8th July 2024
We’re now in Plastic Free July – https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/
Cutting back on our use of plastic and our failure to prevent waste plastic from entering our food, water and other ecosystems is important. Last year I wrote “The United Nations Environment Programme is calling on all countries to reduce their plastic consumption by 80% by 2040. Plastics are problem items because they are made from oil and thus come with an inbuilt unsustainable carbon footprint, and because much of the plastic is not recycled and instead causes pollution – especially in marine areas”
Sadly we now live in a culture where buying things wrapped in plastic – sandwiches and strawberries, biros and note books – is the norm. One item that stands out is water. We live in a country where tap water is drinkable and, to all intents and purposes, free yet shops and cafes are stacked out with bottles (plastic ) of water. In the UK we consume more than 2.5 billion litres of bottled water per year and throw away over 7.7 billion plastic water bottles.
We need to change this culture of buying bottled water – using a refillable water bottle would save money, protect the environment, and make a stand against the market economy that wants to make everything into a retail opportunity .
Further reading: https://greentau.org/tag/plastic/
The Green Tau 