By Lerato Tsotetsi
What are your thoughts on single-use plastic waste? I think it’s a huge problem that must be addressed at the source. But who is responsible for all our plastic waste?
The truth is single-use plastics are creating landfills enough to make a country, filling up our oceans and killing marine life around the globe. Plastic has been found in drinking water all around the world, and it’s making its way into our food.
Is it your fault?
Have you ever stood at the till with your groceries and the cashier asks “Plastic bag?” and you hesitate but you feel like you don’t have a choice then respond with a “Yes”? Well, so have I.
The truth is, we’re human and we do our best to remember to bring our own shopping bags or old plastic bags with us, but every now and then, it slips our mind. We try to recycle and reuse the unnecessary amount of plastic packaging that comes standard with our food. But is this enough? Does recycling and reusing solve the problem?
The answer is no. Here’s why:
It doesn’t really matter how much recycling or reusing you do; plastic is being produced at an alarming rate.
Even worse – only 10% of plastic items are recycled, the rest is polluting our environment.
Throwing it away and forgetting about it doesn’t help either – where exactly is away? Away is the term used in place of landfills, oceans and our food. Yep, this is what away looks like
An awful sight, right? Which brings me to my next point: we must hold corporations accountable for all the plastic produced.
How do we stop this?
This week, we launch our plastics campaign targeted at corporations who choose to produce single-use plastic in the face of a plastic pollution crisis.
These companies do not give us a choice and package everything in single-use plastic – I mean, does every cucumber really need to be wrapped in plastic?
Let’s be honest with ourselves – the amount of plastic we’re subjected to taking home is too much and must be reduced. Stay tuned for what you can do to demand corporates to #BreakFreeFromPlastic!
For a plastics-free world!
