To think its time we went back to the old pop bottles banned most plastics??

[LanaKanesLeftNippleTassle]

Reading an artcle in The Guardian this morning....

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/27/plastic-debris-inundates-remote-uk-coasts-endangering-wildlife

From the article:

A Greenpeace research ship has spent the past two months touring the Scottish coast and islands assessing the impact of plastic waste.

Marine scientists on the Greenpeace ship Beluga II will undertake a detailed analysis of the results over the next two months. But the initial findings from the voyage paint a bleak picture:

Plastic waste, from bottles to bags and packaging, was found on every beach surveyed

Microplastic and other plastic fragments were found in the feeding grounds of basking sharks, seals and whales

Plastic bottles, bags and packaging were found in birds nests at internationally significant seabird colonies, in areas such as the Bass Rock, Isle of May and the Shiant Isles

Last month scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world’s most remote islands, an uninhabited coral atoll in the South Pacific.

The tiny landmass in the eastern South Pacific, was found to have the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8% of the pollution plastic.

It's a fucking environmental disaster.

We need to do something about this, strting with forcing drinks companies to completely change their packaging.

Added to the fertiliser run off poisoning our seas, plus all the other crap we leave floating about there, and I'm frankly surprised there is any sea life left at all.

What can we do MN??

And that is annoying about fleece because ds2 refuses to wear a coat (ASD) so we end up wrapping him in fleecy outerwear in winter because it's vaguely water repellent. The same must go for his soft jersey joggers, which are rarely 100% natural fibres, despite our best efforts.

Bedding is a tough one to weigh up. I'm allergic to feather pillows and not keen on the way that a lot of the feathers are harvested. Intend up using cluster fibre filled pillows and duvets because they are so easy to wash without ruining. I wonder how much of that filling stays inside, when they're washed and what happens when the bedding reaches the end of its useful life and is taken to the tip.

@MilkTwoSugarsThanks Yeah I get that!
It's bad enough round here as it is. But glass while dangerous in it's own way, in the immediate vicinty IYSWIM, doesn't end up polluting waterways and systems.

I think ideally at the moment we need to force a deposit scheme, and force companies to use their own bottles in recycling, rather than making new ones.

Thats an immediate solution.

@PickAChew it's a fricking minefield isn't it?

When you stop and think about it, so much of our world is full of plastic, and I honestly don't know what the answer is to very bit of it...like the bedding conundrum, I wish there was an easy answer!

It's ticking time bomb and it seems no one is taking is seriously, producers because of their profits and consumers because of our convenience.

Plastic is killing our environment and we seem to accept it.

I was thinking about this recently. I saw something on FB along the lines of "Be plastic free for June" and realised that I really couldn't do it. There are no shops nearby which sell stuff like fruit and veg loose. The nearest is probably 50 miles away at least, and it's not worth the time or the petrol to go that far (and if the nearest is the one I'm thinking of the quality was poor anyway). And then there's the animal feed - absolutely no way to get that loose (and if we could we'd then have trouble storing it).

I spend a good while after every shop unwrapping the fruit and veg. Why is it necessary? I hate it.

And on a related point, I hate the fact shops won't (can't) sell perfectly good food after the bb date. Found some kale at the weekend, reduced to a quarter of the price of normal, but because it was best before the day before I couldn't have it, not even to feed to my animals. If I'd taken it I could have saved myself over a pound to feed the rabbits two days, and it wouldn't have gone into landfill, no doubt still in it's bag, so a win-win solution. But I couldn't take it as it's against the law. Grrrrrr. Annoyingly, I know that if I'd bought it the day before it would still, now be perfectly fine. It makes me so angry!

I remember the old glass bottle scheme. There wasn't a lot of broken glass about because the bottles had value.
Kids would also go out and look for them so they could return them and buy sweets with the money.

I always wondered why they stopped it.

I keep trying to reduce my plastic use, but everything comes wrapped in the bloody thing.

What can be done?

Can I point out that glass is also heavy. I already have back problems and we don't have a car so I have to carry everything- if things were packaged in glass rather than plastic then I'd end up making way more trips etc.

But I'd love to be able to return the plastic bottles and used to when I lived somewhere it was possible.

People just seem immune to it, plastic is just a part of life now. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone put bananas (which have their own handy wrapping) into a plastic bag at the supermarket, which then gets placed into another plastic bag when they reach the till.

It makes me despair. Greenpeace is really pushing this issue at the moment, and it's starting to reach the general consciousness (I think so anyway). But as with climate change - is it going to be fast enough to really do something about the widespread pollution?

By the way please check out the Ocean Cleanup, who are aiming to do the largest plastic collection in history. They can always use donations. (I think Coca Cola should be paying for this though).

@TimeIhadaNameChange this is why I think we need to start forcing companies to start dealing with this, not the consumer.

As you and others on this thread have pointed out, even if you actively want to be as plastic free as possible, you cant, because there are so many thing that are covered in packaging that don't need it.

So we need the burden to be laid squarely at companies, who are making billions a year in profits, to pull their fingers out.

Ban all pointless packaging on things like fruit and veg, extra labelling
Ban the manufacture of new plastics and force recycling.
Bottle return schemes like they have all over the continent.
Ban plastic in cosmetics.
Actively encourage schemes like Lush's, where you can take the jars back.

How can we do that?

Write a letter to generally useless MP?

Sign petitions?

Thanks for that link @AngelTwerkle!

I have donated before, and shall again on pay day.

But you are right, it's organisations like fucking Coca Cola that should be picking up the bill.

And also right that some people just don't think/care about it.
The banana thing drives me up the wall.
As does the fact that despite our council installing bins with clear seperate recycling sections, people still just bung their litter in any old hole.

Also beaches actually make me fucking angry.
Go to a beautiful, popular beach every year, every year I end up collecting bags of fucking rubbish, and I am that person who stops groups and asks them to pick up their litter before they go.
Th amount of family groups who just rock up, ditch a load of bottles and packets in the sand, then just wander off makes my blood boil.

@ChardonnaysPrettySister

Definitely need to raise peoples knowledge on this stuff, but the how just doesn't seem very effective, does it?

My MP is useless prick too, and petitions need the public to massively get on board.

Maybe something like dumping the exact amount of plastic they just found all over Scotland at the gates Downing Street, or something equally dramatic?

Followed by David Attenborough doing a documntary really ramming home the dangers, which for once would actually name and shame the causes and companies directly?

I don't know.

I just know if we don't change something soon, our oceans are going to die.

It seems so hopeless.

There's the coffee cups and well, the plastic lids, the whole coffee shop paraphernalia.

Sky news ran a segment about a dead whale last week and it was sickening to see how plastic destroys the seas.

Another one surprised about fleeces, particularly as they're made from recycled materials. What a blow.

@PhilODox I know, its one of those shitty catch 22s.

But if the point of recycling bottles is to keep them out of the environment, then making clothes out of them isn't a solution, as the plastic inevitably ends up in the water system anyway, just takes longer to get there!
Plus theres the issue that arguably, plastics in their micro form (which is what you get if you wash a recycled fleece) are worse, as they have a more profound and immediate affect on the wildlife.

For what seems like such a simple problem, it is actually a really complex issue, encompassing Governments, Countries (look at the waste generated by India for example), Corporations, small businesses, and literally every person who buys anything from fruit , cosmetics, to cars and houses.

It pervades our entire world.

We can't go back to glass bottles because they are to dangerous. They can be used as weapons and in areas with high litter rates they will just be smashed on the ground.

I go AL on holiday, especially to places such as Egypt and Morocco, but the environmental waste bothers me. The Sinai desert is full of rubbish.

I was watching a program were two comedians went to Thailand, a lot of their beaches are now used for tourism and it means that breeding programs for the Turtles have had to be started. This takes a lot of food out of the food chain.

But it also means more rubbish generated, in areas that will dump it.

It is the Holiday Companies/Government that need to look to reduce plastic, first.

Then stop the party bags and Christmas Stockings filled with plastic crap and stop cleaning with wipes.

So at least you are doing your bit.

And of course whatever is implemented, Trump will throw out of the window.

There are enough glass bottles being used for drinks now.
A beer or cider or vodka bottle will make the same weapon, should one be so inclined.

Why is it OK to use glass for that but not for soft drinks?

"I am that person who stops groups and asks them to pick up their litter before they go."

Good on you. I do the same, have been told to fuck off a number of times but I'll go on doing it.

This is something that really fascinates me at the moment. I'm really trying to cut down on how much plastic I use.

The 1st thing is learned was that plastic lasts 500 years. So every piece of plastic ever made is still in existence.

Also microplastic doesn't necessary =microbeads in cosmetics. Microplastics can be any form of plastic. It's just that the sun/wind/sea breaks it down into microplastic.

If we carry on exactly as we are we will have more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. 2050 really isn't far off.

The #oneless campaign is really worth looking into. It's about trying to get people to stop using single- use plastic. see here

The straw thing should be simple - use paper straws.

Lots of these substitutions will be simple but there has to be the will to do it and that seems to be lacking.

Can we have a Mumsnet campaign?