The WAR on Plastic

May 2

The WAR on Plastic by Mo Hasan

Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our food, clothes, oceans and even our soil. Its lightweight, durable and malleable properties make it perfect for medical equipment, interior design and electronics.

We’ve managed to mass produce goods without sacrificing millions of trees, but unlike wood, plastic takes hundreds of years to fully decompose. However, plastic is contaminating our food chains, polluting our waterways and destroying our coral reefs.

Scientists have been warning us about the dangers of plastic waste since the 1950s, so what’s new? The scale of our production and consumption of plastic is astronomical – by 2050 we will have more plastic in our oceans than fish – joined up, each plastic bag could wrap around the earth over 4000 times.

A few viral moments have shifted our focus to the consequences of plastic waste – millions of people were moved to tears – as they saw watched an innocent turtle bleed while a plastic straw was forcibly removed from its nose. Since then governments across the world have experimented with bans, taxes and recycle programmes. However, the real innovators and change agents are found in our local communities and socially conscious businesses.

People Power: Proud citizens cleaning their cities

Community led initiatives such a beach clean ups, package free supermarkets and repair and recycle workshops have delivered meaningful results.

Plastic Patrol:

Lizze Carr, Environmentalist and Adventurer, started collecting plastic waste across the UK’s canals while cruising on her paddleboard. She geotagged over 1000 pieces of plastic, which contributed to a data map of the types and locations of plastic waste. Thousands of volunteers have joined Lizzie in her efforts to clean up the UK’s waterways.

Here’s Lizzie’s journey.

India’s inspiring beach clean-up:

Afroz Shah, environmental activist and lawyer from Mumbai, took on the monumental task of cleaning up his local beach. After returning from college his childhood beach was unrecognisable – it was filled with plastic bags, fishing nets, tyres and other inanimate objects – he stubbornly set out to clean the beach himself.

An army of volunteers joined Afroz to help him clear over five million kilograms of trash. What was once a landfill is now home to sea turtles, surfers and volleyball players. After receiving a Champion of the Earth award from the United Nations, he’s set his sights on clearing India’s polluted Mithi river.

Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs Challenging the Status Quo:

Businesses are often depicted as the problem not the solution. However, many entrepreneurs are challenging the status quo and profiting off innovative ideas that benefit our planet.

Boyan Slat’s massive plastic trap:

Boyan Slat, Dutch Inventor and Entrepreneur, founded the Ocean Clean Up Project. The non-profit organisaton develops advanced technologies to “rid the world’s oceans of plastic”. Boyan is well known for his grand inventions designed to contain and remove plastic debris from the “great pacific garbage patch” (approximately 1.6 million kilos of marine debris in the Pacific Ocean).

Boyan’s organisation is staffed with teams of scientists, engineers and oceanographers to track, trace and treat the epidemic of plastic waste.

Skip to 0:30 to listen to Boyan’s vision.

Lauren Singer’s Package Free Shop:

Lauren Singer, environmental activist turned entrepreneur, is famous for storing a year’s worth of waste in a single plastic jar; here’s her TED Talk. She started a business selling entirely biodegradable, package free and ethically sourced products – there are many others stores like Lauren’s – here’s a map of the package-free supermarkets in London.

Package-free stores encourage shoppers to bring their own jars, tote bags and containers. Customers are charged by weight, which helps reduce food waste and removes the need for plastic packaging; this is particularly true for dry goods such as pasta and rice.

Large retailers such as Ocado are following Lauren’s footsteps as they commit to ditching plastic packaging.

Next Steps: What you can and “should” do

Vote with your wallet: The most powerful signal to business is where their revenue streams are going. Switch to brands that focus on high-quality, ethically sourced products with biodegradable packaging.
Lobby your local representatives (council members, elected politicians and mayors) to take environmental issues seriously. Don’t just complain – offer meaningful alternatives – suggest alternative solutions and provide examples.
Vote for politicians and parties that take environmental issues seriously. Scrutinise your party or your local MP on their concrete proposals to make a difference.
Share the stories of community leaders and socially conscious entrepreneurs trying to make a difference.
Share this article – I’m NOT making any money from, nor do I have any affiliation with the people or projects mentioned here. I just aim to inspire, inform and innovate.

Thanks for reading. If you prefer to listen, then subscribe to my podcast (“Let’s Talk with Mo Hasan); episodes are available on Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud.

Additional Sources:

Plastic Ocean - Netflix Documentary.

United Nations report on Plastic Waste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_2NuK5O-E

‘A Plastic Voyage’ (Documentary by Sky): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_xZ77JGDOs

Plastic Statistics, Ocean Crusaders: https://oceancrusaders.org/plastic-crusades/plastic-statistics/

The UK Plastics Pact: https://wrap.org.uk/taking-action/plastic-packaging/the-uk-plastics-pact

EU Ban on shipping plastic waste to developing nations: https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/12/24/eu-bans-plastic-waste-from-being-shipped-to-developing-countries

Viral video of removing a straw from a turtle’s nose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2J2qdOrW44