So, surprise, surprise, about two thirds of the plastic we send for recycling is actually buried or burned! Ten or so years ago I didn’t mind this too much – the priority was education, becoming ‘ the norm’ to recycle plastic rather than bin it. While we as a society worked on that, it gave the manufacturers time to make sure we could deal with it all.
The real shame is that it so unnecessary. Read the BBC article and you will see that there are viable alternatives to the materials currently used.
The two possible solutions are financial or legal as the industry is clearly not going to sort the problem out for themselves. A combination of legislation and cost worked with plastic bags – an obvious solution which has been phenomenally successful. According to The Guardian, plastic bag use has dropped by 85%. So easy!
For plastic containers I advocate legislation. Just make it illegal to produce non-recyclable plastic where there is a realistic alternative. Yes of course we all need to cut down on its use anyway, but we just wouldn’t notice if the containers were made from slightly different material.
I am a woman of a certain age (not 60 yet!) who lives in Bristol. I’ve lived almost my whole life in Bristol, with a short sojourn in Cornwall in my teens. I am trying to lead my life in an ethical way in all areas and hope to explore what this means.
I have four passions and several interests so I hope I will have plenty to write about. My passions are my family, knitting, cricket and St Peter’s Hospice. My other interests are volunteering, the environment, reading, TV, films & theatre, fundraising, chronic fatigue, mental health and eating. My non-interests are animals, housework, football, rugby and cooking.
I come from a family of four – two sisters and a brother. Our parents dies a few years ago. I am married to my soulmate Colin, an amazing man who tolerates my funny ways and supports me in everything I do. We have three children and two wonderful granddaughters. I am so proud of my family – we must have done something right as they are all good people. I have two sons-in-law who I love like my own and together we all make up a family unit where everyone loves and respects everyone else.
I am a total hypochondriac but do have some genuine problems, some of which I may talk about at a later date. At the moment I am overweight and have just started to eat more healthily, which I think is the answer to weight loss. We were on holiday last week and enjoyed puddings and cakes every day.
I work part-time and Colin is recently retired. This means that we have been able to spend much more time together doing some of the things we’ve been meaning to do – some planned and some spontaneous. I love this period of my life – I just wish I had the energy to match the time and the opportunities available!
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