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Ever wondered how much plastic we use in a year and where it goes? About us Everyday Daniel Webb Plastic Daniel has worked in marketing for 10 years Everyday Everyday Plastic is an art across a range of sectors and educational project including art, music, food Plastic: that aims to communicate and drink and sport. the realities of our plastic consumption in a personal He has had a more active interest in what we and relatable way. conservationism since 2015 which led him to launch Everyday Plastic in 2017. throw away Daniel Webb collected every piece Daniel delivers talks on the project of plastic he used in 2017. Having at schools, businesses and events counted, categorised, weighed and and works with major environmental and where photographed the whole collection of charities such as Greenpeace, plastic waste, he turned it into a large- Friends of the Earth and Surfers it goes scale billboard. The giant mural was on Against Sewage. show at Dreamland in Margate earlier this year and officially launched the Everyday Plastic project. Dr Julie By Daniel Webb

The project received worldwide media Schneider and Dr. Julie Schneider coverage and has had features in The Guardian, National Geographic, Metro, Julie is an expert in Earth Sky News, BBC and more. One of the Sciences. Having started Disclaimer: The arguments expressed key aims of the project is to improve her studies in Paris in 1995, in this report are solely those of the communication of plastic pollution she went on to complete authors, and do not reflect the opinion and raise awareness within the wider her Masters and PhD at of any other party. public sphere. one of France’s dedicated scientific research The report should be cited as follows: Webb, D. and Schneider, J., 2018. institutions - Université Everyday Plastic: what we throw away Montpellier II - in 2004. and where it goes. Her post-study roles include a geochemistry research fellowship in Taiwan before spending 8 years lecturing and researching in Earth Sciences at the Université Nice Sophia Antipolis. Since moving to the UK, she volunteered to research with Friends of the Earth before moving to CHEM Trust - a charity that works to prevent man-made chemicals from causing long term damage to wildlife or humans. EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC Funding Contents Rachel Ward, Kashmir Flint, Kezia Foreword 4 This report is 100% independent and Hanson, Julie Bloomfield, Emma the data collection, research, analysis McArthur, Julia and Barenda In a nutshell 6 and writing has been completed in our Pretorius, Will Hebditch, Andy Aitken, free time without external interests Jon Morales, Sanjay Mitra, Laura Tait, Background 10 or funding. Nick Berry, Jamie Berry, Jo Usmar and to my enthusiastic and encouraging About me 12 Surfers Against Sewage is supporting friends and family. the release and promotion of the report Methodology 14 and have contributed funding to the design. The report has been designed How is this study representative of an by Leap as part of their people and average UK citizen? 16 planet ‘design for change’ initiative. Ever wondered how much plastic we use in a year? 18 Acknowledgements everydayplastic.org [email protected] What is throwaway plastic? 20 The first and biggest thank you goes to Julie Schneider, without whom everydayplastic What use were the throwaway this report would not exist. She has plasticeveryday plastic pieces designed for? 22 dedicated a lot of hard work, free time and energy to this project and fighting But what does the packaging look like? 24 plastic pollution. What type of plastic is the throwaway plastic made from? 26 Thank you to Hugo Tagholm and the team at Surfers Against Sewage for Of the throwaway plastic, how much is supporting the release of this report, recyclable in the UK? 28 as well as their continued and tireless sas.org.uk work against plastic pollution. If 30% is recyclable, how much is actually [email protected] collected for ? 32 Thank you to Matt Hocking and the surfersagainstsewage team at Leap for this document’s sascampaigns Of the throwaway plastic, how much is incredible creative and design. recycled in the UK? 33

Everyday Plastic has relied heavily So what about the remaining 96%? 36 on the generosity of a number of volunteers and supporters. In no How much of the recycled plastic is used to particular order, thank you to Libby produce new plastic? 38 Northedge, Jez Leather, Lucy Siegle, leap.eco How much energy, natural resource and raw Ollie Harrop, Ross Walker and Rachel material was used to produce my throwaway Boot, Tess Acheson and Andrew [email protected] plastic waste? 40 Cross, Ian Hall, Meg and Rebecca at leapness Dreamland, Richard Heneghan, Jim leapness The verdict: We’re not being told the truth Biddulph, Matt Verity, Luke Eastop, about recycling 42 Vanessa Brier, Orla Dollman, Jo Bridges, Annie Nichols, Footnotes 48 Helen Pitman, Lisa Goldsworthy, References 49

About our supporters 50

Appendix 52 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC

Plastic However, we the public is making a Foreword stand against this threat. Polluted transactions beaches looking like supermarket dominate our lives shelves and supermarket shelves looking like polluted beaches have and are virtually driven an almost unprecedented inescapable. environmental movement. We started with the end of pipe solutions – beach The numbers are startling, even for and countryside cleans where the the most avid fans of the plastic free problem is acutely visible. Then the movement. A massive 4,490 pieces personal choices to refuse plastics of plastic over the course of a year. – Plastic Free Communities, refill On this basis, the UK throws away schemes, refusing straws and carrying 295 billion pieces of plastic annually. a cotton tote to name but a few. Throws away! Not reuses, not refills, not Government policy and legislation recycles – throws away! Most of this broadly followed this growing public packaging comes from the food we discontent about plastic pollution. consume and much of it is unrecyclable anyway, irrespective of the complicated However, with almost 1 in 10 of oil and stalling recycling systems the being designated to plastic production, public currently has at its disposal. the oil industry will unquestionably be Only a miniscule amount of the plastic the final target. There lies the epicentre collected for recycling in the UK is of the plastic tsunami. reprocessed domestically – a tiny 4%. Don’t be fooled, the in your Make your voice count and let’s keep kerbside recycling aren’t currently fast- up the pressure together, which is a tracked back into new containers on critical component of driving reforms our supermarket shelves. Not that we in government policy, legislation and shouldn’t continue every effort to use business practices. Your everyday current recycling systems. choices and actions make a bigger difference than you think when it comes The public is caught between a rock to plastic pollution. and a hard place, all too often becoming the plastic pollution scapegoats. We’re provided with inadequate recycling systems but have increasing amounts Together, of pointless plastics foisted upon us. This ominous combination virtually we can call for ‘weaponises’ single-use plastics, creating plastic munitions that rain government Everyday Plastic is an incredibly seminal book Silent Spring. down on our streets, fields, forests, powerful representation of a seemingly beaches and oceans. The systems the and business to mundane, easy-to-fix, problem that Plastic transactions dominate our lives public are provided, which incidentally all our lives, not just every and are virtually inescapable. Daniel’s we pay for through our taxes, haven’t change too. day but almost every hour, every minute project demonstrates the cumulative kept pace with the plastic armada and every second of our existence. A scale and impact of those seemingly Hugo Tagholm CEO, industry controls and profits from. problem that passes through all of our innocuous transactions with single- Surfers Against Sewage hands daily, which has now become one use plastics. How the small choices we of the world’s biggest environmental make can unwittingly build our own To start or join emergencies, the bed fellow of personal plastic monster that shadows Polluted climate change and one that evokes us at every corner shop, supermarket, beaches looking a Plastic Free the pesticides and toxic chemicals café, restaurant and workplace. A Community, please catastrophes of the ‘50s and ‘60s plastic shadow that is consuming the like supermarket which Rachel Carson highlighted in her very ground that we all walk on. shelves. visit sas.org.uk 4 5 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC

In a nutshell In 2017, I collected every piece of plastic that I threw away. I wanted to analyse the results of this year-long experiment to help the impact of our plastic consumption resonate on an individual level and with everyday people. This process has 67% of my been integral in shifting my position from being oblivious of throwaway plastic my consumption to being able to quantify it piece by piece. was used to package, wrap and consume food

No surprises here. We can buy food 93% of my anytime, anywhere and in abundance, collected plastic especially from supermarkets. And waste was single- most of it comes wrapped in plastic. use packaging

Shockingly, 4,177 pieces of plastic were single-use packaging, specifically designed to be thrown away. By simply combining the Oxford English The UK throws Dictionary definitions for single-use away over and packaging, we can offer a fresh take on the definition of single-use 295 billion packaging as ‘a material used to wrap or protect goods that is designed to 47% of the pieces of plastic be used once and then disposed of every year or destroyed’. throwaway plastic is made of low Over the course of If we applied the amount of plastic waste I collected to every individual grade, low value one year, I threw in the country, it would mean that the population of the UK throws away and unrecyclable away 4,490 pieces 295 billion pieces of plastic every year. of plastic In volume, this represents a pile of plastic rubbish big enough to cover Almost no piece of packaging made Based on the weight of this, this is Clapham Common and rise as high of plastic film can be recycled, yet this just below average compared to as The Shard. makes up the majority of the pieces what the rest of the UK consumes in my collection of plastic waste. It and throws away. cannot be made into new plastic nor can it be made from recycled plastic.

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70% of the plastic Are we being lied to about that I threw recycling? Because clearly, away in a year recycling is not enough. is not currently recyclable To really make an impact on this urgent situation, Plastic , trays and pots are governments, industry and retailers need to act now. widely collected by local councils in For example, phasing out plastic film if its unrecyclable, the UK, but under a third (30%) of the Only 4% of my making packaging more reusable and recyclable, and plastic waste I created is currently investing in improving recycling infrastructure will make recyclable in the UK. collection of plastic huge leaps towards reducing our plastic footprint in the waste would be UK and overseas. recycled at UK recycling facilities As well as raising our voices to put pressure on policymakers and corporations, each of us needs Of the 4,490 pieces of plastic that I to acknowledge that we are part of the system, and saved over the course of a year, only that each of us has a responsibility too. We need to 161 would be recycled. We define acknowledge that our throwaway consumer culture has Only 10% of my recycled as ‘plastic waste that has been converted into reusable materials affected the environment and that our love for cheap and throwaway plastic at facilities in the UK’. superfluous convenience will have irreversible damage on waste would be our future. collected for recycling Less plastic needs to be Given that every local authority has a different policy and approach to produced, and less plastic and recycling, it’s unsurprising that much of the needs to be consumed. recyclable plastic is not collected. The plastic waste ends up in the wrong bin, escapes or spills, or is not recyclable under one council, so it means only about 10% of all the plastic I threw away is actually collected to be recycled.

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Following this head-on confrontation councils millions to clear its coastline I want to share this report with with marine and coastal , I asked and streets each year1 and most of you to show what your annual Background Thanet District Council about what Kent’s waste is in fact incinerated or is plastic use looks like so we can recycling was available to me in my recovered to produce fuel.2 understand our individual During a plastic-riddled block of flats. The answer? None. contribution to plastic pollution. run along the Margate Neither at my kerbside nor the local waste management centre. Given that If most of it I am not a journalist, activist, coast one September the products in my local Aldi are nearly environmentalist or scientist, and I have evening in 2016, I started all packaged in plastic, I found myself is not being written this report in a straightforward wondering how I could avoid buying and accessible manner. For this thinking about what my plastic or how I could dispose of recycled, then reason, the words, opinions, analogies, own personal impact it responsibly. language and philosophy in this report come from me and Julie. was on plastic pollution. I decided that for the next 12 months, how much How much plastic is in starting 1 January 2017, I would not plastic waste throw away any plastic waste I This year- the sea? Is any of it mine? produced. Not a top, piece of is each of us How much rubbish could , straw, toothbrush, salad long process , coffee or clothing . one person living alone producing of collecting actually produce...? Margate, like dozens of coastal towns across the country, is overwhelmed and where is it by plastic pollution in its seas. It costs has given ending up? us a hugely comprehensive inventory of plastic waste. I may be the crazed collector, but the experiment and its effects can be applied to every one of us. From brushing your teeth to making dinner, the report shows just how much throwaway plastic is in our day-to-day lives.

10 11 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC About me Introducing I’m your average Dr Julie British bloke. Dr Julie has a PhD in I’m 36 and enjoy all the regular things Geosciences. someone in their mid-30s enjoys. Having a pint, going out for a meal, She was a lecturer in the field at cooking at home, riding my bike, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis in going for a run, going to gigs, France until 2015. After two decades going to the cinema etc. studying and researching Earth Sciences, she moved to the UK to lend I moved to Margate in Summer her skills and knowledge to NGOs and 2016, attracted by the sea, creative charities such as Friends Of The community, small town feel and the Earth, Break Free From Plastic and opportunity to continue my freelance CHEM Trust. marketing work. It was whilst researching the I try to eat pretty healthily. I don’t petrochemical industry and the use buy ready meals or own a microwave. of fossil fuels as a raw material in That’s not to say that I don’t love a manufacturing that she realised one of snack - crisps, peanuts, crackers, its main products was plastic. Horrified chocolate, cake - the lot. My local Aldi, by plastic’s abundance, durability and which is about 400 metres from my toxicity, she started to dig deeper into house, is great for picking up cheap the issue. Combining her expertise and quality ingredients for meals. in geosciences with her passions for social and environmental change, she It was around 2015 when I really started is determined to turn the tap off on to pay attention to environmental plastic production. problems, notably climate change and how it was communicated. I became I met Julie on Facebook in the very really conscious of plastic pollution in early days of Everyday Plastic when I 2016, and stopped using water bottles was looking for a researcher, and thank around September of that year. I’m not my lucky stars I did. This report would vegetarian, but I have continued to cut not exist if it wasn’t for her. She has down on how much meat I consume dedicated hours, days, weeks, months for the past two years. of her free time to meticulously analysing and calculating data from every source imaginable and applying it to our findings.

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As all the pieces were mixed within After we’d completed this process, We have applied publicly available 20 different bin bags, we started we were then able to identify 114 sub- statistics to the data collected in this Methodology by firstly separating pieces by hard categories based on both their plastic experiment. This has given us the and soft plastics. Amongst the hard type and purpose e.g. LDPE bread bag means to make accurate calculations plastics were milk bottles, tomato or PP bread bag, HDPE shampoo into the fate of my plastic within the To collect the data trays, yoghurt pots, tablet packs, bottle etc. Finally, we counted, UK waste system as well as energy and presented in this report, toothpaste tubes etc. The soft measured and weighed each piece resource consumption related to the the first task was to plastics pile included carrier bags, in the sub-categories. lifecycle of my plastic. bubble wrap, cling film, salad bags classify the collection by and crisp packets. To see all the data collected and detail purpose, plastic type and We were able of calculations, see the appendix 2. recyclability. To do so, To determine the type of plastic that each category was made from, we needed the help of we had to go through the arduous to identify 114 process of checking the packaging 20 volunteers. for the plastic code e.g. 1 = PET, 5 = PP, sub-categories 6 = PS etc3. If the piece didn’t list the code, we identified the type based on its texture and appearance.

Dr. Julie!

14 15 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC How is this study representative of an average Over the UK citizen? course of This year-long experiment Altogether, this explains why my total gives an authentic picture plastic packaging consumption of of my plastic consumption. 29kg in 2017 is 15.7% lower than Diane’s at 34.4kg7. The average European uses 8 To be sure that I was representing other 31kg of plastic packaging per year . one year, people in the UK and Europe, we have This is 2kg (6%) higher than mine. compared my plastic consumption with publicly available data. Our fictional This is important to acknowledge as character - Diane - represents the throughout this report, we will apply average UK citizen. my data to the UK population to understand the scale of the problem I threw away For 2017, I’d decided not to buy or on a national level. As seen above, drink water out of plastic bottles. it is worth bearing in mind that my This explains why my consumption of plastic is slightly lower consumption is lower at 5.7kg than the than average. average 9kg consumed by Diane.4 Plastic produced My penchant for yoghurts and in one year tomatoes is a bit more than Diane’s. 8.9kg of my collection is pots, trays and whereas Diane’s weighs 8kg.5 4,490 Many of my friends noticed how much I love to eat crisps. However, Diane eats around 166 packets of crisps and pieces of savoury snacks per year, whereas I eat 146.6 plastic

Me Diane 29kg 34.4kg

Diane is an average UK citizen. The average EU citizen produces 31kg. 16 17 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC

Over the course of one year, I threw away 4,490 Throwing away 4,490 Ever pieces of plastic. How do pieces in a year works out at an average of 86 pieces wondered you throw each week or 12 a day. Since my plastic consumption is pretty close 12 pieces per day could seem like a how much to the average UK citizen, away 4,490 lot, but let’s take a milk bottle as an what if we multiplied the example. It is one product that often plastic we amount of plastic that I pieces of comes with five separate plastic pieces: threw away by the number the bottle itself, the bottle cap, the use in a of people living in the UK - plastic in safety seal around the cap, the peelable d seal on top of the bottle, and the plastic i.e. 65.6 million people? sleeve around the bottle which features the brand name, use-by date etc. year? It works out that as a country, we a year? throw away hundreds of billions of A more accurate breakdown of what plastic pieces in just one year. I used and threw away in a week is provided in the Appendix 2 - Table 2. The UK My entire plastic pile weighs 35kg. Applying this to whole country, this adds up to 2.3 million tonnes - the throws equivalent of about half the weight of 9 UK Annual Plastic Waste away an the UK population. And in volume, it represents a pile of 306m high plastic rubbish big enough to cover The Shard estimated one of London’s largest green spaces - Clapham Common 306m 295 billion (89 hectares) and rise as high as the UK’s tallest high building - The pieces of 10 plastic Shard (306m). every year

UK Annual Plastic Waste The London Eye UK Annual Plastic Waste 1,074m diameter 123m diameter 92.4 million m3

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B) Single-use non-packaging such as straws, stirrers, takeaway cutlery, What is wet wipes etc. made up 4% of my pile How much of the plastic of plastic. I tried my best to refuse waste was packaging? 1% throwaway these pieces throughout the year Disposable but somehow managed to end up non-packaging plastic? with 171 pieces! 4% 48 pieces Single-use C) Disposable non-packaging pieces such as a Bic biro is not single-use, non-packaging This is a collection of my 171 pieces plastic waste i.e the stuff but it is designed to be thrown away once the ink has run out. Other pieces I’d thrown away. However, include cleaning sponges, razor blades I was still shocked that and gift cards, and there were 48 pieces pretty much every piece in total, accounting for just 1%. 93% was actually designed to Single-use be thrown away. D) Durable pieces that are designed packaging to last such as pipes, keyboard, electric 4,177 pieces Oxford English Dictionary defines toothbrush make up the remaining 94 throwaway as ‘denoting or relating pieces (2%). But they still break, and are to products that are intended to be then ultimately thrown away. discarded after being used once or a few times’. Throwaway encompasses Categories A, B and C are throwaway several sub-categories, including plastic. In total, this equates to 98% single-use - defined as ‘designed to of my whole collection of plastic waste be used once and then disposed of or (4,396 pieces). destroyed’ - and disposable - defined as ‘intended to be thrown away after For the rest of the report, the statistics use’. We feel that it’s important to will be based on the 4,396 pieces of define packaging too. The OED defines throwaway plastic only. We’ve chosen packaging as ‘materials used to wrap or to focus on throwaway plastic as we are protect goods’. most interested in the fate of plastic that has been specifically designed Therefore, we can offer a new definition; to be thrown away, highlighting the consequences of our fast moving Single-use packaging /ˈsɪŋɡ(ə)l/ /juːs/ consumer culture. 98% /ˈplastɪk/ a. n. A material used to Throwaway or protect goods that is designed In total, 4,396 pieces to be used once and then disposed of or destroyed. throwaway

Based on these definitions, we decided plastic equates to break my plastic waste down into 4 categories: to 98% of

A) Single-use packaging such as salad my whole 2% bags, bread bags, cheese packets, Durables shower gel bottle etc., is so ubiquitous, collection of that 93% of my plastic waste is single- 94 pieces use packaging (4,177 pieces). 11 plastic waste.

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What use were the throwaway What use 2,658 pieces plastic pieces designed for? were the (67%)10 of the throwaway 67% throwaway Food plastic were packaging plastic 2,658 used to pieces pieces package, designed wrap and for? consume food. This includes crisps and cling film, We calculated that 98% hummus pots and HP sauce, salad of my plastic waste is bags and spaghetti packs, and cutlery throwaway plastic. and coffee cups. Having bought new furniture, hardware But what is the plastic designed to do and electronics for my flat, as well as before it is thrown away? It didn’t take ordering a whole host of paraphernalia much to narrow down the collection of from Amazon and clothes from plastic waste into 4 main categories: ASOS, there was a lot of protective 22% packaging. 867 pieces (22%) were used Protective 1 as protective packaging. These pieces packaging Protective packaging 2 (from range from polystyrene chips to parcel 867 pieces polystyrene chips to parcel bags) bags, bubble wrap to bin bags and Personal hygiene, home 3 birthday card wrappers to carrier bags. cleaning and medical packaging Miscellaneous 4 (from pens to We analysed which pieces would be paint pots) used for my daily washing and cleaning routine. In total, 378 pieces (10%) were My initial instinct was that a lot of it used to package personal hygiene, was food packaging. And I was right! home cleaning and medicine products. These include everything from tablet packs to toilet wrap, bleach 10% bottles to Brita filters and wet wipes Hygiene to washing tablets. and cleaning What about the things that aren’t packaging designed for single-use packaging but 378 pieces are designed to be thrown away once we’re done with them? These pieces 1% include pens, paint pots, plant pots Miscellaneous and inner soles. There were 54 of these 54 pieces pieces (1%).

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Most of the throwaway plastic is the But what soft, thin, flimsy stuff. Think of a carrier bag, or a bag of pasta, spinach, cereal or crisps, or the wrap around your does the chocolate bar, coffee pouch, frozen peas or cheese. and milk bottles, or tubs, You know, that stuff. packaging pots and trays to package Nearly half of the Nearly half of the throwaway plastic your meat, soup, ice cream throwaway plastic (2,060 pieces - 47%) is made of and vitamins accounted this material, commonly known as look like? (2,060 pieces - plastic film. for 1,227 pieces (28% of The sturdier, less flexible the throwaway plastic)13. 47%) is made of this You’ll notice that this kind of stuff is plastic that we see used material, commonly not included in your local council’s list of recyclable pieces. in ketchup, shower gel, These are the pieces that are most known as plastic film. widely collected for recycling.

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There are 6 main types of plastics used What type for packaging as well as a multitude What type of other types used in various Total applications such as electronics, of plastic is number of of plastic cars, planes, construction, clothing, plastic type medicine etc. We sorted my plastic the throwaway is the waste using the Resin Identification How much of Coding System, as well as separate plastic made each plastic type categories for multilayered packaging, is recyclable throwaway plastic fibres (e.g. textile), unidentified from? plastic and other. PP (e.g. pasta bag), LDPE (e.g. bread bag) and multilayered (e.g. crisp made from? ) plastics make up over half (53%) of the whole collection. These

This is the science-y bit. plastics are either not or very poorly (23%) 1,021 How is plastic made? How recycled in the UK. The two plastic do different processes types that are theoretically the most make different types of easily recyclable in the UK, PET (e.g. water bottles) and HDPE (e.g. milk plastic? What are those bottles), account for less than a 4,396 types used for? quarter (23%). PS (e.g. takeaway ), (18%) 807 PVC (e.g. gift cards), other (inc. ABS, Most of the plastic we see in our day- PLA), , , other fibres, to-day lives is made from refined and unidentifiable plastics make up oil and/or gas. How it is refined the remainder. None of these are determines the type of plastic. recyclable in the UK. 561 (13%)

For example, the gas ethane could be 536 (12%) extracted from shale gas. Ethane is (11%) 497

then converted to ethylene, a single 445 (10%) molecule, or ‘monomer’. A group of monomers are then joined together to form a longer chain of molecules 342 (8%) or ‘polymer’. This process creates (PE), which is the most abundant and number one plastic that is used for packaging (29% of the throwaway plastic from my plastic waste is made of PE). Depending 133 (3%) on the way the ethylene molecules

are joined together during the 33 (1%) 21 (<1%) 21

polymerisation process, polyethylene 1,325 (30%) 158 (15%) 410 (51%) 410 424 (79%) 333 (67%) can take on different forms. The denser, harder and heavier plastic that we see in milk and shampoo bottles Fibre Total #5 PP #6 PS is High-density Polyethylene (HDPE). #1 PET #3 PVC

Thin, flexible and lighter plastic such #4 LDPE #2 HDPE as carrier bags, bread bags or cling film #7 Others is Light-density Polyethylene (LDPE). Multilayered Unidentified 26 27 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC

A Widely collected | 90% of Of the councils will collect for recycling Of the 4,396 pieces of throwaway plastic, (e.g. PET and HDPE bottles) how much is recyclable in the UK? throwaway B Mostly collected | 70% of councils will collect for recycling (e.g. pots and trays) Not Poorly plastic, how Currently Collected for C Poorly collected | 20% of Recycled: Recycling: much is councils will collect for recycling 3,071 pieces 424 pieces (e.g. LDPE films like bread bags) 70% 9.6% recyclable D Not currently recycled | 0% collected for recycling by councils (e.g. multi-layered in the UK? packaging, cling film etc.) Before calculating how Theoretically, every piece in categories much of my plastic waste A, B and C is recyclable. After sorting all the pieces according to these would be recycled at UK categories, it turns out that less than a recycling facilities after it third (1,325 pieces - 30%)18 is currently has been put in the bin, we recyclable in the UK. wanted to estimate the amount of plastic that is theoretically recyclable. This means

Defining ‘recyclable’ however is not that 3,071 easy. Even Steve Alexander, President and CEO of The Association of Plastic pieces Recyclers, has said “recyclability goes beyond just being technically recyclable (70%) that I there must be consumer access to a recycling program, a recycler must be consumed able to process the material, and there must be an end market.”g over a year are For the purpose of this report, we have not currently defined recyclable as ‘pieces that are collected for recycling by local councils recyclable. in the UK’. To be even more precise, we developed 4 categories based on the pieces that are collected by councils from widely to not at all.17 Mostly Widely Collected for Collected for Recycling: Recycling: 523 pieces 378 pieces 12% 8.4% 28 29 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC

of70% the plastic I threw away over a year is not currently recyclable 30 31

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By adding together the total number of Some pieces have collection rates of recycled pieces in each category, If 30% is 58% such as PET plastic bottles, while Of the others such as crisp packets have a we have recyclable, collection rate of 0%. We applied the throwaway same methodology for each category concluded how much in my plastic waste, and we worked out that​ only 10% of my throwaway plastic plastic, how that 4% - only (451 pieces) would be collected for is actually recycling21. much is 161 pieces collected Only 10% of recycled of my 4,396 for my throwaway in the UK? throwaway recycling? plastic would plastic pieces We define recycled as - would be While 1,325 pieces (30%) be collected ‘plastic waste that has of my plastic waste are been converted into recycled in the recyclable, only 451 pieces for recycling. reusable materials at (10%) would be collected for facilities in the UK’ UK. Yes, only recycling. How did we work 22 As Dr Karl Williams, Head of the Centre 4% . that out? for Waste and Resource Management at the University of Central Lancashire, If we take PET plastic trays used for said: “If you collect rubbish and ship it our tomatoes and strawberries as an to China that’s not recycling, that’s example: 100% are recyclable in the just collecting”h. UK, 76% of local councils collect them but only 32% are actually collected for It is estimated that on recycling20. Therefore, we applied the 32% collection rate to the PET plastic average, 63% of the plastic trays in my collection, working out at packaging collected for 268 pieces. If we estimated how many recycling in the UK is would be collected? 86 pieces. exported overseasc. 100% 10% Collected recycling for Recycled 4%

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Just of my 4%plastic waste would be recycled at UK recycling facilities

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From the plastic that is not collected What actually happens to all the for recycling or is unrecyclable, 2,627 So what pieces (60%) would be incinerated. throwaway plastic? Extracting energy from burning about the waste is becoming an increasingly widespread solution to deal with remaining rubbish, and can power and heat our homesk. However, incineration comes at a heavy environmental 96%? cost. Firstly, it releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into 23 Just over a third of what the atmosphere which contribute to we diligently put into our climate changek. Secondly, burning 4,396 bins is plastics can release toxic chemicalsl. actually recycled in the UK, This potentially puts the health of throwaway which demonstrates the those living near an incineration plant at risk if toxic emissions are not plastic items immense lack of recycling properly controlled and are released infrastructure. into the atmospherem.

What happens is that most of the plastic 1,247 pieces (28%) would be sent to waste in our recycling bin is exported landfill. If we think about it, landfill is to Europe for incineration, or to South just a giant storage unit for future East Asia for ‘recycling’. Since China generations to unearth and worry banned any more plastic rubbish from about. Landfilled plastics are exposed entering the country, Malaysia, Vietnam to a number of external elements 10% and Thailand are the new top three that alter its state such as heat, 90% 451 items pressure, water, sunlight, gases or destinations shouldering the UK’s plastic 3,945 collected j acidic leachates released by the waste. waste . In total, 289 pieces (6%) from my items for plastic waste would be exported. These elements combined cause the 2% not 71 items recycling hazardous chemicals that could be recovered present in plastic to leak into collected This means that the environmentn. for recycling tens of billions Finally, from the 3,945 plastic pieces that could have ended up in my normal of plastic bin, 71 pieces (2%) such as milk bottles 4% would be recovered by staff at waste 161 items centres and sent to recycling facilities recycled in 6% pieces would 289 items in the UK or overseas. the UK be exported 60% exported 2,627 from the UK items 28% burned 1,247 every year, and items ultimately dealt landfilled with by other countries24. 36 37 EVERYDAY PLASTIC

ideal of what’s known as the circular economy. This is definitely something How much that we should be aiming for.

Realistically however, there is an of the unavoidable loss during the plastic recycling process. It is hard to extract recycled pure plastic type that hasn’t been contaminated by other plastics, food residues, chemicals etc. Usually, only plastic is a small percentage of the plastic collected for recycling is of a quality 1.3% 0.2%used to that satisfies food grade packaging of the plastic I threw of the plastic I threw standards for instance. This means away is made from away is made from that only a fraction of the plastic is produce recycled into new packaging. The rest recycled materials plant-based materials is used to create other types of products like a fleece jacket or a park (only 59 pieces!) (only 8 pieces!)new plastic? bench, both example of which are not One of the most stark currently recyclable. statistics revealed by the analysis of the plastic Only 1.3% of types present in my plastic waste is that only 59 pieces my throwaway are made from recycled materials (precisely, plastic waste The rest is made The rest recycledis made PET). from newly-made from oil or gas is made from plastic This is 1.3% of my total collection of throwaway plastic waste. recycled This number says a lot about the huge materials limitations of our current recycling system. Bear this in mind when you’re cleaning, disposing, putting the bin out, watching it get collected etc., that only 1.3% of the plastic I threw away is made from recycled plastic.

If 4% of my plastic waste would end up being recycled as we show above, surely we should expect 4% of the pieces to be made of recycled plastic? The difference between the two represents what is called downcycling. When we think of recycling, we imagine a plastic bottle being recycled into a new plastic bottle, over and over again. This perfect and infinite loop is the

39 EVERYDAY PLASTIC

as the primary raw materials to produce plastic. Not only that, but How much they are used to power the plastic manufacturing plants and transport energy, the finished products across the globe. If the amount of oil used to produce my plastic waste was refined to make natural petrol, it would create 49 litres. This is enough to get me from my home in Margate to Edinburgh in my VW Polo resource travelling at an average speed and raw of 50mph31. 1.3% 0.2% The amount ofof energy the manufacturers plastic I threw of the plastic I threw would use to makeaway the 4,490 is madepieces from away is made from material of plastic that I consumed in 2017 would amountrecycled to 713 kilowatt hours materials32. plant-based materials was used to That is enough(only energy to 59 power pieces!) your (only 8 pieces!) laptop for 9,507 non-stop hours. If you use a laptop in your average Monday produce all to Friday 9am to 5pm job, that would my plastic keep it going for over five years33. What natural resource does every manufacturing process have in waste? common? Water, and lots of it. To Another startling statistic make the amount of plastic I used in a year would take 1,736 litres - roughly a revealed by the analysis of months’ worthThe of daily rest showers is34 . made The rest is made the plastic types present from newly-made from oil or gas in my collection is that Water is not theplastic only resource that PLA (plastic made from is used in plastic production. A whole plant-based materials28), range of chemicals and resources are extracted, processed and considered by some to emitted before, during and after the be the saviour of plastic production of plastic. Manufacturing, production, was used transportation, energy supply and to produce only 8 waste management all contribute pieces - 0.2% of the significantly to CO2 emissions and our carbon footprint. The amount of 29 whole collection . plastic that I would have thrown away would have contributed 69 kg CO2e to If only 0.2% of my collection is plant- my carbon footprint35. based, this means that 99.8% is fossil fuel-based. Every crisp packet, straw, milk bottle, pair of sunglasses is made Every crisp packet, from oil or gas. straw, milk bottle, Oil and/or gas are the key components pair of sunglasses is of the plastic manufacturing process. Oil and gas are extracted and refined made from oil or gas.

40 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC The verdict: We’re not being told the truth about recycling

42 43 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC In 2016, while out on a unfortunate truth... We are not being everyday language, but really they’re calculated that 67% of the packaging told the truth about recycling. just catchy phrases that have been I threw away was used to pack, wrap run, I stumbled across a dreamt up in boardrooms. I work in or consume food. More pointedly, our pile of plastic entangled When I emptied my year-long marketing, and I never thought I’d say everyday items such as vegetables, in washed-up seaweed. collection of plastic waste from the this, but we really are being sold stuff nuts, bread, fruit, crisps, cereal, Shortly after, a query to 22 bin bags I’d accumulated, filling we do not need. pasta, toilet paper, chocolate bars, my local council regarding the floor of a massive warehouse washing tablets, chips, sugar, with thousands of familiar products There is an epidemic of coffee and cheese are all pointlessly plastic recycling garnered and brands, I was struck by shock over-production and over- packaged in flimsy, thin, low value, the response: “I’m afraid it’s and sadness. This was all the stuff I’d non-recyclable plastic film - and consumption.​ not available where you live”. bought, used and chucked away in that plastic film made up nearly half 2017. Such is the nature of our fast- of everything I used. moving throwaway society, I barely The temptation to buy shiny new I struggled to compute this. Why was remembered using any of it. Collecting things is always going to be present the opportunity for me to help the If most of it cannot be my plastic waste for a year certainly because it’s how our modern society is environment, tackle plastic pollution reused and none of it can says a lot about me, but it also says a programmed. To resist consuming is to and responsibly dispose of my plastic lot about us. swim against the tide. be recycled, then why are waste being denied? Recycling is our we so reliant on plastic film way of doing good, right? When you’re choosing between Hula Each piece of plastic waste Hoops and Wotsits on your next lunch and how have we ended up Ignorance is bliss and recycling allows is the legacy of a decision break, consider the packaging, just for in a situation where there us to obliviously get rid of our plastic made, a thirst quenched, a moment: where did it come from? are no alternatives? waste. Sadly, it far from gets rid of the a belly filled, a wardrobe Who made it? How many resources problem. were used, how many hours and how Sitting here, writing this in brightened or an iPhone much energy did it take to create? That September 2018, almost two years In fact, plastic recycling isn’t just unpacked. crisp packet was specifically designed after I decided to start the Everyday inadequate, it is a complete failure. to be thrown away. Then pause to Plastic project, I’m a reformed and Illustrated by the statistic that only 4% We’re sleepwalking through consider that: it has been specifically recovering consumer. From childhood of my plastic waste would actually be supermarkets aisles, shopping malls designed to be thrown away. This to adulthood, I’ve made hundreds, recycled, it exposes plastic recycling and online retailers, consuming needs to be urgently addressed. probably thousands of gratuitous as a system that barely exists in this without opening our eyes or purchases, but now I’ve stopped country. More of the plastic that you acknowledging the product wrapped We need to design stuff buying things in the same way that I throw into your recycling bin is actually in plastic packaging that we’re holding used to. sent to another country, and many in our hands. And here lies the heart of that doesn’t have to be people living in extreme poverty will the issue. thrown away. ​ work, eat and sleep amongst it. I don’t Reducing my consumption has made way for greater know about you, but that makes me Plastic pollution is a We need to keep plastic waste in feel really angry and upset. the system and out of the natural resourcefulness by​-product of consumerism environment, and move towards a and creativity. One year of throwing away 4,490 circular economy. It’s funny to refer pieces of plastic waste made me - a culture that perfectly blends the to a much loved piece of packaging interests of the economy and society. My fridge is less full, I reuse tubs stop and re-think. Recycling is a that almost became obsolete, but and , I buy longer-lasting tinned smokescreen. To make it work, we When a culture takes root, it grows, the milk bottle is a perfect and our throwaway consumer culture goods, I repair my things (badly) and have to massively improve and invest example of a circular economy. It’s unsurprisingly, I’m a fully functional in infrastructure, but also significantly has been both subtly indoctrinated delivered, consumed, returned, and warmly embraced. human being with the things that I reduce what we produce and use. washed, sterilised, refilled with milk, already have. delivered and repeated. After it’s been We need to consciously and Recycling is not and never through this cycle around 25 times, These conclusions are by no means purposefully take back control of it’ll get melted down and turned back will be the sole solution. our decision-making from the hands extensive. I haven’t touched on into a milk bottle, ready to start the the influence of the fossil fuel of marketers, advertisers, retailers, sequence again. It’s amazing how your mindset shareholders and policy-makers. industry, local authority funding can change over the course of a Impulse buys, retail therapy and cuts, recycling target exploitation, Food packaging waste is having a how the packaging industry should year and this very personal and convenience stores are etched into huge impact on our environment. We exploratory journey has revealed a very pay their way, government and 44 45 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC industry transparency on collection and disposal, subsidies for innovators, supermarket superiority and so on. How can I The key objective of this experiment was always to improve our understanding of our individual impact reduce my on plastic pollution. I want to share as much as I’ve learned over this two year investigation as possible, so you don’t own individual have to go through the same laborious and lengthy process. Everyday Plastic provides us with a very personal impact connection to the plastic waste we throw away. on plastic Learning to connect with and reduce what we consume pollution not only addresses the issue of plastic pollution, it can Collecting every piece of plastic also improve our society as I used in a year took willpower, motivation and a shift in habit. This a whole. can easily be applied to reducing the amount of plastic we use. We need to swap convenience for a stubborn After all, plastic resistance. It can be done. pollution is There are steps you can take that turn out to be cheaper and easier in the long run than using not just an plastic. If I’d have completely given up plastic water bottles, coffee cups, straws, stirrers, cutlery, bags and shower gel, I would have thrown environmental away 316 fewer items in 2017.

issue. It’s Even if we applied this amnesty to half the UK population, we could prevent 10 billion pieces a human one. from entering the waste system. And this is the key. Reducing the amount of plastic we produce and consume reduces the impact on our global waste system. So don’t let anyone ever tell you that individuals can’t make a difference!

46 47 EVERYDAY PLASTIC EVERYDAY PLASTIC Footnotes References 1 / English local authorities spend more than £700 17 / All the data are based on the UK Household a. i. a c million on street cleaning every year . Plastics Collection Survey 2017 published by Recoup ​. How clean is England? The Local How to use less plastic and help 2 / Kent County Council sent 49.1% of the waste to 18 / See Appendix 2 - Table 6. Environmental Quality Survey of England save the planet. Which?, August make energy in the period 2015/16 b 19 / The difference between Recyclable (30%) and 2014/15. Keep Britain Tidy, 2015. http://www. 2018. https://magazine.which.co.uk/ 3 / See Appendix 1. collected for recycling (10%) can be explained by keepbritaintidy.org/sites/default/files/ editions/edition_w0818/data/9492/ two factors: 4 / See Appendix 2 - Table 1. UK households consumed resource/LEQSE%202014-15.pdf index.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_ 1 Not all local authorities offer a collection service. e.g. 594 million kg of plastic bottles in 2016 c​​. By dividing only 19% of local authorities have a scheme to collect source=ExactTarget&utm_ this number by 65,648,100 - the estimated UK plastic film ​c​ b. campaign=Magazine_Preview_Aug18 population in 2016 d​ ​ - we calculate that 9kg of plastic . bottles were consumed per person in the UK in 2016. 2 The fact that an item doesn’t end in the right bin: Kent Waste Disposal Strategy 2017-2035 For example, a person might not sort their waste; is Strategy Document. Kent County Council, j. 5 / See Appendix 2 - Table 1. UK Households consumed confused by which pieces can be recycled or in which 525 million kg of plastic pots, tubs and trays in 2016 ​c​. bin they should go; or does not have the means to go 2017. https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/ Plastics crisis set to intensify as more By dividing this number by 65,648,100 - the estimated to a collection point located far from their house to assets/pdf_file/0007/67093/Kent-Waste- countries look to restrict foreign waste. UK population in 2016 d​ ​ - we calculate that 8kg of dispose of their sorted waste. “Fewer than one in ten Disposal-Strategy.pdf Joe Sandler Clarke and Emma Howard, plastic pots and trays were consumed per person in shoppers (9%) always or often take packaging back to ​ i Unearthed, 14 June 2018. https://unearthed. the UK in 2016. a supermarket to be recycled” ​. c. greenpeace.org/2018/06/14/china- 6 / See Appendix 2 - Table 1. In 2010, 10.4 billion packs 20 / All data are from c​. UK Household Plastics Collection Survey plastics-ban-malaysia-vietnam-poland/ of crisps and savoury snacks were bought in the UK e​. For an estimated population of 62,769,500 people in 21 / See Appendix 2 - Table 7. 2017. Recoup, 2017. http://www.recoup. 2010d​ ​, we calculate that on average, 166 packs were 22 / See Appendix 2 - Table 7. org/p/229/uk-household-plastics- k. consumed per person. 23 / 37% precisely c​​. collection-survey-2017 Incineration of Municipal Solid Waste. 7 / See Appendix 2 - Table 1. The total plastic DEFRA, February 2013. https://assets. 24 / See Appendix 2 - Table 7. packaging consumed by UK households in 2016 d. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/ weighted 2.26 billion kg c​​. By dividing this number by 25 / See Appendix 2 - Table 7. d UK population estimates. Office for uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ 65,648,100 - the estimated UK population in 2016 ​ 26 / See Appendix 2 - Table 7. - we calculate that 34.4kg of plastic packaging was National Statistics. https://www.ons.gov. data/file/221036/pb13889-incineration- consumed per person in the UK in 2016. 27 / See Appendix 2 - Table 5. uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ municipal-waste.pdf 8 / 31kg of plastic packaging waste per person was 28 / See Appendix 1. populationandmigration/ ​f populationestimates l. produced in the EU in 2014 ​. 29 / See Appendix 2 - Table 5 Formation of PCDDs, PCDFs, and Coplanar 9 / For this estimation we divided 2.3 million tonnes by 30 / See Appendix 2 - Table 8. the average weight of an adult (70kg). This equals the e. PCBs from Polyvinyl Chloride during weight of 32.9 million people. 31 / My VW Polo 2009, with a 1.4 engine consumes Crisps: a very British habit. Jon Henley, The Combustion in an Incinerator. Katami et al.. o 44.8 MPG ​ ​. 49 L = 10.8 gallons, therefore I could drive Guardian, 1 September 2010. https://www. Environmental Science & Technology, 2002, 10 / Over the course of a year, 22 bin bags with an 80 for 484 miles with 49 litres of petrol. litre capacity were filled with my plastic waste. This theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/01/ 36 (6), pp 1320–1324. https://pubs.acs.org/ adds up to 1,760 litres. We decided to reduce the 32 / The whole energy consumption used to produce crisps-british doi/abs/10.1021/es0109904 volume of the bags by 20% to account for leaving the 4,490 pieces of the collection is 2,567 MJ or 713 space to tie the bags closed bringing the volume to KWh (see Appendix 2 - Table 8). For a laptop using an 1,408 litres (or 1.5m3). For the whole UK population this average of 75W per hour p​ ​, this means enough energy f. m. represents 92,432,525m3, or a cone with a base of to power the laptop for 9,507 hours or 1188 days (8h a Changing the way we use Plastics. Green businesses and cities at risk: How 1074 meters in diameter or 906,201 m2 (90.6 hectares) day) or 3.3 years. Factsheet. European Commission, 2018. your waste management plan may be in surface for an elevation of 306 meters. 33 / Calculated for 8 hours per day, 5 days a week with http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular- leading you in the wrong direction. GAIA, 11 / All percentages are based on the number of 28 days of holidays per year which represents 1,856 economy/pdf/pan-european-factsheet.pdf 2017. http://www.no-burn.org/wp-content/ pieces. For percentages based on weight, see hours of work per year. 9,507 hours would then be equivalent of 5.1 years of work. uploads/Businesses-and-cities-at-risk.pdf Appendix 2 - Table 1. g. 12 / See Appendix 2 - Table 3. The percentages given 34 / See Appendix 2 - Table 8. Calculated for a daily shower of 7 min using 55L of water. International Plastic Recycling Groups n. in this section are based on the identified pieces from Announce Global Definition of “Plastics Transport and release of chemicals from the Throwaway Plastic fraction (3,957 pieces). There 35 / See Appendix 2 - Table 8. were pieces whose purpose we couldn’t identify. They Recyclability”. Plastic Recyclers Europe, 12 plastics to the environment and to wildlife. were either too small, too ripped, too indefinable. July 2018. https://plastics-recyclers-europe. Teuten et al.. Philosophical Transactions These ‘Bits and Bobs’ amounted to 439 pieces, 10% of prezly.com/international-plastic-recycling- of the Royal Society B, 2009, V 364. my whole plastic waste in number of pieces, but only 2% in weight. groups-announce-global-definition-of- http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ plastics-recyclability# content/364/1526/2027 13 See Appendix 2 - Table 4. 14 / See Appendix 2 - Table 5. h. o. 15 / The Resin Identification Coding System (RICS) is Waste crisis: Australia isn’t recycling, Car Emissions website. https://car- a set of symbols appearing on plastic products that we’re ‘just collecting’. Nick Miller, The emissions.com/cars/model/Volkswagen/ identify the plastic resin out of which the product is made. Resin is another word for plastic most Sydney Morning Herald, 5 May 2018. polo/2009 commonly used in the industry. For more information https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/ see Appendix 1. waste-crisis-australia-isn-t-recycling- p. 16 / See Appendix 2 - Table 5. we-re-just-collecting-20180504-p4zdau. How much power does a computer use? html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_ And how much CO2 does that represent? medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%20 energuide.be https://www.energuide.be/ 2018-05-07%20Waste%20Dive%20 en/questions-answers/how-much-power- Newsletter%20%5Bissue:15201%5D&utm_ does-a-computer-use-and-how-much- term=Waste%20Dive co2-does-that-represent/54/ 48 49 EVERYDAY PLASTIC

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50 APPENDIX PP: . This is the second most produced plastic after PE (Polyethylene). Polypropylene can be 1. Plastics processed into film, for packaging such as snack wrappers, and is also used for rigid containers like hummus and Glossary margarine pots.

PET: Polyethylene terephthalate. This PS: Polystyrene. Polystyrene can be is the plastic used for water and soda solid or foamed. Foamed polystyrene, bottles. It is also used in packaging for known as Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) trays, cups and pots. PET can also be is used in protective packaging and in processed into fibre where it is better takeaway containers, whereas the solid known as Polyester and is widely used in form is used in packaging for yogurt clothes. pots for instance.

R-PET: Recycled Polyethylene terephthalate. It is used in the same way as PET. Others (including) ABS: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. PE: Polyethylene. It is the most produced This is mostly used for electronic plastic and the number one plastic used appliances and vehicles, rarely used for packaging under its High- and Low- for packaging. density forms (HDPE and LDPE). PLA: Polylactic acid. PLA is a derived from renewable resources like corn or sugar cane. It is degradable HDPE: High-density Polyethylene. HDPE under certain conditions. It is used in is used for rigid containers like milk, packaging for cups and trays or coffee shampoo, cleaning products bottles etc. cup lids.

Multilayered packaging: Packaging such as crisp bags or coffee pouches are LDPE: Low-density Polyethylene. LDPE made by the juxtaposition of film layers is used for film packaging/wrapping, like of different materials. This packaging plastic bags, bread bags, toilet paper is designed to combine the different wrap etc. functional properties of the different materials (light, moist and oxygen barriers; strength etc.). The plastics LDPE, PET and PP are commonly used as PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride. This is the well as alumina. third most produced plastic after PE (Polyethylene) and PP (Polypropylene), but it is used mostly in construction and buildings and not so much in packaging. 2. Data Please refer to the data tables available online at everydayplastic.org/ report-appendix SUPPORTED BY: SUPPORTED

Ever wondered how much plastic we use in a year and where it goes?

@everydayplastic @plasticeveryday @everydayplastic 2018. © Ollie Harrop All photography : Photo Plastic. of Everyday Images courtesy leap.eco as possible by Designed as sustainably everydayplastic.org [email protected]