A Handful of Positive Advances in Our War on Plastic

Sometimes, the war against the onslaught of plastic in modern society feels like a losing battle as we create new unnecessary disposable plastic items, witness more devastating effects of pollution on ecosystems around the world and watch governments fall short on their promises. Thankfully however, there are still so many wins taking place around the world with the joint aim of curbing plastic pollution. Let’s take a look at some of the brilliant breakthroughs which are working hard to reduce our waste and protect our planet.

On your weekly shop, you may have noticed that several products now come in different packaging, most of which aim to reduce our consumption of plastic. For example, yoghurt pots are now missing their plastic lid, with supermarkets selling reusable silicone lids to replace them. The iconic coloured milk tops have also disappeared, causing confusion for some customers. Yet having colourless bottle tops means that a higher number are recycled as there is a greater demand for clear plastic, making it a more appealing product to recycling companies. Meat products, such as mince, have lost their plastic trays and are now vac-packed in plastic, a move thought to remove 450 tonnes of plastic from the UK market every year. This new packaging also has the added bonus of removing air which promotes the growth of bacteria, helping prolong freshness. Other packaging changes include multipacks of tuna wrapped in cardboard rather than shrink wrap, ice cream tubs made from carboard and easily recyclable wrappers used for Christmas chocolates rather than traditional foil and plastic wrappers which are tricky to recycle. Whilst there have been a few unhappy customers from these changes, supermarkets believe that we will become adjusted over time. For example, when the plastic bag tax was introduced, many customers complained about being charged extra but now the act of taking a reusable bag to the shops has become the norm for many. The key issue for the supermarkets is how to cut down on plastic whilst still preserving a good shelf life for their products.

In the UK, all of the major supermarkets have signed the Plastics Pact which sees these businesses pledge to make all plastic packaging either recyclable, reusable or compostable. Already, 620 million plastic items have been removed from the shelves since 2018 which equals 6% of products. Many of these companies are also trialling the use of reuse and refill which would see customers bring their own reusable containers to the shop for items such as pasta and shampoo. Other measures taking place to regulate the plastic churned out by the food industry includes extended producer responsibility which the UK government is actioning this year. This policy sees manufacturers pay the full costs associated with all the packaging waste they create, with the aim of making them think twice about using unsustainable materials. This will be the first year that big businesses will have to collect data on the amount of packaging they put on the market, with the first fines to be collected in 2024.

Action on plastic has been taken in England outside the food industry too, with the government announcing that wet wipes containing plastic will soon be banned in a bid to improve water quality. Currently, 11 billion wet wipes are used in the UK every year, many of which are flushed down toilets where they cause the majority of sewer blockages as the plastic elements simply do not break down in the pipes. Community groups around Britain are also campaigning for a ban on disposable vapes, of which 1.3 million are thrown away each week. It seems these new forms of litter are becoming almost as prevalent as the cigarette butts which have littered streets, hedges and beaches for decades. Disposable vapes contain plastic and lithium batteries, both highly polluting materials to the natural environment. These items are easily recyclable but it is expensive to do so due to the time it takes to break them apart into their separate elements. Whilst campaigners are arguing for a total ban on disposable vapes, hoping to promote reusable alternatives, for the time being the government seems set on placing the responsibility at the feet of the vape industry. They are arguing for collection points in easily accessible areas, such as shops, bars and streets where they can then be taken for appropriate recycling.

Whilst many countries battle on against unnecessary plastic waste, some areas of the Philippines seem to have the problem fairly well under control. The city of Malabon lies not too far from Manila and now has several convenience stores selling basics, such as washing up liquid and soy sauce, in large jugs as part of a refill scheme. This allows customers to bring their own reusable containers and helps cut down on the number of sachets which are used. Sachets are a popular way of buying everyday essentials in Asia as they allow people with little money to buy one day’s worth of, for example, shampoo at a time, rather than having to spend more money on a larger bottle. These sachets are incredibly hard to recycle however, due to the fact they are made of mixed materials.

Going one step further is the paradise island of Siquijor which is the first zero waste province in the Philippines, an incredible feat for an island home to 100,000 residents and twice as many annual tourists. The scheme started off on a smaller scale by creating ‘plastic holidays’ on a Sunday. On this day, plastic was not allowed to be used or sold, forcing customers and sellers to come up with imaginative solutions. Many turned to banana leaves which was a cheaper option than paper. First time offenders who were found to be selling plastic on a Sunday were sent to an educational session which explained the effects of plastic on the environment. Fast forward a few years and now every day on Siquijor is a plastic holiday! Plastic drinks bottles smaller than one litre are not allowed to be sold, sorted household waste is collected every day and plastic-free night markets run where all vendors serve food and drink with reusable plates, cups and cutlery. Possibly the key to success was the great length of time they spent educating the residents on why properly recycling and cutting down on waste was so important for their surrounding environment, with people even going door to door to offer information. Their greatest hinderance to success now is the large businesses which ship their products to the island which continue to use single-use, difficult to recycle packaging, such as sachets.

Ingenious research is taking place across the world however, which aims to tackle some of these harder to dispose of items. In Australia, a trial has begun which will see oyster mushrooms break down the microplastics and toxic chemicals hidden in cigarette butts. Mushrooms naturally have a digestive system that can adapt to eating a variety of foods in the wild and so it was hypothesised that fungi might be able to be trained to eat littered cigarettes. Scientists say it took a while to encourage the fungi to eat the waste due to its toxic nature but they have now managed to grow a strain which exclusively eats cigarette butts. In landfill, this waste can take 15 years to decompose whilst in the meantime they leech toxic chemicals into the soil. Mushrooms however, can consume these butts in just seven days. With further research, scientists believe we may even be able to use the by-product they create as a polystyrene replacement in a bizarre form of recycling.

An American student has also looked to nature to find a solution to our plastic problem. She collected 300 strains of bacteria from a beach in Texas. This part of the coast sees hundreds of gallons of oil leak into the ocean every day from nearby industry and she hypothesised that the bacteria might have evolved to digest oil, the basis of plastic. With trillions of bacteria existing on our planet, competition is high and bacteria have evolved to survive in many harsh environments, such as hydrothermal vents in the deep sea, meaning they have also adapted to eating some pretty weird meals. Back in the lab, 20 of the 300 bacteria strains were found to eat PET plastic, a commonly used form of plastic which is found in bottles, bags and packaging. Looking at the best performing three strains, she found that the bacteria broke the PET plastic down into a harmless product. Whilst there is still a long way to go in this research before it can really help tackle our mountain of plastic waste on a large scale, it is encouraging to know that so many different ideas are being explored and with successful results! 

Have you heard of any new exciting developments in our battle against plastic recently? We can’t wait to see the inventive initiatives communities around the world create and read the astonishing research scientists publish.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood