THE tide of plastic in our lives is unrelenting. From food wrapping to toys, water bottles to disposable cutlery, pointless packaging and endless disposable coffee cups, the cost of single-use plastic to the environment is high.
POLL: Which types of plastic waste most bother you? Help the Sunday National choose its focus
We use 20 times as much plastic as we did 50 years ago. One million plastic bottles are sold around the world every minute. Every year in Scotland, 20 million water bottles are littered. A study for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reports that between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year. By 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.
Scotland should have the determination, insight and ambition to change our relationship with plastic and help preserve our natural environment for the future. Consumption of plastic in Scotland isn’t just an issue for us – people in countries already affected by climate change are feeling the impact of our lifestyle: those who are least responsible for climate change are suffering its gravest consequences.
The Sunday National makes a promise today on how we make this newspaper. The newsprint we use is 62.8% recycled, and we aim to make that figure even higher.
Across Scotland there are scores of organisations and hundreds of campaigns working to improving our environment, reduce waste and preserve our resources, and much of that hard work is being carried out by volunteers in communities. We’re fully behind the recent action from the Scottish Government to ban plastic cotton buds and microbeads, take action on plastic straws and the deposit return scheme (currently open to consultation) should see some benefits over time.
But the scale of the problem is immense. As Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, told us: “Plastic pollution is plaguing land and sea, killing wildlife and wasting scarce resources. “We’re surrounded by unnecessary packaging, which could be reduced, replaced or, best of all, eliminated completely.”
We want to hear from our readers about what comes next – what plastic or packaging can Scotland live without? What most annoys you – let us know and we’ll campaign on this issue with you from next weekend.
And you can answer our poll by clicking here, to tell us which types of plastic waste most bothers you:
- Black plastic trays
- Plastic film on food (salad bags or prewrapped veg, for example)
- Non-recyclable butter tubs and yogurt pots
- Delivery packaging from online shopping
- Polystyrene (EPS) food and drink containers
- Glitter
- Wet wipes
- Single-use coffee cups
- Excessive/non-recyclable toy packaging
- Excessive/non-recyclable cosmetic and beauty product packaging
- Packaging from crisps, sandwiches and sweets
And if you have more ideas for how Scotland can tackle plastic use, please let us know too.
Derek Robertson, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Unnecessary packaging and plastic, often found as litter in our streets, open spaces and seas, are symptoms of us living unsustainably.”
Jill Farrell, chief operating officer, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Plastics and packaging are hugely complex issues for us all as consumers. They’re all around us, and while they often fulfil an important function, for example in keeping food fresh, they are often unnecessary or designed in a way that means they cannot be used again.
“I’m extremely interested in the results of the Sunday National’s poll to find out what types of packaging really bug people.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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