When you think “it’s just a small plastic bag, what harm can it do?” Well, this is where it can end up.
In the News
Jamaica Bans Styrofoam, Plastic Bags, and Plastic Straws
In January, 2019, Jamaica introduced a ban on single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam in a bid to reduce the impact plastic is having on the environment.
Before the ban, Jamaica was known to have one of the highest per capita uses of plastic bags in the world, with the average person estimated to use around 500 bags each year.
The ban covers the manufacture, importation and distribution of disposable plastic bags, including the formerly ubiquitous black “scandal bags”, named as such due to their opaque black color that prevents others from viewing the scandalous contents contained inside!
One of Jamaica’s youngest parliamentarians spearheaded the movement towards waste reduction on the island. Matthew Samuda is a Jamaican Senator who has long been involved in Jamaican politics, and was appointed to the Upper House of Parliament in 2016 at the age of just 32. Though this new role he saw the opportunity to champion environmental causes.
Samuda has lived his whole life in Kingston, Jamaica, pursuing various entrepreneurial, civic and political areas. He was also a founding partner of Jamaica’s first full-service recycling company, which processed waste material for export, reducing the amount going to landfill.
Senator Matthew Samuda speaking in Parliament.
In an interview, Senator Matthew Samuda discusses Jamaica’s drive to reduce plastic waste:
James Ellsmoor: How was Jamaica able to move so quickly? Did the government involve universities and the private sector?
Matthew Samuda: The Prime Minister, The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, has repeatedly stated his commitment to robust economic growth and protection against environmental degradation. Though often a difficult balancing act, he has continually demonstrated this commitment.
When the motion was adopted by the Senate, The Prime Minister. threw his support behind it. This allowed me to galvanize the support of the varying stakeholder Government Agencies to get the necessary work done. His leadership and support is what allowed the policy to become a reality. I am actually happy that it is viewed as having moved quickly.
Admittedly, there were times where it felt like the process was dragging on, without an end in sight. The policy received support and in some cases “blood, sweat & tears” from many stakeholder groups in society. These groups were represented by a Working Group which was charged with the responsibility to make the policy recommendations and oversee the implementation.
James Ellsmoor: What has been the response to the move? Is this creating any business opportunities?
Matthew Samuda: The response has been mostly positive. However, it is a major cultural change in our consumption pattern for us in Jamaica. So, it has received its fair share of angst and apprehension from some circles.
I would break the responses down by category:
- The Parliamentary Opposition has supported the ban. This gives the benefit of not being subject to a political fight.
- Environmental groups have been the most vocal in civil society in supporting the policy. However, the main groups from the Private Sector being the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Manufacturers & Exporters Association also have all issued statements of support.
- The Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association have also supported the measure with member Hoteliers like Sandals extending the policy regionally to their hotels.
- Groups like Rotary & Kiwanis Clubs locally have also expressed their support.
The major concerns have come from sections of the Manufacturing sector which used to produce the banned items. To be fair, that’s to be expected. The Government, however, has responded through the Development Bank of Jamaica by making financing available for retooling.
Matthew Samuda working on a beach cleanup.
The main concern which has come from members of the public has been related to containerization of waste, which many of the banned bags would’ve previously been used to do. The policy as designed doesn’t ban “Garbage Bags” specifically for this reason. It has created a hybrid of sorts, where some bags are banned and bags for containerization of waste, and as primary food packaging are exempt. This forces persons to pay in some cases for these bags, much like what has been implemented in the UK.
James Ellsmoor: What would you recommend to other countries and regions looking to ban plastics? What lessons can be learned from Jamaica’s experience?
Matthew Samuda: Consult, Engage, and Act!
Any policy change of this nature requires the support of citizens. Generally, persons globally are developing a greater understanding of the impact humans have on our environment and specifically the impact of plastic consumption. This, however, doesn’t reduce the need for any government to consult its citizens and to engage them in the policy process.
In the Jamaican case, the major lesson would be the need for a robust public education campaign once the policy has been determined. I would encourage any Government, to ensure this aspect is paid the attention it requires. This is an important component of the engagement process.
In this consultation and engagement process, it is important to ensure the citizens understand the urgency of now though. We are running out of time to protect our environment from this scourge of plastic pollution. Deadlines then become important, and critical.
FOR FULL INTERVIEW SEE: Banning Plastic: How Jamaica Moved To Save Its Environment
By James Ellsmoore, Forbes,
February 15, 2019
Earlier announcement:
The island nation is also embarking on a campaign to reduce how much plastic enters marine environments. Plastic pollution has become a major concern in Jamaica major concern in Jamaica, and this new announcement builds on earlier efforts to improve recycling programs.
The government will also be encouraging citizens to reduce their plastic use by, among other things, buying tote bags.
“We’re moving towards a ban on single-use plastic, but while we do so, we’re also working on a Plastic Minimisation Project in collaboration with United Nations Environment, and with the support of the Government of Japan, to reduce and manage plastic marine litter from the land-based activities, in an environmentally sound matter,” stated Daryl Vaz, a member of the Jamaica’s ministry of economic growth and job creation.
… In recent years, more than 60 countries have taken action against plastic production in response to growing awareness of a crisis levels of environmental pollution.
More than 380 million tons of plastic are produced each year and the vast majority of this material is thrown away, never to be recycled. A lot of this plastic, up to 13 million tons per year, makes it into the world’s oceans where it causes great harm to marine life. A UN report found that up to 5 trillion plastic bags are used each year, which, if tied together, would span the planet seven times every hour.
Further, a 2014 study estimated that 5.25 trillion pieces of microplastic are in marine environments. By 2050, ocean plastic could outweigh fish. These microplastics are so pervasive that humans actually eat around 70,000 microplastic fibers every year.
When Jamaica’s new law goes into effect by 2019, millions of more tons of plastic will have made it into the world’s oceans. By then, hopefully, plastic production will have peaked…
September 18, 2018
SEE FULL ARTICLE AT: Jamaica Announces Plan to Ban Styrofoam, Plastic Bags, and Plastic Straws
Plastics reach remote pristine environments, impacting birds’ eggs of Arctic birds
Birds’ eggs in High Arctic contain chemical additives used in plastics.
Scientists have warned about the impact of plastic pollution in the most pristine corners of the world after discovering chemical additives in birds’ eggs in the High Arctic.
Eggs laid by northern fulmars on Prince Leopold Island in the Canadian Arctic tested positive for hormone-disrupting phthalates, a family of chemicals that are added to plastics to keep them flexible. It is the first time the additives have been found in Arctic birds’ eggs. The contaminants are thought to have leached from plastic debris that the birds ingested while hunting for fish, squid and shrimp in the Lancaster Sound at the entrance to the Northwest Passage. The birds spend most of their lives feeding at sea, returning to their nests only to breed.
Northern fulmars have an oily fluid in their stomachs, which they projectile-vomit at invaders that threaten their nests. Scientists believe the phthalates found their way into the fluid, and from there passed into the bloodstream and the eggs that females were producing. Jennifer Provencher at the Canadian Wildlife Service said it was worrying to find the additives in birds’ eggs in such a pristine environment. The northern fulmars in the Arctic tend to come across far less plastic than other birds.
Provencher’s tests revealed that mothers passed on a cocktail of contaminants to their unborn chicks. “It’s really tragic,” she said at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC. “That bird, from the very beginning of its development, will have those contaminants inside it.”
She analysed the yolk and albumin of five northern fulmar eggs collected on Prince Leopold Island and found that one tested positive for phthalates. The chemicals disrupt hormones, or the endocrine system, and have been linked to birth defects, fertility problems and a host of metabolic diseases. Many phthalates have been banned in children’s toys on safety grounds.
More work is needed to confirm whether the additives cause any harm. “We know that these chemicals are often endocrine disruptors, and we know that they can interrupt hormonal development and cause deformations. But whether they actually cause any harm in the eggs is something we don’t know,” Provencher said.
Scientists to look for contaminants in other bird populations
Further tests found traces of other plastic contaminants in northern fulmar and black-legged kittiwake eggs collected from the same nesting sites. Eggs from both birds tested positive for SDPAs and BZT-UVs, which are added to plastics to stop them degrading and losing their colour in sunlight, respectively.
Northern fulmars are large, albatross-like birds that soar low over the waves in search of food. More than half a million breeding pairs nest on the cliffs of Britain, with most on the Scottish coastline and Northern Isles.
Because northern fulmars can live for 40 years or more, the birds have been exposed to significant plastic debris in the seas for only a few generations. That meant the birds had not had time to adapt to the changing environment, Provencher said.
Alex Bond, a conservation biologist who studies seabirds and marine debris at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “It’s another example of the often invisible impacts that plastics can have on wildlife. It may not be enough to result in mortality, but it’s certainly not a positive thing, and combined with the pressures from other contaminants – from plastics and from the birds’ prey – contributes to the increased threats that many of the world’s seabirds are facing.”
Lyndsey Dodds, the head of UK marine policy at WWF, said: “Our throwaway culture is strangling the natural world with plastic, choking our oceans and harming our wildlife; 90% of the world’s sea birds have fragments of plastic in their stomach, and now we are hearing even their eggs are not immune from the plastic plague. We need to take urgent action globally and at home to eliminate plastics from nature by 2030.”
Featured Image: Northern fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, nesting in Scotland. Fulmars spend most of their lives feeding at sea. Photograph: Philippe Clément/PA Images
Ian Sample, Science Editor, The Guardian
February 17, 2019
San Pedro La Laguna in Guatemala Bans Plastic Products
The world’s big plastic makers want more recycling so they can keep pumping out plastic
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste says it will spend at least $1 billion to keep plastic waste out of the environment. But its members–like ExxonMobil, Shell, Dow–are undermining the commitment by ramping up their own plastic production. “We do need more recycling infrastructure as part of the solution,” says Graham Forbes, the global plastic leader at Greenpeace. “But when you look at the facts, the companies sitting around the table committing $1 billion largely to collect plastic waste are at the same time part of an almost $200 billion investment in increasing petrochemical production. The numbers just don’t match up.”
In Southeast Asia, as one part of the plan, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste will help cities build badly-needed new recycling infrastructure. But most of the companies that are funding the new effort, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste–a group of 30 corporations that includes ExxonMobil, Shell, Dow, and others in the oil and gas and plastics industries–are simultaneously planning to increase their own plastic production.
[Image: Daniel Salo (Illustration), tastykle3d/Blendswap (mesh)]
The new nonprofit plans to support recycling infrastructure in the places where plastic is most likely to “leak” into rivers and the ocean, and will support Renew Oceans, a project that works to capture plastic before it reaches the ocean. It also will help fund the Incubator Network by Circulate Capital, an investment management firm that invests in startups that prevent ocean plastic. All of these are worthwhile pursuits. But the oil and plastic companies behind the project are missing a key part of the bigger problem: If we’re struggling to deal with plastic waste now, how much worse will things become when the amount of new plastic radically grows? How can companies stop making so much plastic in the first place? As recycling increases, how will their business models change?
In 2018, another group of corporations made a broader commitment: PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and dozens of others pledged to eliminate problematic plastic packaging; switch to reuse models when appropriate; make all of their plastic packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025; make sure that packaging actually is reused, recycled, or composted; decouple plastic from finite resources like oil; and eliminate hazardous chemicals and protect the health of workers making plastic. Procter & Gamble, notably, didn’t make this pledge, called the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, but instead joined the oil and plastic companies in the new alliance.
It’s possible that the new nonprofit could help reduce plastic in some small way. Circulate Capital, one of the beneficiaries, is “looking to invest in all sorts of solutions,” says Rob Kaplan, founder and CEO of the firm. “Waste and recycling is by far the most developed and investable today. But one of the reasons we created our incubation network program is to look at other business models for reduction or reuse or alternative delivery models that could become investable someday. Our view is there’s no silver bullet to solving this problem, and you’re going to need recycling, reduction, reuse, regulation–no single agenda will solve this.” A spokesperson for the Alliance to End Plastic Waste said that the alliance “will rethink how we design certain products to make them more efficient while improving recyclability.”
Reduction, though, isn’t a primary focus of the project. It’s consistent with the stance that industry has taken in the past, says Forbes. “I think if you look historically, this industry, for really the past four or five decades, has really sort of put forward this notion that if we just recycle our way out of things and we make things recyclable, that will [solve the problem],” he says. “It really reinforces this notion that consumers and end users are responsible for what these companies produce.” Now, he says, more enlightened companies are realizing that’s not enough.
“Companies for the first time are acknowledging, a) that we can’t recycle our way out of this crisis, and b) that reduction needs to be an important part of the conversation,” he says. “What we’re really looking for is this movement away from single-use delivery models and putting much more emphasis on reuse, reusability, and going beyond just the material, and looking at a more fundamental shift in how business models operate.”
Adele Peters, Fast Company
January 25, 2019
SEE ALSO:
Corporate Insistence On Single-Use Plastics & Protecting The Environment
Bali Bans Plastic as Indonesia Moves Towards Tackling Marine Pollution
In an unprecedented move last December, Bali Governor Wayan Koster introduced an all-encompassing ban against single-use plastic, including plastic bags, Styrofoam and straws, though some remain skeptical on the effectiveness of the policy in mitigating the devastating impact of plastic waste.
Retailers in the city of Denpasar have already adopted the rule, which will enter into force across the whole island of Bali following a six-month grace period with an ambitious target of cutting marine plastic pollution by 70% within 12 months.
It is a milestone achievement for local activists such as Bye Bye Plastic Bags, a youth-driven movement by teenagers Isabel and Melati Wijsen, whose campaign against single-use plastic resulted in the governor signing a Memorandum of Understanding to ban plastic bags by the end of 2018.
An estimated 80% of the popular holiday destination’s trash is thought to originate from the island itself because of careless littering by tourists and locals alike, as well as the enormous environmental footprint of the hospitality industry.
The new regulation follows in the footsteps of decrees issued in Banjarmasin and Balikpapan in Indonesia’s Kalimantan territory as well as Bogor in West Java that banned the use of plastic bags, while Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, which accounts for approximately 20-30% of the country’s plastic waste, is preparing to introduce a similar rule in 2019.
Critics warn, however, that these government policies only provide a surface solution to the fundamental issue of waste mismanagement in the country.
Indonesia’s plastic problem
Indonesia produces 3.22 million tons of plastic waste every year, making it the world’s second largest plastic polluter after China.
Of this amount, an estimated 0.48-1.29 million tons end up forming giant plastic garbage patches in the sea, despite the government’s ambitious plan to cut ocean plastic by 70% by 2025. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs, committed a generous USD1 billion a year to reach this target at the 2017 World Oceans Summit in Bali.
According to figures by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in 2016, Indonesians use an estimated 9.8 billion plastic bags per annum. In addition, research by Divers Clean Action found that 93.2 million plastic straws are consumed every day on the archipelago – each straw can take up to 200 years to decompose completely.
In 2016, Jakarta imposed an IDR 200 (approx. $0.01) tax on plastic bags, but following the completion of the 3-month pilot, retailers refused to continue the initiative despite an estimated 55% reduction in plastic waste during the project’s short duration.
A proposal to introduce a permanent excise tax on plastic producers instead has since been postponed till 2019 despite claims by the Ministry of Finance that the tax would generate IDR 500 billion ($34.5 million) in revenue.
Do plastic bans offer a cure-all?
Industry representatives, including the Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association, advise that instead of targeting consumers and sanctioning the use of plastic, the focus should shift to improving industrial waste management in the country.
81% of Indonesia’s plastic waste is mismanaged, meaning they are disposed in dumps and in open, uncontrolled landfills, and run a higher risk of contaminating the oceans.
Indonesia lacks adequate infrastructure for waste management and the sector is severely underfunded – weekly waste collection services that are taken for granted in other parts of the world are a foreign concept in the country. Recycling is a predominantly informal sector activity with formal recycling systems capturing less than 5% of the country’s waste.
In addition, taxing or banning plastic bags specifically is no panacea to the scourge of plastic waste. The majority of marine plastic debris – a whopping 70% – comes from food and beverage packaging. Plastic packaging, including food wraps and sauce sachets, for instance, are so small that they often escape collection, and end up on beaches, in rivers and in oceans.
Photo credit: The Plastic Bank
Pioneering trash banks
Social enterprises such as Waste4Change, which offers end-to-end waste management services, or the Plastic Bank, a Canadian venture which has recently launched its blockchain-powered app to help scavengers recycle and monetize plastic waste in Indonesia, are thus taking on the challenge of creating a more responsible waste management ecosystem.
In partnership with SC Johnson, the Plastic Bank will open 8 recycling centers across the archipelago by May 2019, and pays above the market rate to waste pickers for the collected trash to incentivize them to become recycling champions, while earning a sustainable livelihood.
Similarly to the Plastic Bank, Bank Sampah, which translates as ‘waste bank’, provides a grassroots solution for more sustainable waste collection. Modeled on traditional banking services, households and waste pickers deposit their non-organic waste in a neighborhood trash bank (some also accept organic waste, while others encourage composting at home), which is then sold to factories for reuse or recycling. Deposits are weighed and given a monetary value, which can be withdrawn in cash form after deducting a fee to cover the overhead costs of the waste bank.
Making eco-friendly packaging available to all
Avani produces eco-friendly packaging ranging from shopping bags and F&B packaging to hotel amenities from cassava, a tropical root that’s cheap and ubiquitous in the Asian archipelago. Cassava bags biodegrade in a matter of months in contrast to plastic, which takes years to decompose, and dissolve almost instantaneously when placed in hot water.
They also sell bio-ponchos, made out of corn, soy and sunflower seeds, and bio-boxes made out of bagasse, a dry residue left from the extraction of sugar cane juice.
Seaweed to see an end to plastic packaging
Ello Jello cup / Photo credit: Evoware
Evoware partners with local seaweed farmers to help them produce higher quality seaweed, which is used to make seaweed-based edible cups. Ello Jello tastes like jelly, is free from chemicals, can easily dissolve without harming the environment and has a two-year shelf life without the use of preservatives.
Indonesia produces 10 million tons of seaweed each year with plans for production to almost double by 2020, resulting in a massive oversupply that remains unsold. In addition, seaweed farmers grapple with long marketing chains and exploitation by loan sharks. To tackle rampant poverty in these communities, Evoware teaches farmers sustainable farming methods, offers them a new source of income and pays them twice for what they would normally get for their produce.
The socially and environmentally conscious venture’s product line also includes an edible food wrap and a biodegradable sachet that’s suitable to store spices, cereal, coffee powder or even soap, and acts as a natural plant fertilizer.
Trang Chu Minh, in Asia
January, 2019
Bali Bans Plastic as Indonesia Moves Towards Tackling Marine Pollution
Canada’s major grocery stores slow to tackle the mounting problem of plastic waste
When you throw your food’s plastic packaging into a blue bin you probably don’t expect it to be exported across the world to be dumped or burned. But that’s exactly what could happen. And much of this plastic waste comes from Canadian grocery stores.
Exclusive images provided by Greenpeace show mountains of plastic packaging dumped next to palm plantations, near waterways and burned on the roadside in industrial areas to the south of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia imports plastic waste from all over the world, including Canada. Much of it is recycled, but some of the materials may be discarded due to poor quality, contamination or degradation from being improperly stored outside in the tropical climate.
Among the piles were pieces of plastic that came from Canadian grocery stores including a bag from Sobeys, a milk bag from Nova Scotia dairy Scotsburn and a burger bun bag from Ben’s Bakery.
Despite being the source of a huge amount of plastic packaging, Loblaws and Sobeys, the two largest Canadian-owned supermarket chains, don’t have targets — or at least none they were willing to share with Marketplace — to reduce the amount of plastic they sell in their stores.
A milk bag from Nova Scotia sits among the piles of plastic waste Greenpeace investigators documented in Jenjarom, Malaysia. (Greenpeace)
“Things need to change,” said Sylvain Charlebois, an expert in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He says single-use plastics such as those used for food packaging are becoming increasingly controversial and that “companies will need to comply with what the public is beginning to expect of them.”
As Marketplace discovered, that process is much further along in the U.K. compared to Canada. Retailers there have begun to take major steps toward removing plastic from their stores.
‘We took action’
Iceland, a U.K.-based chain that specializes in frozen products, is the first supermarket in the world to commit to removing all plastic from its own products within five years.
Morrisons, another large British chain, has banned single-use plastic bags and allows customers to bring reusable containers for meat and fish. The company has also removed packaging from fruit and vegetables on a trial basis in some stores.
Andrew Thornton, owner of Thornton’s Budgens in London, has taken drastic steps to eliminate as much plastic packaging as possible from items sold in his grocery store. (CBC)
Thornton’s Budgens, a branch of the Budgens chain located in London’s Camden borough, has gone even further, becoming one of the first supermarkets in the world to introduce completely plastic-free zones throughout the store. In 10 weeks, the store eliminated the use of plastic packaging for nearly 2,000 products including fruit, vegetables, bacon, fish, baked goods, cheese and takeout food.
“We are trashing the planet, and for me, plastic has become … one of the things that’s wrong with our society today,” store owner Andrew Thornton said. “We took action because we could and we felt we could make a difference.”
Fruit and vegetables are packaged with compostable beechwood netting made from sawmill offcuts or have no packaging at all. Bakery products are sold as is or packaged in paper, and cheese, fish and some meats are wrapped in wax paper or compostable cellulose wrap. “Our customers love it,” said Thornton, who plans to have the whole store “virtually plastic-free” in three years.
But to take those further steps, he says he will need co-operation from major suppliers like Nestle, Unilever and Coca-Cola to find alternative packaging for their products.
Frankie Gillard of the environmental group A Plastic Planet, who oversaw the project at Thornton’s Budgens, says big supermarkets have the power to get major brands to switch to more sustainable packaging methods. “You basically say, ‘We’re going to de-list your product otherwise,'” she said. “They have the power to make or break a brand. So, of course, they have the power to say how it should be packaged.”
China closes its doors
If public opinion could help push the grocery giants in that direction, those mountains of plastic waste in Malaysia might provide an added sense of urgency.
Until recently, for much of the developed world, recycling meant shipping plastic to China, where it was bought as a commodity and processed cheaply to be used in new consumer products. Western countries had grown used to this solution rather than re-processing all of their materials at home. Nearly half of the world’s plastic trash has been sent to China since 1991, according to a University of Georgia study.
But this all changed in January 2018, when China closed its doors to much of this waste as part of an effort to reduce pollution in the country. The University of Georgia study estimates the move could lead to 111 million tonnes of global plastic waste having nowhere to go by 2030.
Plastic waste is piled next to a waterway near Kuala Lumpur. (Greenpeace)
Marketplace contacted municipal waste managers in cities across Canada to find out what impact the change has had one year on. While the challenges varied across the country, many municipalities are still facing major headaches.
“It’s a buyer’s market out there. We’re not selling material anymore, we’re paying people to take it,” said Matt Keliher, manager of solid waste for the City of Halifax.
The business of finding markets for Canada’s plastic waste has become “hyper-competitive,” he said. Keliher wouldn’t reveal the destination for plastic collected in Halifax’s blue bin program for fear the city could be undercut by other municipalities.
Sharon Howland, head of program management for the City of Calgary, said the municipality used to send 50 per cent of its recyclables to China. Calgary still hasn’t found a destination for some materials, including those plastic clamshells used to package things like cherry tomatoes, salads and berries.
“We’re storing that material in trailers at one of our facilities,” she said.
Sobeys sells many vegetables packaged in plastic. (CBC)
Toronto and Montreal have been less negatively affected by China’s decision. Waste officials in those cities told Marketplace they work with recyclers based in Ontario and Quebec.
However, both cities are still struggling to find markets for what is known as film plastic, which is used for shopping bags, bread bags and dry cleaning bags.
“Film is a problematic one, as all of it was going to China before,” said Nadine Kerr, manager of processing and resource management for the City of Toronto.
And it is this type of plastic — including some apparently shipped from Canada — that Greenpeace found dumped in Malaysia.
Malaysian government statistics provided to Greenpeace show a sharp increase in global plastic exports to that country since China introduced its new restrictions. In the first six months of 2018, Canada shipped more than 16,000 tonnes of plastic to Malaysia.
‘Overwhelmed’
Reuben Muni, Greenpeace’s Malaysia program manager, says the country’s recycling industry is “overwhelmed by the huge influx of imported plastic waste.” He says the global recycling system is broken and that fixing it will require the co-operation of the wealthy countries that produce so much of the waste and the countries that import it.
Since mass production of plastic began in the 1950s, the world has produced 8.3 billion tonnes of it. In Canada, just 11 per cent of plastic gets recycled, and globally that number drops to nine per cent.
Plastic has been found in the Arctic, in the deepest trenches of the oceans, in the air and in our food. By 2050, it is believed there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans per tonnage than fish.
Unlike materials such as aluminum and glass, plastic can only be re-processed a finite number of times. This means even the plastic we do manage to recycle will eventually end up as waste. Once discarded, it takes hundreds of years to break down.
A University of California, Santa Barbara study estimates that 40 percent of plastic is used for packaging. But reducing the amount we use as consumers is difficult when retailers provide few alternatives.
Plastic everywhere
The shelves at Canadian grocery giants Loblaws and Sobeys are filled with plastic-wrapped products.
Fruit, vegetables, eggs, bakery products and even coconuts are wrapped in plastic packaging. Meat and fish are sold in difficult-to-recycle foam trays, and ready-made takeout food is sold in black plastic trays that aren’t accepted for recycling in most of Canada.
Both stores also still provide customers with single-use plastic shopping bags, although Loblaws says it provides a billion fewer bags a year since introducing a small fee in 2009.
Marketplace reached out to both Loblaws and Sobeys to find out their targets to reduce plastic packaging in their stores.
A look at takeout options at a Loblaws store. The black trays are particularly difficult to recycle. (CBC)
In a statement, Loblaws did not reveal any specific targets, but the company did say it recognizes that “plastic packaging is an area that needs considerable attention” and that it will take “incremental steps” to tackle it.
The grocery giant says it has reduced total packaging by 4.9 million kilograms since 2009, but didn’t provide a specific figure for plastic.
Sobeys did not respond to repeated requests to share any steps the chain is taking to cut down on plastic.
‘The big change’
As for Thornton in London, he hopes the big stores will be inspired to follow his lead.
“If we … can do this in 10 weeks, what could a Loblaws, or a Tesco, or a Walmart do if they put all their resources behind it?” he said.
“That’s when the big change happens.”
Featured image: There are mountains of plastic waste near Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur — and some of it originated in Canada. (Greenpeace)
Luke Denne, Greg Sadler, David Common,CBC News,
SEE ALSO: Nestlé, Tim Hortons named Canada’s top plastic polluters of plastic trash
Indonesians have invented eco-friendly biodegradable bags
Creating a new form of asphalt, Ghana is Building Roads out of Plastic
Thanks to Nelplast, plastic bags can now have a new life as part of a road as, what WEF describes as a new form of asphalt. Nelplast shreds the bags and mixes them with sand to create this asphalt, which requires fewer natural resources to create, lasts a long time, and is resilient to boot. And it’s not just plastic bags that can be utilized, but just about any kind of plastic garbage.
Network engineer Nelson Boateng is behind Nelplast; online publication Konbini said he developed the asphalt, which is comprised of 60 percent plastic and 40 percent sand. He created his own recycling machine using scrap metal and started the company to recycle around 4,400 pounds of plastic junk. The Nelplast website says Boateng possesses “over 20 years of experience in the recycling industry.”
WEF’s video said Ghana’s Ministry of Environment already has the paving blocks in one district, and it wants to help Nelplast scale up. In addition to helping clean up the environment, Boateng has created jobs; the company directly and indirectly employs over 230 people.
Nelplast aims “to seek the interest of the environment first in all [their] processes.” For example, the company also sells plastic roofing tiles and offers consulting in launching recycling companies. Their objectives include recycling “about 70 percent of plastics waste generated by the country daily into useful products that can be used for a lifetime.”
Featured image: The end produce – Nelplast.
Lacy Cooke, Inhabit, June 4, 2018
https://inhabitat.com/a-company-in-ghana-is-turning-plastic-bags-into-roads/
Microplastics found in all species of sea turtles
Tests on more than 100 sea turtles – spanning three oceans and all seven species – have revealed microplastics in the guts of every single turtle.
Researchers from the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, working with the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, looked for synthetic particles (less than 5mm in length) including microplastics in 102 sea turtles in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean.
Synthetic particles were found in all of the sea turtles, the most common being fibres, which can potentially come from sources including clothing, tyres, cigarette filters and maritime equipment such as ropes and fishing nets.
“The effect of these particles on turtles is unknown,”said lead author Dr. Emily Duncan of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
“Their small size means they can pass through the gut without causing a blockage, as is frequently reported with larger plastic fragments.
“However, future work should focus on whether microplastics may be affecting aquatic organisms more subtly.
“For example, they may possibly carry contaminants, bacteria or viruses, or they may affect the turtle at a cellular or subcellular level. This requires further investigation.”
In total, more than 800 synthetic particles were found in the 102 turtles studied.
But researchers only tested part of each animal’s gut – so the total number of particles is estimated to be about 20 times higher.
Researchers do not currently understand how synthetic particles are ingested by turtles, but the likely sources are polluted seawater and sediments, and eating via prey or plants.
Professor Bendan Godley, senior author of the study, added: “It really is a great shame that many or even all of the world’s sea turtles have now ingested microplastics.
“At the moment, this is not the main threat to this species group but it is a clear sign that we need to act to better govern global waste.”
Necropsies were carried out on the turtles after they died either by stranding or bycatch (accidental catching in fishing).
The study sites were North Carolina, USA (Atlantic), Northern Cyprus (Mediterranean) and Queensland, Australia (Pacific).
The turtles with the most synthetic particles were in the Mediterranean – thought to have higher rates of contamination than the Atlantic or Pacific – but this study’s sample sizes and methodology did not allow for detailed geographical comparisons.
Dr. Penelope Lindeque of Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said: “While this study has been successful, it does not feel like a success to have found microplastic in the gut of every single turtle we have investigated.
“From our work over the years we have found microplastic in nearly all the species of marine animals we have looked at; from tiny zooplankton at the base of the marine food web to fish larvae, dolphins and now turtles.
“This study provides more evidence that we all need to help reduce the amount of plastic waste released to our seas and maintain clean, healthy and productive oceans for future generations.”
Louise Edge, plastics campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “This important research demonstrates the breadth of our plastics pollution problem.
“Our society’s addiction to throwaway plastic is fuelling a global environmental crisis that must be tackled at source.”
The paper, published in the journal Global Change Biology, is entitled: “Microplastic ingestion ubiquitous in marine turtles.”
Featured image: All 102 sea turtles necropsied by scientists were found to have ingested plastics. Kirt Edblom / CC BY-SA 2.0
University of Exeter, 5 December 2018
Drinking straws made from rice that can be eaten after use
Plastic Bag Removed from Sea Turtle’s Esophagus
In yet another troubling reminder of the hazards that plastic products can pose to marine life, an aquarium in South Africa has shared a video online that shows a plastic bag and other trash being removed from a sea turtle’s esophagus.
According to Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, the sea turtle was found washed up on a beach in the town of Struisbaai earlier this month. Visibly sick and “very weak,” the turtle was rushed to the aquarium where veterinarians got to work figuring out what was wrong with the animal.
The aquarium said in a Friday blog post that a lung infection or pneumonia had initially been suspected as the possible culprit, but antibiotics and other medication didn’t seem to help ― and the animal only got weaker as the days went by. Further tests finally revealed that there was some sort of blockage in the sea turtle’s esophagus.
A video shows a veterinarian using a special endoscope to remove the obstruction. A large piece of black plastic is seen being removed from the turtle’s throat, which the aquarium said had been part of a plastic bag.
As of Friday, the turtle remained in critical condition following the procedure.
A turtle was still said to be in critical condition after a plastic bag was removed from its throat.
For more news and video, head here: https://t.co/4T8cv7snH1 pic.twitter.com/wYM225S5Zf
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 3, 2018
As Two Oceans noted, plastic bags resemble the rescued turtle’s natural food — sea grasses and other plants.
resembles the sea plants that are central to its diet (left).
The sea turtle was found on the South African beach at around the same time that a dead sperm whale washed up in a national park in Indonesia, its stomach chock-full of plastic waste. About 13 pounds of plastic trash was found in the whale’s stomach, including 115 drinking cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, two flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other assorted pieces of plastic.
This story is part of a series on plastic waste, funded by SC Johnson. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the company.
Dominique Mosbergen, HuffPost,
November 18, 2018
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/sea-turtle-plastic-bag-throat-video_n_5c04ec58e4b04fb211698b69
Dead whale found with stomach full of plastic: 115 cups, 2 flip-flops and much, much more
Santoso said researchers from wildlife conservation group WWF and the park’s conservation academy found about 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste in the animal’s stomach containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other assorted pieces of plastic.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 260 million people, is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter after China, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. It produces 3.2 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste a year, of which 1.29 million tons ends up in the ocean, the study said.
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s co-ordinating minister of maritime affairs, said the whale’s discovery should raise public awareness about the need to reduce plastic use, and had spurred the government to take tougher measures to protect the ocean.
“I’m so sad to hear this,” said Pandjaitan, who recently has campaigned for less use of plastic. “It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives.”
He said the government is making efforts to reduce the use of plastic, including urging shops not to provide plastic bags for customers and teaching about the problem in schools nationwide to meet a government target of reducing plastic use by 70 percent by 2025.
“This big ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy,” he told The Associated Press.
November 20, 2018
Dead whale found with stomach full of plastic: 115 cups, 2 flip-flops and much, much more
Shampoo bars could replace the millions of plastic shampoo bottles we throw out annually
Fishermen in Brazil haul in fishing net containing way more plastic than fish
European Parliament votes to ban single-use plastics for which alternatives are available.
The European Parliament has voted for an extensive ban on single-use plastics to stop pollution entering the world’s oceans. Products including plastic plates, cutlery, straws and cotton buds will all be eradicated from 2021 under the plans.
The ban is intended to affect items for which valid alternatives are available, which are estimated to make up over 70 percent of marine litter.
In a far-reaching set of proposals, EU lawmakers also set out plans to make companies more accountable for their plastic waste. The regulations will now have to be approved in talks with member states, some of which are likely to push back against the strict new rules.
The plan was initially proposed in May after a wave of public opposition to single-use plastic swept across the continent.
A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river.
A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta.
A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila.
Fragments of plastic have been found everywhere from Arctic sea ice to fertilisers being applied to farmland.
Animals as small as plankton and as large as whales are known to eat plastic, and as tiny shards enter the human food chain they seem to be ending up inside humans as well.
While much still remains unknown about the impact plastic is having on the environment and human health, environmentalists have called for urgent measures from industry and governments to curb the flow of plastic.
“We have adopted the most ambitious legislation against single-use plastics. It is up to us now to stay the course in the upcoming negotiations with the council, due to start as early as November,” said Belgian liberal Frederique Ries, who was responsible for the bill.
Under the new rules, member states would have to ensure that tobacco companies cover the cost of cigarette butt collection and processing in a bid to reduce the number entering the environment by 80 percent in the next 12 years.
Similar measures would apply to producers of fishing gear, who would have to help ensure at least 50 percent of lost or abandoned fishing gear containing plastic is collected per year. Fishing gear accounts for over a quarter of waste found on Europe’s beaches, and “ghost fishing” is thought to be responsible for thousands of whales, seals and birds dying every year.
EU states would also be obliged to recycle 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2025, and producers would have to help cover costs of waste management.
Environmental groups have criticised companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi and Nestle, which collectively are responsible for a vast proportion of plastic waste, for not doing enough to tackle pollution.
Other plans set out by MEPs included an intention to reduce consumption of other plastic items for which there are no viable alternatives by at last a quarter by 2025. These include various food containers and fast food cartons.
The parliament backed the range of proposals with a 571-53 majority. “Today’s vote paves the way to a forthcoming and ambitious directive,” said Ms Ries. “It is essential in order to protect the marine environment and reduce the costs of environmental damage attributed to plastic pollution in Europe, estimated at €22bn (£19bn) by 2030.”
Many European nations have already proposed their own measures to cut back on single-use plastics. On Monday the UK government announced plans to ban plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds in a bid to “turn the tide on plastic pollution”.
By Josh Gabbatiss, Science Correspondent, Independent
October 24, 2018
Microplastics found in human stools for the first time in Austrian study
Study suggests microplastics may be widespread in the human food chain.
Microplastics have been found in human stools for the first time, according to a study suggesting the tiny particles may be widespread in the human food chain. The small study examined eight participants from Europe, Japan and Russia. All of their stool samples were found to contain microplastic particles.
Up to nine different plastics were found out of 10 varieties tested for, in particles of sizes ranging from 50 to 500 micrometres. Polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate were the plastics most commonly found. On average, 20 particles of microplastic were found in each 10g of excreta. Microplastics are defined as particles of less than 5mm, with some created for use in products such as cosmetics but also by the breaking down of larger pieces of plastic, often in the sea.
Based on this study, the authors estimated that “more than 50% of the world population might have microplastics in their stools”, though they stressed the need for larger-scale studies to confirm this.
The Environment Agency Austria conducted the tests using a new procedure the researchers said shed fresh light on the extent of microplastics in the food chain. Samples from the eight subjects were sent to a laboratory in Vienna where they were analysed using a Fourier-transform infrared microspectrometer.
Philipp Schwabl, a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna who led the study, said: “This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected, that plastics ultimately reach the human gut. Of particular concern is what this means to us, and especially patients with gastrointestinal diseases.”
Previous studies on fish have also found plastics in the gut. Microplastics have been found in bottled water and tap water around the world, in the oceans and in flying insects. A recent investigation in Italy also found microplastics present in soft drinks. In birds, the ingestion of plastic has been found to remodel the tiny fingerlike projections inside the small intestine, disrupt iron absorption and add to stress on the liver.
“The smallest microplastic particles are capable of entering the bloodstream, the lymphatic system, and may even reach the liver,” said Schwabl, who will report on the study at UEG Week in Vienna on Tuesday. “Now that we have the first evidence for microplastics inside humans, we need further research to understand what this means for human health.”
Plastic particles in the gut could affect the digestive system’s immune response or could aid the transmission of toxic chemicals and pathogens, the researchers said.
The sources of the plastic found in the stool samples is unknown. The people studied kept a food diary that showed they were all exposed to plastics by consuming food wrapped in plastic or drinking from plastic bottles. None of those participating in the study were vegetarians, and six of the group ate sea fish.
Scientists still know little about the effects of microplastics once they enter the human body, though many studies have already found them present in foods such as fish that people are likely to eat. The UK government has launched a study of health impacts. . .
By Fiona Harvey and Jonathan Watts, The Guardian
October 22, 2018
Nestlé, Tim Hortons named Canada’s top plastic polluters of plastic trash
Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines by volunteers in September could be traced back to five companies: Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s, an audit of plastic polluters led by Greenpeace Canada has found.
Greenpeace and other environmental advocacy groups working on the international Break Free from Plastic campaign looked for branding on 10,000 litres of food wrappers, plastic bottles, plastic-lined coffee cups and other plastic trash collected in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax during World Cleanup Day on Sept. 15 and counted the results as part of their first Canadian plastic polluters brand audit.
Sarah King, head of Greenpeace Canada’s oceans and plastics campaign, said its first brand audit was in the Philippines last year because the group found that cleanups could only do so much.
“You do a cleanup one day, and the next day the beach is filling up with plastic again,” she said. “We really wanted to look at the companies that were responsible for the bulk of this trash that we were finding on the beaches.”
These are the top 10 plastic items found during shoreline cleanups across Canada on Sept. 15. (Greenpeace Canada)
According to King:
- Over 75 per cent of the 10,000 litres of trash collected during the Canadian cleanups was plastic.
- Of that, 2,231 pieces had identifiable branding, and 700 other pieces had branding that couldn’t be identified.
- Food wrappers were the most common item found, followed by bottles, cups, bottle caps and shopping bags.
- The top five companies accounted for 46 per cent of the identifiable branded trash.
Many of the companies have multiple brands — for example, Nestlé sells treats ranging from Drumsticks ice cream cones to Aero and Coffee Crisp chocolate bars, along with bottled water under brands such as Aberfoyle and Montclair, and PepsiCo makes Quaker granola bars and Frito-Lay chips.
Volunteers go through food wrappers found on a beach in Vancouver during World Cleanup Day. Food wrappers were the top branded item found. (Amy Scaife/Greenpeace)
When brands were counted instead of the companies themselves, the top offenders, accounting for 40 percent of identifiable trash were, in order:
- Nestlé Pure Life.
- Tim Hortons.
- McDonald’s.
- Starbucks (the company came 7th overall).
- Coca-Cola.
Worldwide, Break Free from Plastic member organizations found that the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone, Mondelez International, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Perfetti van Melle, Mars Incorporated and Colgate-Palmolive were the most frequent multinational brands collected in cleanups.
CBC has reached out to the five companies cited in the Canadian audit.
In response, Tim Hortons said in an email that is working on a packaging strategy that takes into account its environmental footprint.
Nestlé suggested in an email that the real problem was improper disposal, saying the results “demonstrate a clear and pressing need for the development of proper infrastructure to manage waste effectively around the world.”
It added that the company’s goal is to make 100 per cent of its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025, and it is also exploring packaging solutions with its industry partners to reduce plastic usage and develop new approaches to eliminating plastic waste.
Recyclability not the solution: Greenpeace
King thinks much of the trash found during cleanups may have been disposed of properly, but spilled into the environment by wind or storms.
Based on the Canadian results, she added, it didn’t seem that easily recyclable items, like plastic bottles, were less common than ones that are more difficult to recycle, like coffee cups or food wrappers.
Many of the companies cited have more than one brand. When Greenpeace looked at brands only, both Tim Hortons and Starbucks made the top five. (Amy Scaife/Greenpeace)
She hopes the findings of the audit will have an impact on the companies that were responsible, and get them to recognize that simply making single-use plastics recyclable isn’t the solution.
“We really want the companies to recognize, ‘Look the efforts that you’ve made or that you’re stating that you’re making aren’t good enough.’ You actually have to reduce your production of these products if want to be sure that they’re not going to be ending up in their environment, in our oceans and polluting communities.”
King firmly believes that it’s the companies that make the products that should be responsible, not the consumer. “We aren’t given a lot of options for buying food and household products in plastic-free packaging,” she said.
She thinks consumers can have the biggest impact by pushing companies for reusable and refillable alternatives to single-use plastic packaging.
. . . Dirk Matten, a professor who holds the Hewlett-Packard Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility at York University’s Schulich School of Business, said he thinks Greenpeace’s audit is a “very skillful and effective” way to address plastic pollution. “These companies actually use plastic that contributes to this massive problem to deliver their products and, I think by this, are forced to think about a more environmental friendly way of doing this,” he said.
He added that Greenpeace’s report could influence organizations like governments and universities in their purchasing decisions. “To the corporations, I would say don’t fight it,” he said. “Collaborate, address this constructively.” He added that Greenpeace is an international organization with a lot of experience that could be used as a resource in finding solutions.
As for consumers, he says, they should also be disciplined about their use and disposal of these products.
See also:
By Emily Chung, Science and Technology Writer, CBC News
October 10, 2018
SEE FULL ARTICLE AT:
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé found to be worst plastic polluters worldwide in global cleanups and brand audits
A Greenpeace diver holds a banner reading “Coca-Cola is this yours?” and a Coke bottle found adrift in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Even hundreds of kilometres from any inhabited land, plastic can be found polluting our environment. © Justin Hofman / Greenpeace
“These brand audits offer undeniable proof of the role that corporations play in perpetuating the global plastic pollution crisis,” said Global Coordinator of Break Free From Plastic Von Hernandez. “By continuing to churn out problematic and unrecyclable throwaway plastic packaging for their products, these companies are guilty of trashing the planet on a massive scale. It’s time they own up and stop shifting the blame to citizens for their wasteful and polluting products.”
The audits, led by Break Free From Plastic member organizations, found that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone, Mondelez International, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Perfetti van Melle, Mars Incorporated, and Colgate-Palmolive were the most frequent multinational brands collected in cleanups, in that order. This ranking of multinational companies included only brands that were found in at least ten of the 42 participating countries. Overall, polystyrene, which is not recyclable in most locations, was the most common type of plastic found, followed closely by PET, a material used in bottles, containers, and other packaging.
The top polluters in Asia, according to the analysis, were Coca-Cola, Perfetti van Melle, and Mondelez International brands. These brands accounted for 30 percent of all branded plastic pollution counted by volunteers across Asia. This year’s brand audits throughout Asia build upon a week-long cleanup and audit at the Philippines’ Freedom Island in 2017, which found Nestlé and Unilever to be the top polluters.
“We pay the price for multinational companies’ reliance on cheap throwaway plastic,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines Campaigner Abigail Aguilar. “We are the ones forced to clean up their plastic pollution in our streets and waterways. In the Philippines, we can clean entire beaches and the next day they are just as polluted with plastics. Through brand audits, we can name some of the worst polluters and demand that they stop producing plastic to begin with.”
In North and South America, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé brands were the top polluters identified, accounting for 64 and 70 percent of all the branded plastic pollution, respectively.
“In Latin America, brand audits put responsibility on the companies that produce useless plastics and the governments that allow corporations to place the burden, from extraction to disposal, in mostly vulnerable and poor communities,” said GAIA Coordinator for Latin America Magdalena Donoso. “BFFP members in Latin America are exposing this crisis and promoting zero waste strategies in connection with our communities.”
In Europe, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé brands were again the top identified polluters, accounting for 45 percent of the plastic pollution found in the audits there. In Australia, 7-Eleven, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s brands were the top polluters identified, accounting for 82 percent of the plastic pollution found. And finally, in Africa, ASAS Group, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble brands were the top brands collected, accounting for 74 percent of the plastic pollution there.
“These brand audits are putting responsibility back where it belongs, with the corporations producing endless amounts of plastics that end up in the Indian Ocean,” said Griffins Ochieng, Programmes Coordinator for the Centre for Environment Justice and Development in Kenya. “We held cleanups and brand audits in two locations in Kenya to identify the worst corporate polluters in the region and hold them accountable. It is more urgent than ever, for the sake of communities that rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, health and well-being, to break free from plastic.”
Bread Free From Plastic is calling on corporations to reduce their use of single-use plastic, redesign delivery systems to minimize or eliminate packaging, and take responsibility for the plastic pollution they are pumping into already strained waste management systems and the environment. While the brand audits do not provide a complete picture of companies’ plastic pollution footprints, they are the best indication to date of the worst plastic polluters globally.
Notes:
For the entire set of results, please find Break Free From Plastic’s brand audit report here: https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/globalbrandauditreport2018/
[1] Break Free From Plastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in September 2016, nearly 1,300 groups from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. These organizations share the common values of environmental protection and social justice, which guide their work at the community level and represent a global, unified vision. www.breakfreefromplastic.org
Photo and video:
For photo and video from brand audits around the world, click here: https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJWQQ88P
by Greenpeace International
Notes:
For the entire set of results, please find Break Free From Plastic’s brand audit report here: https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/globalbrandauditreport2018/
[1] Break Free From Plastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in September 2016, nearly 1,300 groups from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. These organizations share the common values of environmental protection and social justice, which guide their work at the community level and represent a global, unified vision. www.breakfreefromplastic.org