What Progress Have We Made Towards Reducing Plastic Waste in the Last Year?

A lot has happened across the globe in the last year, much of which has made news headlines overwhelmingly negative. So today, let’s focus on positivity and the good news stories which we might have missed over the last few months. Headlines have often stated that single-use plastic consumption, and therefore waste, is increasing due to the pandemic, yet let’s instead concentrate on the progress the world is making to eradicate unnecessary plastic.

Almost 80 years after its initial release, Lego is finally coming close to creating a more eco-friendly version of their iconic bricks.  Every year, 380 million tonnes of plastic is produced globally and unbelievably, 100,000 tonnes of this is Lego; that’s the equivalent of 110 billion Lego bricks! Historically, these building bricks have been made from plastic which is derived from petroleum and ensures the bricks are strong and rigid, perfect for building houses, cars or superheroes. Yet these fossil-fuel based bricks are not winning any prizes when it comes to recycling and sustainability. With consumers increasingly demanding businesses to become greener, Lego poured $155 million into their sustainable materials centre which is complete with a team of 150 employees who spend their days experimenting with plastic alternatives. Over the last few years, 250 material variations have been played with to try and modernise their classic bricks to meet new sustainable credentials. Sugarcane-based plastic has been considered but it is less rigid than traditional plastic, meaning it can only be used for around 2% of Lego’s vast number of parts. Lego have also used recycled plastic bottles in their quest and it seems this may be the answer to their multicoloured puzzle. Any new brick they design must lock together perfectly, not falling apart easily but also not sticking together so well that pliers are needed for deconstruction! The bricks must also maintain their shape over several decades and so vigorous testing has been required. With recycled plastic bottles looking like they might be the foundations for the classic 2 x 4 brick, Lego have set themselves the target of finding solutions to their other building shapes by 2030 when they hope to be completely sustainable.

Another popular product from the 20th century is also receiving a new green makeover in a bid to satisfy both customers and lend the planet a helping hand. Records are back and seemingly here to stay as the vinyl revival continues to boom. 4.8 million records were sold within the UK in 2020 and this year, for the first time since the 1980s, vinyl sales are thought to overtake the sales of CDs! Yet what many didn’t consider in the eighties is that records are made from poly vinyl chloride, a plastic coated in toxic chloride. The fact that a toxic substance is involved means that records can be very difficult to handle, with many companies not wishing to recycle them, meaning they end up in landfill or an incinerator. Luckily however, records seem to be one of those rare plastic items which is seen as non-disposable and are often handed down through families, whether the younger generation like them or not! However, in 2019, Nick Mulvey decided he wanted to truly make records more sustainable and released his single ‘In the Antropocene’ on ocean vinyl. Each of the records was made from plastic collected from the UK shoreline, whether that be fishing line, sweet wrappers or crisp packets. The waste was processed by a company in Florida which, after a long and tricky process, managed to compress the plastic into a high quality, playable ocean vinyl record. Each of the 100 records released is therefore not only sustainable but unique pieces of art which are encased in a recycled cardboard sleeve. It would be fantastic if we could find a lot more ingenious uses for our plastic waste such as this, however it seems that the vinyl industry may take a few more years before switching to ocean plastic for good. The level of cleaning needed is incredibly high to ensure no sand, dust or hair will impact the quality of the music, making the process too laborious to be successful on the large scale for the time being.

The UK has seen multiple other actions in the past year which have been designed to help us cut down on plastic once and for all. For example, in May, the single use plastic bag tax doubled from 5p per bag to 10p. In addition, this tax widened to include all businesses, not just the large-scale enterprises which were previously targeted. Since 2015 when the tax was initially introduced, plastic bag sales in major supermarkets have dropped by 95% with a total of £180 million raised for charities, environmental work and the health sector. The increased plastic bag tax hopes to make even greater changes as households ditch single-use plastic for cotton, hemp or bamboo alternatives.

In Bristol, cup bins have been placed around the city to make it easier for people to recycle their disposable coffee cups on the go. Many kerbside recycling schemes don’t accept takeaway cups because whilst they appear to be made from paper, they are actually coated in plastic which makes it difficult to reuse. The ‘For Cups Sake’ campaign however, has enabled Bristolians to recycle 465,000 single-use cups in the last year which are now being transformed into greetings cards, notebooks and paper shopping bags.

The team at Refill have gone one step further and their work asks us to ditch single-use cups altogether and replace them with reusable alternatives which can be refilled at a number of businesses. In 2021, the first ever World Refill Day took place in June which hoped to raise awareness around the world of both the impact of plastic pollution and how each of us can help reduce our contribution to it. Throughout the day, they encouraged people to visit businesses supporting the refill scheme, share positive plastic messages on social media and swap to reusable water bottles, coffee cups and takeaway containers. This is something which is growing increasingly important as single-use plastic has unfortunately seen a boom during the pandemic as the number of food takeaways and safety concerns rise.

It’s not just refills which are hoping to tackle the plastic pandemic but now the idea of renting plastic products is also growing in popularity. The seaside resort town of Westward Ho! in North Devon has banned the sale of polystyrene bodyboards within its local shops after hundreds were left on the beach every year. It’s estimated that 16,000 polystyrene bodyboards are dumped on British beaches each year, often after only being used once or twice as holidaymakers decide they won’t need their beach toy back home. The fact they are made from polystyrene is a particular problem as this material crumbles easily and is also incredibly lightweight, meaning it easily blows out to sea and out of reach. Westward Ho! now offers traditional wooden bodyboards which are available to hire for free in the hope that people happily borrow a board rather than decide to buy their own just for the day. Another nearby popular beach also has a box full of beach toys which can be borrowed, saving parents splashing out on plastic buckets, spades and balls which will be relegated to the garage or the rubbish bin back home or worse, left stranded on the beach.

Up in Wales, the Conwy half marathon announced several years ago that anyone who litters during the race will be disqualified and have their results removed from the board in the hope that runners would stop discarding plastic water bottles around the racecourse. The famous London marathon is also hoping to reduce the enormous mountain of plastic which is produced during the event and Skipping Rocks Lab handed out their edible seaweed water sachets at the last event. These water sachets can be used instead of water bottles, giving runners the exact amount of water they need and when the container is empty, it can either biodegrade or be eaten for a little extra boost, leaving no waste behind at all. On the topic of drinks, business giant Diageo, which bottles Guinness amongst many others, announced that they will be eliminating all plastic from beer packaging, such as shrink wrapping and six pack holders, and replacing it with biodegradable or recyclable cardboard.

It’s fantastic to hear that businesses, both big and small, are all starting to lend a helping hand to our oceans and battle the plastic tidal wave which has swept over our society in recent decades. When we hear that all these organisations, from all sectors, are working to save our oceans, it makes our actions feel even more important, even more significant. Have you felt inspired by any of the examples mentioned here? Why not try and promote some of them in your local community, or even your street or maybe just your home. Even if we only convince one other person to make a change, we have still doubled our efforts to protect our blue planet.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood