What's the
real price of getting rid of plastic packaging?
How much would it cost to switch to plastic alternatives?
Richard Gray crunches the numbers.
Walking along a short section of stony beach, Claire Waluda
stoops briefly to pick up something from between the rocks. It is a brightly
coloured plastic bottle top – just one of hundreds of bits of plastic that she
finds washed ashore on the remote, windswept island of South Georgia.
Located in the south Atlantic, on the fringes of the
Antarctic, it is nearly 1,000 miles (1,500km) from the nearest major human
settlement. Yet even here Waluda, an ecologist with the British Antarctic
Survey, is finding worrying signs of our throw-away attitude towards plastic.
Regularly she finds seals entangled in this debris or albatross chicks coughing
up bits of plastic film.
These are just a few examples of the damage our throw-away
relationship with plastics is inflicting on the environment. More than 78 million tonnes of plastic packaging is produced worldwide every year by an industry
worth nearly $198 billion. Just a fraction of that is recycled while the vast majority is thrown away. Plastic litter now clutters every part of our planet, from
remote parts of the Antarctic to the deepest ocean trenches.
High profile campaigns and TV programmes such as the finale of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, where Sir David Attenborough highlighted the problems plastics are causing in the world’s oceans, have led to growing public alarm over the issue. In response to mounting pressure, governments, manufacturers and retailers are beginning to take steps to tackle the tide of plastic waste. But how much will this fundamental change to the way we buy our goods actually cost?
High profile campaigns and TV programmes such as the finale of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, where Sir David Attenborough highlighted the problems plastics are causing in the world’s oceans, have led to growing public alarm over the issue. In response to mounting pressure, governments, manufacturers and retailers are beginning to take steps to tackle the tide of plastic waste. But how much will this fundamental change to the way we buy our goods actually cost?
Many of the
companies attempting to tackle the amount of plastic waste generated by their
products admit it will eat into their profits. Coca-Cola, for example, produces 38,250 tonnes of plastic packaging in the UK each year and estimates indicate it sells
more than 110 billion single-use plastic bottles globally.
The company has pledged to double the amount of recycled material in its
plastic bottles in the UK and is trialling refillable bottles. Although it
refuses to give details, Coca-Cola says these efforts will increase costs.
And even companies that have been dragging their heels will
soon have to address the amount of plastic packaging they use. More than 60 countries are introducing legislation aimed at reducing the use of
plastic bags and other single use plastic materials. This month, tiny Pacific
island nation Vanuatu became the first in the world to ban single use plastic
bags, straws and polystyrene food containers. (Continue reading)
