The UK produces an exorbitant amount of plastic packaging waste (such as food and snack wrappers and single-use plastic bags).In 2024, the UK produced an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of plastic waste. Only 17% of that plastic waste was recycled, while over 58% was burned in incinerators and the remainder was sent to other countries to be dumped in landfills, according to The Big Plastic Count by Greenpeace. Despite increased customer awareness of plastic packaging’s harmf

What if your latest purchase wasn’t really a choice? What if the product was designed to be replaced, the promise of “free” delivery, and the item you threw away never really went away? What if the problem isn’t that we aren’t buying the wrong things, but that we have been encouraged to buy far more than we actually need? These are the questions at the centre of Netflix's Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy, a thought-provoking documentary that takes a critical look at modern co

England’s waste system faces a second problem closely connected to lock-in: capacity. The Government’s statutory 2042 target requires residual waste to fall to 287 kg per person, while the interim target is 437 kg per person by 2030⁠. Defra’s modelling indicates that collection and packaging reforms will contribute towards the reduction, but further policies will be required to close the remaining gap. That matters because incinerators are long-lived assets. If more capacity

As plastic is part of our lives, using innovative solutions for waste management may be necessary. However, this can mislead the public into believing that plastic use is sustainable. When considering the consequences and complexities, these may not be sustainable solutions at all. Improved recycling collections - As plastic is part of our lives, it is obviously desirable to recycle as much of our waste as possible. Innovative collection methods may lead to higher rates of r

Incinerators are built to operate for decades. That creates an awkward question: what happens when councils are trying to recycle more and produce less waste, but long-term contracts still depend on keeping incinerators supplied? This tension is known as incinerator lock-in. In simple terms, infrastructure and contracts designed around a steady supply of waste can make it harder or more expensive to reduce the amount being burned. In an August 2026 open letter, the United Kin

Sustainable plastic solutions attempt to solve the plastic problem with innovation. Rather than reducing plastic production and use, ‘sustainable’ bioplastics have been developed, and better waste management processes have been proposed instead. Improved recycling collections have been suggested as a sustainable plastics solution. The more plastic that is appropriately collected, the more plastic gets recycled. However, a more complex system of collection may confuse or demot

My recent post highlighted Ghana’s plight in waste colonialism related to the textile trade. This time we focus on Chile. Chile is Latin America’s biggest consumer of clothes and, in 2022, imported around 124,000 tonnes of second-hand textiles from across the world. In the same year, it was estimated that 300 hectares in northern Chile had been contaminated by textile waste. The world’s chronic overproduction of textiles and fast fashion culture are a big part of this story.

Plastic pollution should be on everyone’s mind, with single-use plastic items such as plastic bags and snack and food wrap packaging being at the top of the list. These items pose a serious risk globally by destroying natural environments, creating unmanageable waste, and increasing health hazards. A typical UK household generates 20 to 30 items of single-use plastic a week (most of which comprises soft plastic packaging such as film lids and food wrappers). This has led to a

Transitioning to a circular economy would mean moving away from a ‘throwaway’ economy and towards a system which prioritises resource-efficiency, reuse and repair, and designing out waste entirely. The UK lacks a set of ambitious policy recommendations that would structure this transition. A Circular Economy Plan for the UK was originally scheduled for autumn 2025. Yet, given the upcoming leadership change, climate organisations and some industry leaders worry that the govern

According to the UN, clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2015 and the world produces around 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year, 89% of which contains synthetic fibres. If we continue with our throwaway fast fashion culture, this situation will only get worse. Sub-Saharan Africa is a major destination for the Global North’s unwanted clothing, receiving 70% of the world’s donated clothing. Shockingly, some of these clothes arrive in Africa having been slashed t

Africa is disproportionately affected by plastic pollution despite contributing just 5% of global plastic production. Waste dumping, discarded textiles and plastic products sold by multinational corporations reflect a wider environmental injustice whereby waste generated in the Global North is exported to lower-income countries. This has prompted many environmental campaigners to describe the practice as plastic colonialism. Yet this is only part of the story. Alongside the

As the public has become more concerned about plastic, Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden how harmful their products are to the environment. Coca-Cola is the world’s biggest plastic polluter and yet they present themselves as a sustainable brand. Coca-Cola has used deceptive advertising and misleading claims about their plastic packaging. They have presented recycling as the solution to the plastic problem, whilst producing more and more plastic. They have offered various vol

Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden the damage its ever increasing plastic packaging does to the environment. Their deceptive advertising and push for recycling as the primary solution can be seen as examples of greenwashing. Many voluntary promises for sustainable change have been made and abandoned. These misleading marketing claims can be seen as part of a wider tactic to distract the public and delay and derail legislation that restricts plastic use. Coca-Cola has lobbied

In response to public pressure concerning plastic pollution, Coca-Cola launched their World Without Waste campaign in 2018. They appeared to accept some responsibility for the waste they produce and announced voluntary pledges for environmental change. In their 2022 business sustainability report, Coca-Cola presented voluntary targets for packaging. These included aiming for 50% recycled content in packaging, selling 25% of their products in reusable packaging, and collectin

Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) are designed to incentivise recycling and reduce litter by assigning monetary value to drinks containers. Hailing from an era when soft drinks, milk and beer companies collected, washed and refilled glass bottles, DRS are now tackling modern waste issues. However, DRS alone doesn't address the key issues: overproduction of single-use plastics. Extended Producer Responsibility Whilst DRS is often discussed separately, it is in fact a form of Extend

Recycling is often proposed as the answer to plastic pollution. In practice, however, recycling is totally failing - both technologically and economically. Most plastic is not recycled (under 9% globally), and even when it is, the process often degrades the material, making it more toxic and limiting its future use. Mechanical recycling, the most common method, involves melting and remolding plastic. This causes the plastic quality to drop with each cycle, ending up in a plas

Coca-Cola has a history of deceptively marketing its products as sustainable. Tactics include campaigns to manipulate consumers and using misleading content in advertising and on packaging. Litter Bugs In the 1950s Coca-Cola, along with other beverage corporations, created the Keep America Beautiful advertising campaign. This campaign pushed the idea that consumers are responsible for litter, promoting community ‘clean-ups’ and deflecting corporate responsibility. In 2024, C

You might have heard about Scotland’s ‘black bag’ waste ban. The ban is set to cover all biodegradable municipal waste (BMW), in both the domestic and commercial sectors. BMW encompasses the significant portion of municipal waste that breaks down naturally, e.g. food waste, garden waste, paper, cardboard, and natural fibres. But you may question: isn’t waste breaking down naturally a good thing? After all, isn't biodegradable waste preferable to plastics and metals that persi

Millions of new clothes are produced every year for the $2.5 trillion global fashion industry. Many of these items are inexpensive fast-fashion pieces made of plastic fabrics derived from petrochemicals, such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon. Buying clothing made of plastic fabrics may seem like an affordable and harmless way to keep up with the latest trends. However, these clothes can have a major impact on your health. Every time you wash a polyester shirt or jacket, the p

The UK’s recycling rates are around 70% lower than in leading Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) countries with return rates exceeding 90% such as Germany, Finland and Norway. Financially incentivising recycling and reducing waste is important, but our end goal must be a reuse, not throwaway, economy. A DRS that includes glass is key. Glass is infinitely recyclable (although currently energy intensive). Inclusion of glass, as seen in Wales’ proposed model, helps improve resource re