Life of a Plastic Bottle

You're out and about and feeling thirsty. You go into a shop and buy a bottle of your favourite fizzy drink and you gratefully gulp it down. A moment or two of bliss on a hot day.

But what now? Carry the empty with you until you get home, or put it in a litter bin?

This is a regular dilemma for me. In truth, I should be taking a reused bottle of water with me when I'm out. It's cheaper and doesn't add to the mass of plastic out there already. But I'm never that organised and I prefer my drinks chilled.

The answer to my earlier question is: Take it home (Unless recycling bins are available). Bottles that go into a public bin are unlikely to be separated, so will most likely go to a dump or be incinerated.

By taking it home and putting it in your own recycling bin, it then has a chance to be recycled as a bottle again. This stops it ending up in landfill, and reduces the carbon footprint of the new bottle:

• 80% of all plastic ever made has ended up in the environment or in landfill. 
• Today, 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans, each year.
• Manufacturing a tonne of recycled plastic bottles creates 1 to 3 tonnes less CO2 than a tonne made the usual way (from oil).

Clearly, recycled bottles are better for the environment. However, globally, only 7% become bottles again. Even in the UK, the recycling rate is only 14%.

Why is that?

Basically, it's cost. It is cheaper to produce a plastic bottle from scratch, from oil, than by using recycled material. That's because oil is relatively cheap at the moment.

If we are to reduce both the carbon footprint of plastic and reduce the amount of plastic going into the environment, then the economics have to change. 

Raising the price of oil is clearly out, therefore governments need to make the use of recycled plastic more attractive to manufacturers. Or recycling plastic needs become less costly.

What we're doing with plastics is clearly unsustainable. We need to change our attitudes towards it.

We need to reduce the amount of plastic packaging being used; reduce the frivolous, unnecessary purchases we make; reuse wherever possible; and create a market where recycled materials are favoured against raw materials like oil.

This can only come about when governments, companies, and the public recognise the dangers of our throwaway society, and work together to overcome them.

It's a big ask but, somehow, I think we've got to learn to work together if we're going to meet the challenges that face us all this century.

(Source of figures: New Scientist, 19 May 2018)