Media War on Plastic

The BBC has taken a lead in highlighting the global problem of plastic waste.

Its “Plastics Watch” initiative aims to “positively enable the British public to help reduce plastic pollution”.

On Monday 1st October 2018 Liz Bonnin presented “Drowning in Plastic”.

Another BBC news story on plastic packaging waste makes the following points:

• 1 million tonnes of plastic waste generated by UK supermarkets each year
• Iceland says it will use only biodegradable packaging within 5 years
• Morrisons allow customers to bring their own containers for meat and fish, and have switched to paper rather than plastic bags for loose fruit and vegetables
• Asda has replaced black plastic containers with white ones which are easier to recycle
• Co-Op is rolling out compostable bags to 1400 stores
• the UK Plastics Pact is a voluntary industry pact which aims to have all packaging compostable, recyclable or re-usable by 2025 (signatories include the main supermarket chains: Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, M&S although Iceland hasn’t joined as it wants to stop using plastic entirely. ed: note that when the Guardian contacted these companies to ask how much plastic they currently used each year, all apart from Aldi and Co-Op refused to co-operate, saying that information was commercially sensitive)
• Stuart Wagland (Cranfield University) is researching mining plastics from landfill to make fuel although the financial and environmental economics of this are controversial (well, it would be a new industry based on, er, plastics)

While some companies are (finally) reducing unnecessary packaging (e.g. the Co-Op has cut its plastic packaging by 44% in the decade to 2016) it seems the UK lags behind other countries in making plastic producers accountable for cleaning up the mess which they create.

UK supermarkets really pay very little at present (relative to other countries) leaving it to the UK taxpayer to pay for the disposal and recycling.

It’s good to know the BBC itself is removing plastic cutlery and cups from its own offices.