HA Environment Challenge: Plastic Free July
A new month marks a new focus for the Humanists Australia Environment Challenge. July also marks the end of the challenge, and to bring it to a close we are focusing on Plastic Free July.
Keeping our environment clean is not just about recycling plastics. It involves making every effort we can to refuse single-use plastics.
The Plastic Free Foundation established Plastic Free July® as a global movement to help people be part of the solution to plastic pollution, to keep our streets and oceans clean, and our communities beautiful. Their successful campaigning has seen many people in Australia and around the world take part across their homes, workplaces, schools and communities, showing how everyone can play a part in some way and in many aspects of life.
According to the CSIRO, “each year, 90 billion tonnes of primary materials are extracted and used globally for plastics. Only nine per cent is recycled, with economic, social, environmental and health impacts”.
According to the latest statistics released by the ABS, just in Australia alone, 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste was generated in 2018-19, and of this:
Only 9% was sent for recycling (227,000 tonnes), while 84% was sent to landfill (2.1 tonnes)
32% of plastic waste was high density polyethylene (HDPE)
Households were the largest contributor, supplying 47% of all plastic waste (1.2 million tonnes); second was manufacturing at 15% (380,000 tonnes).
You can read more about the impact of plastic on the Earth and some encouraging food for thought in this thoughtful article contributed by HA member and passionate environmentalist, Elizabeth Dangerfield.
Deadly Convenience:
Can we ever give up damaging plastics?
So, what actions can we personally take to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics?
Test 1 - Say no to single use plastic bags
Those flimsy plastic bags used in the vegetable and delicatessen sections of the supermarket look so light that they could easily be blown away. And that is what happens to them when they end up in landfill, they blow away into the environment. Not only do they litter the landscape they are eaten by cows and other animals that do not know they are inedible. Dying by a surfeit of plastic bags is a horrible way to go.
These single use plastic bags also float and surprisingly can make it from landfill into streams and eventually into the ocean. They can be eaten by birds along the way and marine mammals. One estimate is that 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic pollution annually. One dead whale had 40kg of plastic inside it, another had 80 plastic bags.
Test 2 - Say Yes to Lids for Kids
Lids4Kids Australia is an environmental charity committed to rescuing every plastic bottle lid from going into landfill to protect the environment and benefit kids. Lids4Kids partner with many other recycling plastic manufacturers to repurpose lids into any sustainable recycled plastic items to benefit the communities in which they were collected. Items that have been made from plastic lids are plant pots, clipboards, bowls, pens, earrings, phone holders and park seats.
It is not just plastic lids that are collected. Depending on where you live, you may also be able to recycle lids from jars, tags from bread wrappings, metal lids including beer bottle caps, plastic pull caps from sauce bottles etc, plastic and foil wraps for pills, and aluminium foil. Many people recycle glass and plastic bottles but thanks to all the volunteers that help sort the lids, this scheme allows you to recycle what comes with the bottles and is usually so small that it falls between the cracks at most recycling centres.
So, where do you start?
Test 3 - Say no to cling film
What would life be like without cling film – well, less convenient in all honesty, but not impossible with a tiny bit of planning and effort?
Cling film seems to benign but unfortunately standard cling film is difficult to recycle. Cling film or plastic wrap is usually made from flexible plastics such as PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene). Because it is a thin, flexible and clingy material it can get stuck in recycling machinery so it cannot be put into your recycle bin. Cling film is not biodegradable and can take hundreds of years to decompose. Unfortunately, this process can release greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals into the environment. PVC contains additives such as phthalates, cadmium and lead and organotins which if leached into the environment can be toxic to living things.
It is not just that toxins are released downstream, the problem is that significant amounts of dioxin (a highly toxic chemical) are produced during the production of PVC and are also released if material containing PVC is burnt. A number of manufacturers have moved to LDPE to reduce this risk, but cling film made from LDPE is not as clingy.
What steps can you take?
Test 4 - Become a plastics free activist
Your activism on this involves changing your personal habits, but also more broadly, positively influencing the behaviours of others and advocating and lobbying for wider social change.
Also, take a look at our checklist outlining 25 ways to go plastic free. See what you can do to keep the environment cleaner and plastic free!
TOGETHER WE ARE SAVING OUR PRECIOUS ENVIRONMENT - ONE HABIT AT A TIME!
Inspired?
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