TAKE ACTION FOR #PLASTICFREE JULY

What is Plastic Free July?

Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution! The aim of the movement is to share important ideas to reduce our plastic footprint so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.

To celebrate this event, we want to share with you our tips to live a more eco-friendly life and reduce our plastic consumption!

1. BUY LESS

Often overlooked, reducing is the first of the three Rs of sustainability, followed by reuse and recycled. And there’s a reason for that: reducing our consumption and buying less is the most important tip to follow if we want to stop creating so much (plastic) waste.

Reducing the number of clothes, furniture, and items we buy can have an incredibly positive impact on our planet as it can translate to less natural resources used and less waste created - waste that could potentially end up polluting our ocean.

Were you aware of this?

2. BULK FOOD SHOPPING

Did you know that the majority of the plastic we found in our beach clean-ups is food packaging?

And it’s not only us!

Flexible plastic packaging is most commonly made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), or mixed materials and is notoriously difficult to recycle, resulting in very low recycling rates across the world. As a result, plastic bags and food wrappers are the second and third most common marine debris, and are the culprit for many environmental and health concerns across Asia. What can you do about it?

Try buying your food in bulk at a zero-waste shop (supermarkets or local shops that try to eliminate or reduce the use of plastic) and you will not regret it!

If you are from the United Kingdom you can visit thezerowastenetwork.com to find a local zero waste shop otherwise just Google Zero Waste Shop near me 😉

Try it here 👇👇👇

3. ALWAYS OPT FOR REUSABLES

We know you’ve heard this thousands of times before but, as the Latins used to say, repetita iuvant!

The number of people purchasing unnecessary single-use times is still overwhelming.

If you can avoid bottled water, do it; if you can avoid takeaway containers, do it! Remember that all single-use plastic will probably only be used once or twice before ending up in landfills or worst in our ocean!

4. OPT FOR RECYCLED PLASTIC PRODUCTS

Can’t say no to bottled shampoo? Can’t live without your favorite bottled drink? Then look out for companies that use recycled plastic to create those products or ask your favorite company to use recycled plastic rather than virgin!

It’s essential to support businesses that are giving second life to all the plastic that is collected – be it from curbside collection or from clean-ups! Remember that, while we wait for better long-term solutions, recycling is still the most environmentally friendly way to treat our plastic waste ♻️

5. OFFSET YOUR PLASTIC CONSUMPTION WITH US

We know how overwhelming living plastic-free can be. After all, plastic surrounds us everywhere we go and avoiding it altogether is easier said than done! That’s why we created a system to free yourself from plastic guilt!

You use the plastic and we collect it from the environment and recycle it for you: with a sum as little as 6 dollars you can compensate for the plastic you use and help protect our ocean and its marine life.

Click here to know more about our magical plastic offsetting program or watch the video 👇

Here's What's Happening to Waste Workers during the Second Wave of COVID in India

• The recent wave of COVID-19 in India has been devastating. While the nation struggles to cope with the crisis, informal waste collectors are being forgotten.

• Being daily wage earners, the lockdown has stripped them of all income - putting their families at risk of starvation. They need immediate support.

• They provide an essential service to our economy and our planet – but are stigmatised and often have no access to government aid packages.

 While developed nations have over time created centralised systems for waste management, most cities in emerging economies like India still rely on fragmented methods of waste management in what are called informal waste economies made up of informal waste collectors.

These parallel systems have become indispensable to these nations and yet hardly receive any recognition for their contributions. Indeed, waste workers collect waste around cities and coastal areas and prevent this waste from entering our oceans and from polluting our environment.

During this second wave of Covid-19, India’s waste collectors have been severely hit. They are daily wage earners and so their livelihoods and the sustenance of their families depend on whether or not they can collect and sell materials like plastic, glass and aluminium on a daily basis. With a new lockdown being imposed, waste collectors have now lost their only source of income. In addition to this, since their jobs are not recognised formally - the public aid they receive is little to none.

“Waste collectors have lost their only source of income.”

With the public system struggling to cope with the crisis and provide basic care to the larger population, it’s needless to say that waste collectors - already subject to social stigma, unhealthy living conditions and a lack of social security - are being forgotten.

With no income and barely any support - their families are going hungry and their futures are at risk. It wouldn’t take long for them to starve or suffer severe health issues.

We’re doing our best to protect these waste warriors that have been left helpless by the current situation. Last year, during the first wave of Covid we were able to help more than 6000 individuals with food and sanitary kits during the worst part of the crisis. We did this with your help.

We need your help again. We’ve set up a fundraiser to support this vital and under-served community. The money collected will go directly to waste collectors, provide them with funds to substitute their absent income - thereby helping them feed their family and get essential items.

We don’t know when this sector will be formalised and when these communities will receive consistent and formal social protection.

In the meantime, we need your help to tide them and their families through this crisis now - so we can avoid the worst.

DONATE HERE

And please HELP US SHARE THIS MESSAGE, please use the buttons below to spread the word.

Seven reasons why India’s EPR legislation should promote decentralization and social inclusion.

The global waste crisis is rapidly growing. With waste generation estimated to increase to 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050, the effectiveness of systems that manage this waste have become vitally important to prevent environmental, health-based and societal issues. While developed nations have adopted centralised systems to manage their waste, developing nations have long been dependent on decentralised waste management systems functioning in an informal waste economy. Integration of the informal sector to the waste sector structure increases waste collection and recycling capacity as well as contributing to poverty reduction and increased quality of life.

1. A Culture of Circularity 

India is extremely blessed to have a functioning network of informal waste collectors, kabadiwalas and aggregators that work cohesively despite how decentralised their network is. Having tried and tested their methods for decades, the circular economy has been embedded in the culture and the resourcefulness of these players - ensuring the effectiveness of their system. 

2. Better Quality 

While seemingly counter-intuitive, the reality is that the most advanced technological advancements that have been made in waste segregation still can’t compare with the ability of trained and skilled workers segregating waste material. Therefore, the quality of the material making its way through informal supply chains tend to be much higher than waste that is sorted by machines in centralised systems - which often costs millions of dollars. 

3. Investing in small scale entrepreneurs 

The sector is deeply entrepreneurial and decentralized. The waste pickers often recruit from the ranks of migrants and urban poor, therefore the emphasis of any policy should be on inclusion — improving the safety, health, efficiency and wages of the waste pickers, while working to integrate the value of their collection into a more holistic waste management system. The performance of waste pickers could be greatly improved with capability building, access to capital and basic tools, a reliable and source-segregated waste stream, and cooperation from municipalities. Any proposed integrated waste system strategy should be designed with meaningful consultation with waste pickers and the nonprofit institutions that support them to ensure their interests are protected and the project implementation is holistic.

3. More Efficient

These informal systems have proven to be far more efficient than their formal systems at resource recovery - boasting certain advantages in specific urban areas such as slums, where they have far more experience.

4. Less Transportation Costs

Decentralised systems see waste sorted and graded at a community level instead of being transported many kilometers to a centralised hub. This results in transportation costs being reduced considerably - making it far more cost effective. 

5. Fewer Landfills 

Many large centralized waste management contractors tend to run successful business models by sending the waste they collect straight to landfills - earning them a tipping fee. This often happens to be more profitable than having to cover the cost of collection, transport, segregation and aggregation but at the same time, results in less material entering the circular economy and contributes to the growing pollution crisis. Informal waste systems inherently do not have this issue.  

6. Anti-Corruption

The waste management system has gained a global reputation for fostering corruption with the rights to large waste management contracts being used for political leverage. Decentralized systems therefore, help create resilience against such monopolistic and corrupt practices. 
7. Social Change

At Plastics For Change, we believe that waste can be used as a resource to create positive change. By supporting and empowering these decentralised systems, emerging economies can do just that - by helping build the livelihoods of the players in these economies, many of whom have been socially marginalised. 

The fact that centralized waste management contracts tend to exclude individuals from these communities, due to barriers such as illiteracy, make it even more important to ensure that their livelihoods are protected. 

Apart from these salient reasons, there is also the simple fact that these informal economies have been the backbone of the waste management in emerging economies for generations - and so abandoning them now would be reprehensible. 

Having listed it’s benefits, it must also be acknowledged that these informal waste economies are far from perfect and have a number of important issues that need addressing. However, instead of casting it aside for it’s problems, the benefits listed above prove that it would be far better for emerging economies to invest in these informal systems and develop their capabilities.

Therefore, legislation like emerging EPR laws should embrace these decentralised systems by facilitating investment into the development of its infrastructure. Such an act would go a long way in helping create a more sustainable and inclusive waste management system that is capable and effective in dealing with the global waste crisis.