Do your Bit: Plastic Waste Management

Plastic can have a detrimental effect on the environment if it isn't disposed of properly. Researchers say the amount of plastic made in the first ten years of the 21st century is higher than the total amount produced in the whole of the 20th century.

This is why it's so important to control the management of plastic waste. Many problems are occurring within the environment that involve plastic. Containing toxic pollutants that can cause land, sea and air pollution, it can take hundreds of years to break down, so the environmental damage is long-lasting.

Ocean pollution

The plastic pollution in our oceans has far-reaching effects and has a detrimental impact on marine life. This in turn affects communities who rely on fishing, thus damaging the economy and the food supply. When plastic poisons miniscule organisms such as plankton, the larger fish who eat plankton will also be consuming toxins. This means the toxins work their way through the food chain and can eventually be present in the fish on our dinner table!

On land, plastic waste and litter ends up in people's gardens, stuck in hedges, on waste ground, left in parks and on the grass. Animals can eat it, ingesting toxins and potentially blocking their digestive system, while smaller animals such as hedgehogs and squirrels, and birds, can end up tangled in plastic, which can prove fatal.

With some 13 billion tonnes of plastic waste currently polluting our planet, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050 if we carry on at our present rate! Areas of the Pacific, Caribbean and Mediterranean oceans are already clogged up by plastic waste.

Most of us are likely to use plastic in our day-to-day life. Rather than feeling depressed about the increasing plastic pollution and thinking it's inevitable, on the contrary, there are a number of ways to help prevent unnecessary waste.

Bag for life

Use a "bag for life" when you go to the supermarket. Reusing a more durable plastic bag, instead of buying new disposable ones every time you go shopping, is possibly the single most simple thing that anyone can do to reduce plastic waste.

Refill plastic bottles

Instead of buying expensive bottled water, opt for a refillable plastic bottle and carry it with you, either to keep hydrated during the day, or if you're going to the gym. You don't need overpriced bottled water in your life!

Pre-packed meals

If you're buying takeaway meals or boxed salads for your lunch at work, keep your own cutlery in your desk, rather than using the disposable plastic variety that the café normally provides. Also, pack your own lunch, reusing your lunch box every day, rather than buying pre-packaged food. Stop using plastic drinking straws - they crop up everywhere, adding to plastic waste.

Cigarette lighters

If you're a smoker, or you regularly light a stove or fire, always use matches rather than disposable lighters. When you're using plastic lighters, they will sit on a landfill sight for many years and can also kill any animal that mistakenly tries to eat them. Old-fashioned matches are more environmentally-friendly.

Plastic detergent bottles

When shopping for detergents, always buy the cardboard boxes of powder, rather than the plastic bottles of liquid soap, as these aren't always recyclable. The cardboard boxes are easier to recycle and they often work out better value than their liquid counterparts.

Cloth nappies

It may be less convenient to use cloth nappies, but the old-fashioned type is much more environmentally-friendly. Scientists say disposable nappies can take an astounding 500 years to decompose - a recipe for environmental disaster.

Always working to responsible practices and doing everything in our power to protect our planet's future, Solent Plastics provides a wide range of plastic products.

Suitable for commercial, industrial and home use, we offer a large range of Euronorm ECO recycled plastic Euro containers in all sizes, and at low prices - manufactured from recycled polypropylene.

We also stock a selection of recycling waste bins to help schools, businesses and other organisations with their own recycling initiatives.

Each and every one of us has a duty to do our bit!