Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic to count scale of plastic crisis ahead of Global Treaty talks
Tens of thousands of people sign up to Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic’s Big Plastic Count to measure scale of UK waste between 11th and 17th March.
More than 30,000 participants have already registered for Greenpeace UK and non-profit Everyday Plastic’s ‘Big Plastic Count’ in a bid to confront ministers with the true scale of the UK’s plastic crisis ahead of the next round of Global Plastics Treaty talks in April.
The UK’s largest survey of household plastic waste will return for a second instalment between 11th and 17th March with the help of members of the public and researchers from the University of Portsmouth, Tearfund, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and Surfers Against Sewage.
Almost a quarter of a million people participated in 2022’s count, which calculated that UK households throw out nearly two billion pieces of plastic packaging each week and only 12 per cent of plastic waste recycled domestically – with the rest being burned, shipped abroad, sent to landfill, or littered.
Statistics from this year’s Count will be used to demonstrate the scale of the UK’s plastic waste problem to ministers, the campaign groups said, and push them to lead the way at the next round of negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty in Ottawa, Canada, from 23 to 29 April.
While the Treaty aims to deliver a legally binding global agreement to tackle plastic pollution, Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic warn it will only deliver if the likes of the UK push for agreement to reduce plastic production by at least 75 per cent by 2040 and drive the wider adoption of reuse and refill models.
Greenpeace UK is also urging government to ban all plastic waste exports by 2027 at the latest, immediately implement an all-in Deposit Return Scheme and Extended Producer Responsibility requirements for recycling and reuse, and end approvals for new incineration facilities.
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A Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs spokesperson said: “Plastic pollution has a devastating effect on our world’s oceans, people, and the environment – which is why the UK is taking major steps to drive forward the change needed to bring an end to plastic pollution domestically and globally.
“We are proud to be joining other high ambition countries in supporting the development of a new international treaty to end plastic pollution, which includes pushing for global action to address microplastics. This is alongside our plans to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme and Extended Producer Responsibility to boost recycling rates and clamp down on litter.”
Laura Burley, Big Plastic Count project lead at Greenpeace UK, added that the Big Plastic Count 2024 could be the “tipping point” for UK government action on plastic. “The first Count saw the British public spend a combined 2,500 days, or seven years, counting our plastic rubbish to prove we’re drowning in plastic and can’t simply recycle our way out of the problem.
“However, the UK government still hasn’t set a legally binding plastic reduction target,” she added. “Now we’re back to gather even more proof so that UK politicians have no excuse not to act on plastic waste at home and overseas.”
Daniel Webb, founder and director at Everyday Plastic, claimed the investigation could be a powerful tool in helping policymakers and the public understand the true extent of the UK’s plastic waste problem.
“Nearly 250,000 people took part in The Big Plastic Count in 2022, coming together to show that urgent change is not just what we need, but what we want,” he said. “The Big Plastic Count is a simple yet impactful way to discover your household plastic footprint whilst contributing vital evidence to pressure our government to lead the way at the Global Plastics Treaty talks.”
Despite thousands of negotiators representing 161 nations descending on Nairobi, Kenya, late last year to thrash out the terms of a landmark Global Plastics Treaty, diplomats failed to reach an agreement and the talks stalled.
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The negotiations coincided with a report by ocean conservation group Oceana claiming that one trillion single-use plastic bottles and cups could be avoided if beverage companies increased the volume of beverages they sell in reusable packaging by just 10 per cent by 2030.
Moreover, an earlier report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate claimed that 15 policy interventions at different stages of the plastic lifecycle could lead to a 30 per cent cut in global plastic production against 2019 levels and a 90 per cent reduction in mismanaged plastics volumes by 2040.
The launch of the 2024 Big Plastic Count comes days after Telegraph reports claimed the government is set to announce a ban on single use vapes early this week as part of efforts to reduce their use by young people.
Ministers are eyeing a crackdown on both vape marketing and flavours in a bid to stop children taking up the habit, while ensuring the technology can still be used as a route to help smokers quit conventional cigarettes. The move could see increased taxes placed on vapes, but it remains unclear if Ministers could move to ban disposable vapes.
The Scottish Government and leading waste charity WRAP have previously called for a ban on disposable vapes in response to concerns over their resource use and contribution to littering and e-waste.
Every week an estimated 1.3 million disposable vapes that together contain 10 tonnes of lithium are thrown away in the UK, according to WRAP, while a study from resource management firm Bywaters found that a “beyond staggering” 129kg of disposable e-cigs were found in London’s waste streams over a two-day period in 2022.
In July councils in England and Wales also urged the government to outlaw the sale and manufacture of single use vapes by 2024 to prevent a flood of disposable e-cigarettes reaching the UK as other countries move to impose restrictions on a rapidly growing source of e-waste.
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