The Big Plastic Count national results are in!
Nearly 70,000 people across the UK took part in The Big Plastic Count this year assessing over 1.5 million pieces of plastic.
The results reveal that UK households throw away an estimated 82 billion pieces of plastic packaging every year!
And guess what? Most of it isn’t even recycled. Over half of it is burned, right here in the UK.
This article provides some of the headlines of the results. The full report is available here
Over half (59%) of our household plastic waste is being burnt here in the UK. Only 16% actually ends up being recycled. Another 16% is exported and 9% is buried in landfill.
Burning plastic is a big problem. It releases toxic gases that pollute the air we breathe, and can release more carbon dioxide per tonne than burning coal, worsening climate change.
Incinerators and waste sites are ten times more likely to be built in areas hit hardest by inequality – meaning more air pollution and higher health risks for under-served communities already facing an unfair system.
We are still exporting our plastic waste to other countries, often with even poorer recycling infrastructure than the UK. 16% of our plastic waste is exported, after which we don’t really know what happens to it.
Leaving communities in other countries to deal with the negative health and environmental impacts of our plastic waste is hugely unfair – and it’s allowing companies and the government to avoid taking responsibility.
The reality is, recycling simply cannot keep up with the sheer volume of plastic being produced. And vast quantities of it – like flexible plastics – are very difficult to recycle, with only limited capacity to do so in the UK.
Our recycling systems can’t cope.
And with oil and gas companies investing hundreds of billions of dollars in plastic production, it’s set to triple by 2060. The situation is becoming more and more urgent.
The Big Plastic Count found that 82% of our household plastic waste came from food and drink packaging – packaging that shoppers have hardly any control over.
Walk into any supermarket and you’ll see the scale of the problem right there on the shelves: almost all of our food and household products are wrapped in plastic packaging.
We need to buy food, but we shouldn't have to deal with thousands of pieces of plastic packaging every year.
The Big Plastic Count’s asks of Government
The Big Plastic Count’s asks of Government
REMOVE PLASTIC PACKAGING FROM UNCUT FRUIT & VEG BY 2030
Voluntary agreements by supermarkets are not delivering reductions in plastic packaging. We need stronger government policy. Introducing legislation to remove plastic packaging from uncut fruit and vegetables would immediately cut billions of pieces of packaging from being thrown away and push supermarkets to scale reuse and refill systems.
STOP THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW WASTE INCINERATORS IMMEDIATELY
Incineration accelerates climate change and harms our communities. As plastic production increases, incineration has expanded to deal with growing waste and new incinerators are being built.
We are therefore calling for an immediate ban on the construction of new waste incineration plants in England and Northern Ireland, bringing them into line with the restrictions already in place in Scotland and Wales.
STOP PLASTIC FROM BEING SENT ABROAD FOR OTHER COUNTRIES TO DEAL WITH
Exporting plastic waste causes serious harm in other countries, outsources our plastic problem instead of solving it, and allows governments and companies to avoid responsibility.
That’s why we’re calling for a comprehensive, phased reduction in UK plastic waste exports, with a clear plan to end our reliance on them.
You can add your voice to the Big Plastic Count’s asks of Government by following this request