#GlobalRecyclingDay is here to remind us that we can’t recycle ourselves out of a waste crisis. With less than 10% of all plastic being recycled since the 1950s, it is time that policymakers come up with real solutions to get us out of this crisis.
Trash is often out of sight, out of mind. But even if we collect and separate our trash nicely, most of it will just be dumped or burned. If not here, then abroad in countries that do not have the means to deal with our waste streams – #WasteColonialism.
Big Oil corporations and Consumer Goods Manufacturers such as @pepsi and @cocacola like to make us believe that we can recycle ourselves out of the crisis, but it won’t. This doesn’t mean we need to stop recycling, but we do need to stop the problem at the source – #BreakFreeFromPlastic. And no, #Bioplastic is NOT a solution. Instead, we should go back to collecting and refilling systems that have been working just fine before plastic came around the corner.
Single-use items are mainly a development from the last century. The switch to a consumerism-based economy has led to severely flawed product designs; products without any means of circularity. “Waste is a design flaw, the ability to create circularity of all materials eliminates waste and builds a sustainable world.” – Kate Krebs.
We have to push governments and corporations back to the drawing table to design products with circularity in mind and to create effective policies that end the use of materials that will linger in landfills for centuries – if it even stays there.
A while back we came across a dumpsite and we wondered how long different materials take to fully degrade – check some of them out in the slides. It’s crazy that some items are only used for a couple of minutes but remain for centuries. It’s time to call for a strong and ambitious #PlasticsTreaty – tell your government today! ~ greenpeace.org/PlasticsTreaty
