Reducing single use plastics
With Waste Action Maleny
This week we’re looking at single-use plastics (SUPs) as Plastic Free July continues. Since 2018, Queensland has banned many SUPs because they can’t be economically recycled, so most ends up in landfill or is discarded (littered).
Over time, SUPs break down into tiny particles (microplastics) that spread throughout the environment, polluting air, land, waterways, and oceans, and harming animals, birds, and marine creatures. Microplastics also damage human health when they enter our bodies via breathing, ingestion, or absorption.
The bans are helping. A recent report shows a 70% reduction in plastic bag litter within the first year of the bans, but there is much more to be done given the magnitude of the problem.
What we can do:
• Inform ourselves. Learn about potential harms and what steps governments and businesses are taking to address the plastics crisis. If they aren’t doing enough, ask why not.
• Reduce or eliminate SUPs at home and at work.
• If you do use SUPs, dispose of them responsibly so they don’t end up in the environment and degrade into microplastics.
