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Several firms claim to have either started or plan to use eco-friendly cutlery, recycled plastic, biodegradable lids and other ways firms are using to tackle plastic pollution

About 32 per cent of 78 million tones of annual plastic packaging production is dumped in our oceans, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report. And around 43 per cent of plastic manufactured is used for packaging and most of it is single-use, estimated New Delhi-based Energy and Resource Institute.

So let's take a look at 10 different ways in which companies worldwide are tackling their usage of single-use plastics:
Eco-friendly cutlery
Westlife Development Ltd recently said it has replaced all single-use consumer-facing plastic with eco-friendly and biodegradable alternatives. Wooden cutlery has replaced plastic cutlery and paper cups have been taken over plastic cups. Westlife operate 300 McDonald's Corp store in south and west India.

Vistara is the first and only carrier to serve oxy-biodegradable cutlery and pouches to its economy class customers, claimed the airline. It also said it has replaced plastic casseroles with aluminum dishes in economy and china casseroles in premium economy. Also, disposable bowls have been replaced with reusable ones.
Waste collection, recycling
Thirty-two companies, including Coca Cola Inc, PepsiCo, Diageo and Reliance Industries partnered to launch a packaging waste management venture and plan to mobilise more than Rs 1,000 crore for the project.

Parle Agro has joined hands with Indian Pollution Control Association and NEPRA Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd to collect and recycle 100 per cent of its PET bottle waste, according to media reports. Textile and other non-allied industries will use the plastic recycled by this company. The total amount of waste collection was pegged at 310 crore PET bottles, weighing nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of PET waste.
Innovation in packaging
With a circular economy approach, Unilever plans to discard the take-make-dispose model and aims to make its packaging material 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

Last month, Flipkart released a statement saying it had achieved a 25 per cent fall in single-use plastics through various initiatives across its packaging value chain. It also claimed to be working on long-term initiatives like the introduction of eco-friendly paper shreds, replacing bubble wraps and airbags with carton waste shredded material and two-ply roll, among others.

On September 4, 2019, Amazon India announced that it was committed to eliminating single-use plastics from its packaging by June 2020. It plans to substitute plastic dunnage like air pillows and bubble wraos with paper cushions across all its fulfillment centres in India.

Meanwhile, Zomato also said it was constantly working towards providing bio-degradable tamper-proof packaging.
Recycled inputs
Evian, a leading mineral water manufacturer, said all its bottles will be made of recycled plastic by 2025. For this, it intends to develop "pioneering partnerships to redesign its packaging, accelerate recycling initiatives and remove plastic waste from nature". Last year, Nestlé declared that it was committed to make 100 per cent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
Eliminating bottles
Vistara claimed it will remove all 200 ml water bottles from its flights. According to media reports, Air India also said it will replace all 200 ml bottles with larger 1,500 ml water bottles in all its carriers.
No straws
Since February 2019, paper straws are being increasingly used to replace plastic straws in Nestlé products, claimed the company. United Airlines also said it is in the process of eliminating non-recyclable plastic stirring sticks and cocktail picks on airplanes and replacing them with bamboo-made alternatives.
Directing employees
Flipkart claimed that it has stopped using plastic cutlery in its corporate office in Bengaluru, which houses 8,500 employees. Starbucks announced in July 2018 that it will phase out plastic straws from more than 30,000 stores worldwide by 2020.
Biodegradable lids
Starbucks aims to replace plastic straws with lightweight, straw less cold drink lids. The Nitro lid is designed for optimal sips of liquid and foam simultaneously, said Starbucks.
Refill stations
Corporates like Costa, Chilly's and Robeco partnered with Refill UK to open water refill stations across the United Kingdom. This will help promote the usage of reusable bottles and impede the spread of single-use plastics. With almost 200 refill stations, Refill UK estimated that 10 million bottles will be saved if all their refill stations are used just twice a day.

Recycle one bottle for every new one sold: Coca Cola has decided to recycle a bottle or can for every one sold by 2030.

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10 methods companies bet on to cut single-use plastic use

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Several firms claim to have either started or plan to use eco-friendly cutlery, recycled plastic, biodegradable lids and other ways firms are using to tackle plastic pollution About 32 per cent of 78 million tones of annual plastic packaging production is dumped in our oceans, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report.

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How long each single-use plastic product lives.

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Keith Tharp: Reducing single-use plastic at the local level

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Keith Tharp makes the quick case for how small, local efforts and organizations can combine to make a large impact. Keith co-founded Sustainable Seacoast with his wife, a nonprofit organization with the primary goal of eliminating single-use plastic in their local restaurant industry.

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."

But China announced it plans to outlaw the production and sale of non-degradable bags by the end of 2020 in major cities (and everywhere by 2022), as well as single-use straws by late 2020. Markets selling produce will have until 2025 to follow suit.

The push to ban plastic took center stage in 2018 with massive promotions like the award-winning # StopSucking campaign, which featured stars like NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bündchen and Hollywood actor Adrian Grenier pledging to give up single-use plastic straws. Now countries and companies are saying no to plastics by the dozens, and consumers are following along with them.

As the plastics-ban movement hits major milestones - such as China's latest announcement - we decided to define the bottles, bags and straws that are causing this global stir.

What Is Single-use Plastic?

True to its name, a single-use plastic is disposable plastic that's designed to be used once then tossed or recycled. This includes everything from plastic water drink bottles and produce bags to disposable plastic razors and plastic ribbon - really any plastic item you use then immediately discard. While these items can be recyclable, Megean Weldon of the blog and waste-prevention shop Zero Waste Nerd says that's hardly the norm.

"In reality, very few plastic items can be processed into new materials and products," she says in an email. "Unlike glass and aluminum, plastic isn't processed into the same item it was when it was collected by a recycling center. The quality of plastic is downgraded, so eventually, and inevitably, that plastic will still end up in a landfill."

Take a plastic water bottle. Most bottles say they can be recycled - and based solely on their easily recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) composition, they could be. But nearly seven out of 10 bottles end up in landfills or tossed as litter. This problem increased when China decided to stop accepting and recycling plastic in 2018. For municipalities, that meant recycling became significantly pricier, according to The Atlantic, so many municipalities are now simply opting for the budget-friendly landfill over recycling.

Pair this landfill-first approach with the world's ever-growing plastic consumption - humans produce almost 20,000 plastic bottles per second, according to The Guardian and America's waste grew by 4.5 percent from 2010 to 2015 - it's no wonder the world is overflowing with plastic waste.

Plastic Could Outlive Us All

Think banning all of this plastic is overkill? There are some very solid reasons why it makes sense. First, plastic in landfills just doesn't go away. According to Weldon, a plastic bag takes 10 to 20 years to degrade, while a plastic bottle takes almost 500 years. And, even when it's "gone," its remnants remain.

"Plastic never breaks down or goes away; it only breaks into smaller and smaller pieces until they're so microscopic they can be found in our air and our drinking water," Kathryn Kellogg, author and founder of the waste-reduction website Going Zero Waste, says via email.

Some grocery stores have switched to biodegradable plastic shopping bags as a way to meet consumers in the middle, but research shows this is hardly a savvy solution. One study from researchers at the University of Plymouth in England analyzed 80 single-use plastic grocery store bags made of biodegradable plastic over the course of three years. Their goal? Determine just how "biodegradable" these bags really were. Their findings were published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Soil and seawater didn't lead to bag degradation. Instead, three of the four types of biodegradable bags were still sturdy enough to hold up to 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) of groceries (as were the non-biodegradable bags). Those exposed to sun did break down - but that's not necessarily positive either. The small particles from degradation can quickly spread through the environment - think air, ocean or the belly of hungry animals who mistake plastic fragments for food.

Can't We Just Reuse Single-use Plastic?

Another reason many countries are prohibiting single-use plastics is because they shouldn't be reused, despite our best intentions. As many municipalities forego recycling, it's tempting to take matters into your own hands by reusing (and therefore "recycling") plastic bottles and containers. Sure, this may work for bags, but experts say to take caution when it comes to plastic bottles or food containers. One study in Environmental Health Perspectives showed that all plastics used in food containers and plastic bottles could release harmful chemicals if used repeatedly. (This includes those said to be free of bisphenol A [BPA] - a controversial chemical that's been linked to hormonal disruptions.)

While researchers are still analyzing the safety of repeated plastic reuse, experts recommend glass or metal to avoid potentially harmful chemicals. And according to Weldon, it's time we adopt a reuse mindset - be it cotton produce bags, stainless steel straws or a full-on zero-waste.

"The worst thing about any single-use item is that we devalue something to the point that we intend to throw it away," she says. "The convenience culture has normalized this destructive behavior and as result, we produce millions of tons of it every single year. If we change our mindset on what we consume, we will be more aware of the single-use plastic we use and how we can avoid it."
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now's week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.

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What Are Single-use Plastics and Should They Be Banned?

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."

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What Are Single-Use Plastics?

Put simply, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel-based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use-often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.

Though plastic-a chain of synthetic polymers, essentially-was invented in the mid-19th century, it wasn't until the 1970s that its popularity skyrocketed. Manufacturers began replacing traditionally paper or glass staples with lighter or more durable and affordable plastic alternatives; plastic jugs replaced milk jars, for instance. Since the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced, and half of that in the past 15 years alone.

There are many uses for plastic that are not only reasonable but important, such as surgical gloves, or straws for people with disabilities. But these cases make up a small fraction of single-use plastic. According to a 2017 study, more than half of non-fiber plastic, which excludes synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, comes from plastic packaging alone, much of which is for single-use items.

Why Is Single-Use Plastic Bad?

Single-use plastics are a glaring example of the problems with throwaway culture. Instead of investing in quality goods that will last, we often prioritize convenience over durability and consideration of long-term impacts. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. We produce 300 million tons of plastic each year worldwide, half of which is for single-use items. That's nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

Reducing plastic use is the most effective means of avoiding this waste (and the impacts linked to plastic production and use). Carrying reusable bags and bottles is one great way to avoid single-use plastics in our day-to-day lives; more on preventing plastic waste can be found below.

Recycling more plastic, more frequently, reduces its footprint. Polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most commonly recycled plastics and the material that makes up most water and soda bottles, can be turned into everything from polyester fabric to automotive parts. But a whopping 91 percent of all plastic isn't recycled at all. Instead it ends up in landfills or in the environment. Single-use plastics in particular-especially small items like straws, bags, and cutlery-are traditionally hard to recycle because they fall into the crevices of recycling machinery and therefore are often not accepted by recycling centers.

Left alone, plastics don't really break down; they just break up. Over time, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become what are known as microplastics. These microscopic plastic fragments, no more than 5 millimeters long, are hard to detect-and are just about everywhere. Some microplastics are even small by design, like the microbeads used in facial scrubs or the microfibers in polyester clothing. They end up in the water, eaten by wildlife, and inside our bodies. They've even made their way up to the secluded Pyrenees mountain range and down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For wildlife, microplastics can be particularly dangerous; when eaten they can easily accumulate inside an animal's body and cause health issues, like punctured organs or fatal intestinal blockages.

Single-Use Plastics and Pollution

Although single-use plastic pollution accumulates most visibly on our streets, in fact our water suffers even more. Litter can be the first stage in a waste stream that enters waterways as plastics tossed on the street are washed away by rain or travel via storm drains into rivers and streams. Our waterway plastic pollution is particularly concentrated: Just ten rivers carry 93 percent of the world's total amount of plastic that enters the oceans via rivers each year.

In 2015 researchers from the University of Georgia estimated that between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic per year make their way into the oceans via people living within 30 miles of a coast. The majority of this pollution-dominated by single-use plastic waste-comes from countries lacking infrastructure to properly manage waste, particularly in Asia. India, for example, generates 25,940 tons of plastic waste every day but collects only 60 percent of it. (It's also important to remember that waste management is just one part of the global materials cycle. For instance, a lot of the plastic produced in Asian countries is for products that serve U.S. demand-and the United States often sends plastic waste back to these countries for recycling.)

Marine animals bear the burden of this influx of garbage into their habitats. Beached whales have been found with stomachs full of plastic trash. And recent studies found plastic in the guts of 90 percent of the seabirds tested and 100 percent of the turtles. Alarmingly, scientists estimate that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight in 2050. Not only is plastic estimated to kill millions of marine animals and seabirds each year, but it's also contaminating seafood that humans have relied on for millennia, particularly with microplastics in animals' guts.

Our addiction to plastic also has negative impacts on the climate. A recent report showed that plastic production contributes to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions at every point in its life cycle. The process of drilling for plastic's source materials, oil and gas, leads to methane leaking and flaring and is often combined with clearing forests and wetlands that otherwise would have sequestered carbon. Refineries where crude oil is turned into plastic make up one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries in the manufacturing sector. And "cracker plants"-which break, or "crack," ethane molecules, a component of natural gas, into the chemical building blocks of plastic products-are energy intensive and highly polluting. In 2015 a mere 24 of these ethane cracker facilities in the United States had the combined carbon output of 3.8 million passenger vehicles. And the recent fracking boom, resulting in a surplus of oil, is fueling a subsequent rise in cracker plants, too. That's bad news for our carbon reduction goals: if plastic production continues unabated, its greenhouse gas emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030 -equal to adding nearly 300 new coal-fired power plants-even as the need to curb global climate change becomes more urgent.

Plastic pollution-whether in our oceans, piling up on our coastlines, or contributing to our climate crisis-impacts vulnerable communities first. Even if plastic doesn't end up in the ocean, recycled plastic is often exported from high-income countries to developing countries to process. But the sheer amount of plastic waste inundates communities until they are drowning under thousands of tons of plastic trash. This is the case particularly in Southeast Asia, which has begun to import much of the plastic that used to go to China for recycling. Not only does the waste destroy the land itself, but when plastic is incinerated (as is the case for unrecyclable plastic at some illegal facilities) its toxic fumes quickly become a health hazard for residents, leading to everything from skin rashes to cancer. Such is the case with many environmental crises: the worst effects are pushed onto overburdened communities with the fewest resources to fight back.

Should We Ban Single-Use Plastics?

Plastic is putting a strain on waste management systems, our oceans, and vulnerable communities the world over. A wave of single-use plastic bans is sweeping the country and the globe-most often on plastic bags, straws, stirrers, and takeout clamshells. (Some places are going so far as to ban single-use plastics entirely; most notably, India intends to go this route by 2022.) Among the U.S. cities to outlaw plastic straws are Malibu, Berkeley, Seattle, and Miami Beach. Plastic bag bans-ideally accompanied by a fee on paper bags-are also catching on. New York State and Hawaii just passed theirs, set to go into effect in 2020, and California's bag ban, which was passed in 2014, has been shown to have reduced plastic bag usage by 85 percent (with some customers opting to pay a 10 cent fee for thicker plastic bags) and has reduced coastal pollution.

What do the bans accomplish? They prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the waste stream each year. And when it comes to waste that lasts forever, every ton counts. In New York, 23 billion plastic bags are used by residents each year. Not only does banning single-use plastic reduce pollution, but it also reduces demand for plastic production that's contributing to global climate change. But beyond these impacts, the bans have cultural effects. Companies are forced to innovate, rethinking their designs and sourcing sustainable materials. And they help shift consumer mind-sets, as people begin to recognize that exorbitant and avoidable waste is not sustainable.

Large producers of single-use plastics can make a big environmental impact. As part of the Break Free From Plastic movement, Greenpeace volunteers conducted an audit of plastic pollution along coastlines, sifting through tens of thousands of individual pieces across 42 countries to identify the pollution's sources. They discovered that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé products were found most often. Coca-Cola has said that it alone produces three million tons of plastic packaging each year, equivalent to a terrifying 200,000 plastic bottles per minute. Policies like bottle bill laws-which generally require retailers to add a fee on individual bottles, which can then be partially redeemed by customers when they recycle-are a way to increase corporate responsibility for waste while providing a monetary incentive to recycle. In Taiwan, which was once overflowing with so much trash that it spurred public protest and the nickname "Garbage Island," companies now either manage their own waste or subsidize government-run infrastructure. Accompanied by high social accountability and musical garbage trucks, that strategy has proved wildly effective: the island now reports recycling rates above 50 percent.

Some companies are taking initiative on their own. McDonald's swapped its plastic straws for paper at its United Kingdom and Ireland restaurants. Disney is eliminating single-use plastic straws and stirrers at all its theme parks, resorts and properties. And Starbucks, which uses an estimated one billion plastic straws per year, is phasing them out in favor of paper ones. These actions are a response to calls for change and shifting consumer habits.

Avoiding Single-Use Plastics

Individual choices -and the collective shifts they bring about-add up quickly. Making just one simple swap, like purchasing a reusable water bottle, can spare the environment hundreds of plastic bottles each year. Here are a few more tips for ridding your life (and your community) of single-use plastics for good.

Always pack a reusable bag when shopping. (And yes-reusable totes are better for the environment than plastics, recent media claims aside.)

Cook more often, to reduce your use of plastic-heavy takeout containers.

Buy in bulk. Avoid individually packaged goods, like snack packs.

Though buying online sometimes has a lower carbon footprint than shopping in a store (skip the express delivery option, if you can), online shipments are still chock-full of plastic. Your best bet to reduce your footprint and plastic waste? Walk, bike, or take public transit to buy in-person.

Avoid plastic wrap altogether by storing leftovers in reusable containers. Try reusable and compostable beeswax wrap for an easy and decorative option.

Buy a metal or bamboo reusable straw. Pack it alongside reusable cutlery (like wood, bamboo, or metal chopsticks) for sustainable eating on the go.

Talk to the owners of the restaurants you frequent. Ask if they have nonplastic alternatives to plastic straws, stirrers, or bags.

Speak out in support of local plastic bans, whether by calling your local government representative, submitting an op-ed to your city's newspaper, or simply starting conversations with neighbors.

Let companies that make your favorite products know that you care about the packaging. Tweet, call, or send letters to these companies to ask them to switch to more durable, recyclable, compostable, renewable, and/or recycled-content packaging with less fossil fuel-derived plastic.

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Here's everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes.

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if you scroll down the video will be there.

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Only a minority of plastic pollution floats on or near the surface, while the majority sinks to the ocean floor. While it still seems impossible to clean up the Vortexes, huge volumes of plastic debris wash up on beaches and shorelines, where it can be collected relatively easily and without complex technology by the global Parley network of cleanup organizations.

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a turtle stuck in plastic, a bird dead.

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The ocean is home to all kinds of creatures. Striped and spotted fish, chirping dolphins, barking sea lions, and those terrifying great whites. But it's also home to a ton of plastic trash, and that's a problem for all the animals that live there.

Article continues below advertisement

Ocean plastics are a major concern for environmentalists around the world. But how did this garbage get so out of control, and what can we do about it? We explain the pollution history, growth, and solutions in this comprehensive guide below:

Where does ocean plastic come from?&#xA0;

When did ocean plastic pollution start?

The ocean plastics problem didn't begin until plastics went mainstream - and before they could do that, they had to be invented.

In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt created the first synthetic plastic by combining a cellulose derived from cotton with the waxy solid camphor to form celluloid. Hyatt was simply trying to collect the $10,000 reward a billiards company was offering to anyone who developed a good alternative to ivory, the default material used in pool balls at the time. But his breakthrough paved the way for Leo Baekeland to discover the first totally synthetic plastic - one containing no materials found in nature - in 1907.

What are some ocean pollution facts?&#xA0;

It's hard to appreciate the scope of the problem without concrete stats - and the ones available are pretty alarming. Here's what scientists around the globe know about the plastic that goes into our oceans:

Since the 1950s, humans have generated about 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. The substance has now outpaced all man-made materials besides steel and cement, and most of it turns into trash. This stat comes from a widely cited 2017 scientific study, which also found that....

About half of the plastic produced was made in the past 13 years.

By 2015, 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic had already become waste, and only 9 percent of it was recycled. Another 12 percent was incinerated, while 79 percent ended up in landfills or the natural environment. If current conditions continue, the amount of waste will jump dramatically.

By 2050, around 12 billion metric tons of plastic could wind up in landfills or the natural world.

Each year, at least 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean, which is the same as dumping a full garbage truck into the water every minute.

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that every square mile of ocean contains roughly 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.

The world's largest collection of floating trash is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of debris that lies between California and Hawaii. It contains roughly 79,000 metric tons of plastic.

Up to 85 percent of plastic pollution found on shorelines is microplastics. These tiny fragmented pieces of plastic break off when the material is left to degrade under the sun's UV rays, and they are often consumed by animals that live near or in the ocean.

According to UNESCO, plastic waste accounts for the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, along with over 100,000 marine mammals.

By 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Can ocean plastics be recycled?&#xA0;

When it comes to ocean plastic, the priority is always to remove it from the waters or neighboring coastline - and that's becoming easier than ever, thanks to some innovative new garbage-collecting devices. The solar-powered Mr. Trash Wheel keeps the Baltimore Inner Harbor clean through its debris-lifting wheel, while the Danes are currently testing a drone that sucks up ocean pollution like a Roomba.

Source: The Ocean Cleanup

What can ocean plastics be used for?&#xA0;

Clothing companies are spinning ocean plastics into new threads, shoes, and accessories. Adidas has found enormous success with its Boost line of running shoes, sourced from plastic and fishnet fibers, while Timberland has long used recycled plastic bottles to form the soles of their boots. Fashion brands have also turned ocean plastic into yoga pants, swim trunks, jackets, jeans, bracelets, and sunglasses.

How can we stop ocean plastic pollution?

The oceans wouldn't have so much plastic if humans didn't use a ton of it - so the first thing we can all do is consume less of it. Start with single-use plastics, like water bottles, disposable cutlery, bags, and straws. Replace as many of these items as you can with reusable options, and when you order food from a restaurant, decline that plastic fork and spoon.

Ocean advocacy groups also recommend ditching microbeads, the tiny plastic particles embedded in many soaps, scrubs, and toothpastes. Because they're so small, microbeads are especially harmful pollutants. Marine animals can easily gobble them up once they enter the ocean, so when you're shopping for beauty and hygiene products, avoid those problematic little beads.

When you do use plastics, clean them up before you throw them in the recycling bin. Crusty and contaminated items get tossed in the trash when they arrive at the recycling plant, adding to the planet's growing heap of plastic garbage. Giving your takeout container a quick rinse increases its odds of actually being recycled, which in turn keeps it out of the ocean.

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The ocean is home to all kinds of creatures. Striped and spotted fish, chirping dolphins, barking sea lions, and those terrifying great whites. But it's also home to a ton of plastic trash, and that's a problem for all the animals that live there.

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Plastic ban

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Cities and states across the U.S. have been enacting a flurry of restrictions on single-use plastics.

Maine and Vermont just passed statewide bans on plastic bags, while Orlando, Fla., and Palo Alto, Calif., have both pushed through local restrictions on plastics this month.

Since the start of 2019, 200 bills related to single-use plastics...

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Cities and states across the U.S. have been enacting a flurry of restrictions on single-use plastics. Maine and Vermont just passed statewide bans on plastic bags, while Orlando, Fla., and Palo Alto, Calif., have both pushed through local restrictions on plastics this month. Since the start of 2019, 200 bills related to single-use plastics...

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Plastic is a truly extraordinary substance with many useful applications but it does not make sense to produce it for just a single use when it is so long-lived, persistent, and toxic in the wrong environment.

Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean - leaving chemicals and toxic particles (microplastics) behind. A bottle that holds one drink and is disposed of immediately after consumption will take an incredible 450 years or more to break down into microplastic. The majority of all marine litter is plastic and comes from use on the land, traveling via wind and river until it reaches the sea. The energy and economic cost of recycling it is immense and less than 10% is recovered, with 50% going into landfill, some being made into durable goods and much of the rest ending up in the ocean ¹.

Millions of tonnes of plastic floats in the ocean in giant islands of plastic trash. Unknown quantities have broken down into tiny toxic microplastic particles that act in the same way as micro beads, attracting and binding other pollutants and making themselves more toxic in the process. While it floats and degrades, the plastic leaches marine-toxic chemicals into the water.

The effects of plastic bags and bottle caps on seabirds, turtles, seals, whales and other species is graphically illustrated by their deaths from starvation after mistakenly consuming the plastic or from getting tangled up in it.

MarineSafe is involved in #OneLess, a campaign to reduce single-use plastic water bottles in London. ( ZSL.org/oneless )

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Plastic is a truly extraordinary substance with many useful applications but it does not make sense to produce it for just a single use when it is so long-lived, persistent, and toxic in the wrong environment. Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean - leaving chemicals and toxic ...