{"id":25206,"title":"Plastic Pollution","description":"We all know that plastic pollution is bad, like really bad. 79% of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic ever produced is still on our planet. That\u2019s 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic still lying in landfills, still polluting our oceans and still littering our environments. Just 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled.","content":"

We all know that plastic pollution is bad, like really bad. 79% of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic ever produced is still on our planet<\/strong>. That\u2019s 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic still lying in landfills, still polluting our oceans and still littering our environments. Just 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled<\/strong>.<\/p>

These numbers are vast and hard to actually imagine or quantify but we know they are huge and scary numbers and this linear make, consume, dispose has to stop.<\/p>

In recent times alternatives to oil based plastics have appeared on the market but are they any better? Well yes\u2026and very much no.<\/p>

Go to a takeaway, street food vendor or festival and buy some food and drink and you\u2019ll probably get a cup, a tray and some kind of single use cutlery. In the past this may have been a polystyrene tray which everyone thankfully realised was environmentally awful but you will probably still get a plastic fork or spoon and a plastic cup which once used is chucked in the bin (if you\u2019re a responsible person anyway!). If you\u2019re lucky there may be a recycling bin nearby but usually that fork and cup ends up in landfill.<\/p>

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Recently though there has been a new trend for plant based plastics. They still hold all the properties of oil based plastic but we\u2019re told they are compostable. But are they really? Well again, yes and no. They undoubtedly are cleaner to produce, using less Co2 and renewable materials but when it comes to actually disposing of them that\u2019s a very different story entirely.<\/p>

What most people don\u2019t know is that these plant based plastics (PLA) won\u2019t compost in your home compost bin, they also won\u2019t break down in landfill or degrade in the sea. One controlled study found that over the course of one year the PLA did not degrade in ambient seawater conditions at all. To dispose of PLA correctly they are actually certified for \u201ccommercial composting\u201d only. This is a specialist process with a lengthy timescale (up to 12 weeks) to break down. The problem lies in that only 38% of the waste facilities in the UK have the capability to process PLA. Many commercial composting facilities process waste too fast for breaking down PLA adequately. What makes matters worse is that PLA can not be recycled along with your household plastic waste either, meaning the majority of PLA ends up in landfill along with all the other non recyclable waste.<\/p>

So what\u2019s the answer? Think about the packaging you actually need. Take your own bottle or cup for takeaway drinks, have your own reusable cutlery for takeaways and festivals. Look for \u201chome compostable\u201d plastics - a lot of the plant based plastic wraps on sweets etc. can be thrown straight into your own compost bin to degrade, and vote with your pound by buying products that are plastic free or not wrapped in mountains of unnecessary packaging (do we really need our greetings cards individually wrapped for instance?).<\/p>

Thankfully Kolo uses plastic free packaging so you can feel safe in the knowledge that buying from us won\u2019t cost you the earth.<\/p>","urlTitle":"plastic-pollution","url":"\/blog\/plastic-pollution\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/plastic-pollution\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/truckelcreativeillustration.teemill.com\/blog\/plastic-pollution\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1677249543,"updatedAt":1677258111,"publishedAt":1677258111,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":20872,"name":"Truckel Creative Illustration"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/epfyla5tztqsimbvlbx3lzmb9kbjmj9u9bgugjhbjmdlzec6.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/epfyla5tztqsimbvlbx3lzmb9kbjmj9u9bgugjhbjmdlzec6.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/epfyla5tztqsimbvlbx3lzmb9kbjmj9u9bgugjhbjmdlzec6.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":25208,"title":"What is the Circular Economy?","url":"\/blog\/what-is-the-circular-economy\/","urlTitle":"what-is-the-circular-economy","division":20872,"description":"A circular economy is based on keep, eliminate and regenerate. Basically it means producing better that lasts, reusing and recycling by-products or what doesn\u2019t last and eliminating the use of materials and products that can\u2019t be reused or recycled. Everything should feed back into the system to start the whole process again.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/gi93zoextfqhut5f6josvzegjdlna0qfqggvylk4bevl5ghc.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/gi93zoextfqhut5f6josvzegjdlna0qfqggvylk4bevl5ghc.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":25209,"title":"Safe Cold Water Swimming","url":"\/blog\/safe-cold-water-swimming\/","urlTitle":"safe-cold-water-swimming","division":20872,"description":"Cold water swimming is great for our minds and bodies but we have to do it safely. We at Kolo have been sea swimming for years now, all year round without a wetsuit. So what are our tips for safe cold water swimming?","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/roehjj7rp2kwcja3f8cpf10cd7e106radi2eeqlhdbt6b5aj.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/roehjj7rp2kwcja3f8cpf10cd7e106radi2eeqlhdbt6b5aj.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}