What a load of RUBBISH

THE WORLD produces 2.3 billion tons of waste each year. This rubbish is a huge contributor to the pollution of our oceans and land. Our rubbish is building up in overfilled landfills and is forming new geological features as it masses up. Toxins from these rubbish dumps are seeping into groundwater and leaching into other water and our food supplies.

The linear way of going out, buying something, bringing it home and later throwing it away is no longer working. Just because we don’t see where our rubbish goes, doesn’t mean we are disconnected from it. There is a cycle and it directly affects us. For example, we buy groceries – much of it packaged in plastic, plus we put them in a plastic bag – then we throw away the plastics, with some ending up in the ocean as microplastics (full of petrochemicals) which fish eat and those very same fish end up on our plates. Can you see it yet?

The best option is to lower our waste and avoid plastic packaging altogether. Experts say reduce and refuse should be the first line of action for the consumer and that recycling should be the last option. They define zero-waste living as ultimately avoiding sending things to the landfill in the first place.

However, the onus should also be on manufacturers, big companies and government policy makers to help us make this change. Change needs to come from the top – with less plastic in our shopping cycle, consumers can make better choices.

Well-known local artist Mark Hilltout who gleans rubbish dumps all over the globe for discarded corrugated iron to make his world-renowned art