Recycling has been the go to opt out for us to assuage our guilt over our wasteful throw-away lifestyle. For years now, we have been fed, and accepted the lie that recycling is the socially acceptable way to dispose of our trash.
In reality our trash has been shipped to other countries like China (until they put a stop to buying it in January 2018) and now apparently its being shipped to Indonesia. This has allowed us in the West to gaily make it ‘someone else’s problem’.
But in reality, unless we are living on a different planet to the Chinese or any other country you care to mention, our oceans are interconnected – Trump hasn’t yet managed to build a wall between the oceans. This means that our trash travels. It may start off in your household recycling box, but from there it travels…across the world (why?) = huge carbon footprint – one negates the other. It gets stripped down and besides polluting the soils and water systems in those countries, it gets dumped into rivers and makes it’s way to the sea….and thus into the world’s oceans.
As we now know, fish are eating this plastic…we’re eating the fish and voila…..now it’s catching up with us. Scientists have discovered plastic in our poop. Nice one.
We in the west have been exceptionally lazy about sorting out our own trash. We are wasteful and have trashed this world even more than the developing countries we love to blame. African countries were only introduced to our plastic production in the last couple of decades. Unlike us, some many African countries (you know, those 3rd world ‘less than’ countries that white people in the West are so disdainful of!?) are way ahead of us in taking action against plastic.
Botswana – https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/botswana-is-banning-plastic-bags.html
Kenya placed a total ban on the manufacture, sale or use of plastic bags on 28 August 2017. This became law and has been enforced with remarkable effectiveness.
“Plastics are being replaced with natural materials and there has been growth in small-scale bag making, creating jobs”
“More than 40 countries have now joined UNEA’s #CleanSeas campaign, which covers more than half the world’s coastlines. The threat is very real. If nothing is done the oceans will have more plastic than fish by 2050, according to leading environmentalists”.
Rwanda, Mauritania and Morocco all have bans in place and it’s worth noting that there is no such ban enforced in the UK, US or China, all of which have highly developed plastics industries; producing and exporting plastic bags across the globe – ergo we in the developed countries ARE TO BLAME!! It’s all about making money, the bottom line and obscene profits, and the manufacturers have no interest in the fact that it’s killing the planet.
If you’d like to read more, here is the link
After watching the Fashions Dirty Secrets documentary last week, my attitude to our wasteful lifestyle has intensified exponentially. I don’t want my grandchild growing up in a world that is polluted by plastic and toxic lakes, rivers, seas and oceans. I’m hoping there will still be fresh water available to this child in the future.
In this child’s name I am now naming and shaming:
TESCO
Iceland
Iceland
Iceland
Sainsburys
Sainsburys
Sainsburys
Sainsburys
All of these products are wrapped in totally unnecessary and pointless plastic. These companies are also forcing their customers to buy in bulk; much of which ends up in the trash…”In the UK alone, 8.4m people in the UK struggle to afford a meal, according to the UN’s FAO – despite the UK wasting billions through food waste every year, according to food waste charity WRAP.”
“Unsurprisingly, the proportion of food waste is highest in western countries, while developing countries are more likely to suffer from food loss.”
We have to face up to our waste and make some drastic changes if we are to preserve the sanctity of life on this planet.
Imagine the results if everyone refused to purchase overpackaged produce. Problem is the big retailers make loose produce more expensive, so it becomes a financial decision
Hi Lesley. absolutely right. It’s to their profit line that the plastic profits go. I’ve started keeping the unnecessary packaging where I’m forced to buy a product wrapped in plastic and mailing it back to them with a letter. They are totally culpable. I must admit that I’ve stopped buying as much due to exactly what you said : “loose products are more expensive”..they are, and as a result my purchases have become less. I try to buy in bottles, cans or cardboard where possible, but it does get expensive. For me the cost is worth the price….with my first grandchild on the way, I feel it’s imperative that I cut back on my plastic pollution. Not easy, but I have to give it a go. thanks for dropping by. enjoy your day
[…] AS I said in a previous article: Rwanda, Mauritania and Morocco all have bans in place and it’s worth noting that there is no such ban enforced in the UK, US or China, all of which have highly developed plastics industries; producing and exporting plastic bags across the globe – ergo we in the developed countries ARE TO BLAME!! It’s all about making money, the bottom line and obscene profits, and the manufacturers have no interest in the fact that it’s killing the planet. […]