Here in the UK, 9.25 million tonnes of plastic waste leaves our dockyards and heads to developing countries. Why do we ship it off? Because the UK government wants to offload the responsibility of processing our plastic waste. However, this comes at the significant detriment of importing countries’ economies, environments, and health. For three decades, China imported over 70% of the world’s plastic waste, but that all changed in 2018. In the eight years since China banned th

Single-use soft plastics, such as sachets and crisp packets, are produced on a massive scale but are nearly impossible to recycle. Inadequate investment in waste management results in these plastics ending up in rivers, oceans, streets, and backyards across the world. The trouble with sachets… Soft plastics - defined as flexible plastic materials that do not hold a specific shape - are produced from natural gas or fossil fuels that are extracted from shale (a rock composed of

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

The global trade in plastic waste reveals stark inequalities. For decades, high-income countries like the UK, US, Germany and Japan exported much of their plastic waste to lower-income nationals, often with weak waste infrastructures (OECD 2022, Plastics Treaty Briefing 2023). This practice, often referred to as “waste colonialism,” offloads the environmental burden of consumption onto those least able to manage it. As recently as 2018, Asia imported 70-80% of the world’s tr

Danone is a French food and drink giant and a major plastic polluter. In September 2022, a coalition of anti-plastic NGOs, including ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and Zero Waste France, issued a legal warning to Danone, in an effort to get the mega corporation to publish statistics about its global plastic pollution. However, this warning was ignored. In January of 2023, the coalition filed a lawsuit against Danone over its failure to comply with French due dilige

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

The idea that plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050 has become one of the most widely-quoted statistics in environmental discussions. But this disguises the real nature of the problem. Fish make up around 29% of animal biomass on this planet (Ritchie 2024) but calculating their mass in oceans is very difficult. We can estimate algae concentrations from satellite imagery - a proxy for fish food - but actual marine biomass remains uncertain and rather variable. Est

Founded in 1919, the French company Danone includes brands Evian, Activia, Actimel, Volvic, Alpro, and more. In 2020, it sold products in 120 countries with global sales reaching 23.6 billion euros, making it one of the world’s top ten largest plastic packaging producers. Danone claims to be committed to producing products that preserve the planet’s resources whilst also growing its business. This article will examine how committed Danone really is to reducing its plastic foo

Paper-based packaging. Following the recognition of the harmful environmental and social impact of plastics, paper packaging has been adopted as a sustainable and ‘eco-friendly’ alternative. Paper-based packaging has become the largest source of packaging waste in the European Union, accounting for 41.1% of packaging waste – more than plastic and glass combined. While paper packaging may seem like a sustainable solution, research has highlighted the sustainability challenges

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is an environmental policy that will tackle litter and pollution, reducing the environmental impacts of plastics and leading us towards a circular economy. Whilst the UK’s plans are still faltering, other countries are showing us how it’s done. Germany has an impressive 98% return rate for drinks containers! Consumers can return a wide range of containers, including plastic bottles, cans and glass bottles for financial reward. Norway’s DRS was

Ocean plastic is often misunderstood - and misrepresented. Media images of massive garbage patches floating in the Pacific suggest the ocean is blanketed in rubbish. The reality is more complicated - and arguably more concerning. Of the 460 million tonnes of plastic produced annually around the globe (OECD 2022), 353 million tonnes go to waste and only about 9% is recycled in any meaningful way. Approximately 82 millions tonnes of this waste (of the 9%) is mismanaged - eith