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June 28, 2022

Andrew Campbell 

Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic announced their collaboration to conduct the largest-ever national inquiry into household plastic waste in the UK for one week in May. More than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom meticulously counted their plastic waste at home. The Big Plastic Count's goal was to discover the truth about the amount of plastic that enters homes and what happens to it. After processing all of the collected data, the Big Plastic Count will release the country's findings in mid-July.

According to data from the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., the most common items littering beaches and waterways over the last 35 years have been single-use plastic packaging and food ware. Scientists estimate that 11 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year.

Scientists at the Ocean Conservancy estimate that the US Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act provision will directly eliminate nearly 23 million tons of single-use plastic packaging and food ware over the next ten years.

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom has limited the use of plastic straws and prohibited the use of plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The government is also launching a plastic bottle deposit return scheme, in which consumers pay a small deposit and receive a refund when the plastic is returned. It is also thinking about banning single-use plastic plates, cutlery, and balloon sticks.

Many supermarkets, according to the British Retail Consortium, are working with suppliers to reduce problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging. The supermarket industry is investing in re-use and refill options with the goal of making them widely available within the next five years.