as flaxseeds — and companies are often eager to use this as a selling point.
However, as the United Nations report states, once the polymer is created, the material properties are the same. In other words, the resulting material is no better than any other form of plastic. However, being virtually the same as biodegradable plastic, compostable plastic still poses the same challenges when it ends up in our oceans.
The above three types of plastic all emphasise that the best way to reduce plastic waste and pollution is to simply cut down. Biodegradable plastics plastics that can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, and minerals through natural processes are another seemingly appealing alternative.
In Europe, for example, for a plastic product to be deemed biodegradable it must:. It often does not degrade properly, as highlighted in this article. Treatment plants for organic waste, such as in-vessel composters or anaerobic digestion facilities cannot treat these plastics, since they either disrupt the treatment process or simply take too long to biodegrade.
These plastics also need a certain constant temperature range for a prolonged period in time in order to breakdown. Once in the ocean, UV radiation and wave action helps to break down plastic.
Reducing our plastic waste boasts numerous benefits, not the least of which include preserving natural resources, protecting the environment, and saving us money. It often hosts royal figures and A-class celebrities. Like many businesses they have faced challenges with their waste management that they have had to overcome. Download the case study to find out more. View our case studies here. Reducing or ideally cutting out altogether your consumption of plastic water bottles, plastic bags, and straws can also make a huge difference.
As a responsible business, we are sure that you recycle what you can , sorting out paper, card, glass, and plastics. But how can you increase the chances of these items actually being recycled? Avoiding contaminating your mixed recycling with food or other substances is one way to do this; everything that you sort for recycling should be clean and dry.
Aside from this, consider areas in your business where you could make more eco-friendly choices. Plastic bottles, straws, and cutlery all add to the unnecessary amount of plastic waste created daily. You could also get milk delivered in glass bottles, which can be reused and recycled, instead of discarding all these single use plastic milk bottles.
Incorporating this into your business is a quick and easy way to be more environmentally friendly. Find your local milkman here. Why not try sticking our waste management posters up around your office to raise awareness about good recycling practices? Click on the button below to download them today. Your commercial waste collector may claim that they recycle a large percentage of your waste, but this can be extremely difficult to trace.
In fact, the compliance reporting of London sorting facilities and private commercial waste collectors paints a very different picture.
This information is freely accessible on the WRAP recycling portal — just register your details to download performance reports for numerous recycling sorting facilities and collectors. Most specifically, the reports show that much of the recycling collected from businesses is heavily contaminated.
This demonstrates the amount collected that was simply thrown out as general waste for disposal because of its poor quality. You can read our page to find out more about if your plastic waste is being recycled. At Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services, our way of managing plastics is heavily scrutinised, transparent, and completely auditable from start to finish. We collect plastics as part of mixed recycling, before segregating them at a local facility in Southwark.
Once separated, different types of plastics go to dedicated plastic recyclers to minimise waste.
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