So far, how has reducing plastic helped the environment, oceans and landfills?
Posted by SpectreSingh89@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 48 comments
The plastic waste commotion was well underway about 20 years or so ago. The biggest "wake up" for the nation was charging carrier bags at 5p per bag back then. Eventually it moved to banning the plastic beer holder and single use plastics, Mcd's using cardboard instead of proper straw. Recycling plastic / cardboard instead of throwing it in the normal bin.
So... Has the big pile of mess on landfills been reduced? Are their more population of fishes and birds as plastic in oceans has not killed them? Are trees being chopped down reduced, thanks to recycling network??? 🤔
Is anybody able to answer all or even one question?
richard0cs@reddit
Pre tax, plastic carrier bags were everywhere in the UK, blowing around in the streets, caught in bushes and trees, floating down the rivers. I do see a lot fewer of them just generally around. They were once what came to mind from the word litter.
True-Abalone-3380@reddit
This highlights it wasn't a problem with the material, but more a problem with shitty people littering.
richard0cs@reddit
Yes, but the persistence of the material didn't help. The plastic bags survive a lot longer once littered than paper ones. The later single use plastic bags mostly seem to be a type that degrades quicker as well.
doc1442@reddit
Plastic waste is an easy win, with high visuals. Makes it look like the government actually gives a shit about the environment whilst continuing to do nothing meaningful (eg carbon tax, railway electrification/subsidy, car discouragement, energy transition).
jordsta95@reddit
Although the energy transition is in full swing, and electrification is still ongoing with solutions being trialed for sections of the line which can't be electrified.
I do agree a carbon tax, reduction of subsidies/greater taxation on polluting industries (such as air travel), etc, should be implemented. It's not as if the government are sitting on their hands and failing to help the environment.
Head on over to r/GoodNewsUK as they post things there near-daily which show how much the government or a local government are doing to be more environmentally friendly in some form or another. (Whether it's energy, conservation, or whatever else)
BroodLord1962@reddit
While charging for plastic bags has helped a little, it's a tiny amount when you see how much stuff supermarkets still wrap in plastic or put in moulded plastic tubs
maersyl@reddit
Cucumbers. Just… why? They come in natural packaging!
mdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdm@reddit
Yeah but thats only the perspective of someone from the UK.
As someone who lived in Asia, we do alright.
Its crazy how much plastic a population will accept ir they arent told to care about it.
BroodLord1962@reddit
But what about all the plastic drinking bottle
ldn-ldn@reddit
A good experience would be to order clothes online. When you go to the shop and buy a shirt or something, it just hangs there without packaging and you might think that's it. But when you order the same shirt online it will come in manufacturer's packaging and it's usually 2-3 layers of plastic.
Shops just unpack everything and throw tons of plastic away before you see it.
Zealousideal-Habit82@reddit
When I was a retail manager we had so much waste plastic from each delivery we would skip it first then lay the flattened cardboard boxes they came in on top, climb in the skip and jump up and down to compress it down so the next day we would have skip space for that days delivery waste. Every item of clothing was individually wrapped in plastic whether it came boxed or hanging.
I have just retired early and part of me is thinking about getting a retail job again back in the warehouse as I loved it so much, sadly I think on day one my rose tinted glasses will go missing.
BroodLord1962@reddit
So what do you do when you ordered it online and it comes wrapped in all that plastic? it shouldn't be in wrapped in plastic at all
Jlaw118@reddit
There has been a new plastic tax introduced recently though in a bid to reduce that type of supermarket packaging. I’ve noticed meat now still coming in plastic packaging but a lot more compact
ldn-ldn@reddit
Nothing changed, majority of plastic pollution comes from fishing nets and industrial packaging. Plastic straw ban is just smoke and mirrors so you can feel good about yourself.
Rude-Possibility4682@reddit
Ban the plastic straws… but let's leave the lid plastic.
Jlaw118@reddit
Yet there’s coffee cups out there that have compostable lids that’s still feel and work like plastic and I don’t know why more companies haven’t jumped on this yet
True-Abalone-3380@reddit
Why would you want a compostable lid, what is the end of life process for it and where does the source material come from?
(some "compostable" plastics come from corn, some do not compost as well as a consumer would imagine, they don't handle heat very well, they do not add anything to compost even if they do break down, and you don't want anything compostable getting mixed in the recycling stream)
Ok_Shirt983@reddit
Cost?
True-Abalone-3380@reddit
The lids are generally recyclable. Straws are too light to be successfully sorted and recycled.
Short-Shopping3197@reddit
McDonald’s drink lids are 100% recycled, so while they aren’t reducing plastic waste, they aren’t creating more of it either.
Expensive_Time_7367@reddit
This isn’t true. The majority of ocean plastics come from a small number of countries that don’t have proper landfill, most notably the Philippines (which is responsible for over a 3rd of it) but it is mostly consumer packaging.
Despite the UK’s low contribution in global terms due to our more advanced waste systems the average Brit is truly crap at waste management and plastic pollution on beaches has generally increased in recent years.
MikeFader@reddit
'Doing my bit for the environment..' Are people really so gullible ?
Ill-Inevitable980@reddit
I feel awful about those paper straws tbh
Milam1996@reddit
In much the same way that renewables have cut money from energy bills, reducing something from happening is very hard to understand and people dont see the impact
GrabbedByTheGhost@reddit
It hasn't because it's a global issue and it's not globally observed.
Short-Shopping3197@reddit
What I can tell you for certain is that there are less plastic straws in landfill than there would have been without switching to paper straws.
Ok_Shirt983@reddit
I don't think most of those plastic bags sold before 2014 ended up in landfill. I can account for about half of them being stuffed inside each other in the cupboard under my mothers sink.
EUskeptik@reddit
“Overall there has been a 90% reduction in waste being sent to landfill in the uk over the past 20 years, with recycling being a major factor.”
Recycling is one factor, incineration is another. The introduction of the landfill tax then it being raised to punitive levels has helped to achieve this overall reduction.
However, the other effect of the landfill tax is an explosive increase in the rate of fly tipping. Those who championed the landfill tax were clearly unaware of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
-##-
detinUi@reddit
98%??
ExoticExchange@reddit
Yes, the plastic bag tax has single-handedly been one of the most successful market interventions of all time.
DameKumquat@reddit
There's a lot less litter from plastic bags, which was the only real aim of the bag tax. Also it was about the only tax ever that the public actually demanded.
mike9874@reddit
And it wasn't a tax, the original design was for the money to go to charity (encouraged, not forced)
Here's some info related to it: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england
Over £100million has been donated to good causes since it was introduced.
Importantly: bags for life are exempt as they're too thick. They could be given away for free.
DigitalStefan@reddit
I don’t mind paying for sturdy bags. They are useful.
TwoBoysDad@reddit
It hasntt, it boosted profits. At 40p a bag in Lidl I do resent spending 80p for 2 bags, on a 2p bag real cost. If say the profits were driven into plastic sea cleanup activities I would feel a lot better.
piernut@reddit
Most of the money goes to charity.
Short-Shopping3197@reddit
You’re meant to resent it, that’s literally the whole point 😂
Wipedout89@reddit
That's because you're not supposed to, you're supposed to bring your own
TwoBoysDad@reddit
i only bring the large durable ones sometimes. the others small cheap (relatively) sit in my cupboard after use. not sure why that is. pretty sure I am not alone.
Boboshady@reddit
The idea was to put people off constantly buying bags by charging for them, and they're 40p these days because they're thicker bags and I THINK you can get them replaced for free if they get damaged?
Of course, you have to remember to take them with you. I, like you, have a cupboard full of them.
What did work for a while for me anyway were some stuffable re-usable carrier bags that were actually small enough to almost live on your keyring...and certainly in your car door etc. The problem is of course, you carry them into your house one time, empty them, then never re-stuff them into their little holder and put them back in the car.
Life_Emphasis6290@reddit
In fairness, there do appear to be less plastic bags wofting around the countryside.
Active_Doubt_2393@reddit
Except for little plastic bags of dog shit hanging from trees etc. They're gone right up in numbers.
BenathonWrigley@reddit
The biggest scandal in all this is how massive corporations have pushed the responsibility to recycle onto the consumers, while they themselves pollute the planet with tonnes of plastic and shit every day.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
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Maritimewarp@reddit
80% of ocean plastic comes from Asia, less than 1% from Europe, thanks to less people, higher average incomes and more advanced waste collection facilities.
And a very small share of all plastic made each year actually ends up in the ocean.
So we should not even expect plastic bags policy in the UK to have any affect on levels of ocean plastic- thats not what it is designed to address.
Great stats in Hannah Ritchie’s book “Not the End of the World”
Suratwala@reddit
Well. The uk maybe it has probably helped. But what about the rest of the world.
Anyway doesn’t the UK send a proportion of the plastic waste to other countries where I understand some of it is dumped into rivers and seas
Doomergeneration@reddit
Apparently there’s plastic in our balls
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