THE EARTH ISSUE 2020
“But that’s unhygienic!” I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t eat out of my bin. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of counter arguments, but single-use plastic is a plague on all our houses, most importantly the houses of those of us that don’t have the dexterity to avoid swallowing it or tangling themselves in it. Such as… all residents of the ocean and many residents of the sky.
“But these are all small bags, I'll be emptying the bin all the time!” Oh no! Not incidental exercise! I care about not choking my planet with crap more than I care about taking a few extra trips to the wheelie bin. Yes, you’ll need to empty the bin more, I’m sure the extra steps (while we’re all stuck at home anyway) won’t kill you, like “I already do my bit for the environment!” an excess of plastics in the ground will eventually kill the earth we live on. Got yourself a KeepCup? Got yourself a cupboard full of them? Collected from every conference or “Re-using plastic packaging is gross!’” industrial fair you’ve ever been to? These well-meaning but useless pieces of detritus are made from You’re gross for wasting excessive plastic and then Low Density Polythene (LDPE) and take thousands posting a picture of a turtle with a plastic bag caught of years to break down. And be honest, how often do in its beak on Instagram once a year for World Enviyou remember to actually bring your cup and use it? ronment Day. Put your money where your mouth is That’s what I thought. Landfill. Cute landfill, but still and actually do something other than getting high landfill. Good for you for having one (or ten) but use on the fumes of your own smugness because you bought a hydroflask or a metal straw but still continue it — actually use it — and for the love of God wash it before you hand it to the poor barista. to purchase individually plastic-wrapped products, housed in wax-coated cardboard boxes. Another interesting fact, and some may not know this, is that often fruit and vegetables — such as bananas and citrus — actually come in their own packet (hint: it’s their skin). Wrapping things a second time in one, sometimes two, layers of single-use plastic is INSANE, however many supermarkets shrink-wrap a deplorable volume of produce. Layer upon layer of packaging to protect a sweet potato from being damaged? Unnecessary. There are hundreds of everyday items that are made of, or wrapped in, single-use plastics that are difficult to avoid. It is ultimately up to the organisation or manufacturer to change how their products are packaged, depending on how much they actually care about making real changes that truly serve their purported corporate social responsibility statements. What we as individuals can do however, is make changes and choices where we can. I’m not suggesting the efforts and changes we are already engaging in are futile — keep them up — I’m just saying there is so much more we can do. Be inconvenienced, walk that bit further to the shop that uses less plastic on their produce, and take your reusable cups and bags. Happy Plastic Bag Free Day everyone.
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