While we're all good at recycling when it comes to separating our rubbish and cleaning out our used plastic at home, how much do we really know about where our plastic ends up?
A recent investigation by Greenpeace found that much of our plastic that we place into our recycling bins here in the UK is being sent to Turkey where it's left to be dumped or pollute the ocean.
In 2020, the UK exported 688,000 tonnes of discarded plastic packaging overseas to countries without the infrastructure to recycle it properly. The total amount of plastic sent overseas equates to a daily average of 1.8m kilos compared to just 486,000 tonnes which were recycled in the UK.
Greenpeace investigators in Turkey found that plastic waste from a number of leading supermarkets is being dumped, burned, piled into mountains and left to spill into rivers and the sea.
The waste was made up of mostly plastic bags and packaging from UK supermarkets as well as drink bottles. This waste, was even found making its way into the Mediterranean sea and onto beaches.
Following this shocking investigation, Greenpeace are calling on the UK Government to ban all exports of plastic waste overseas to countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
In the meantime, it's more important than ever to reduce our use of single use plastic, especially as we can't guarantee our recycling is being recycled how we'd like it to be.
Things to do to reduce your use of single use plastic
- Use your own containers when shopping for fresh meat, fish, fruit and veg.
- Carry a reusable bottle, and cutlery with you when out and about.
- Use bars of soap instead of bottles.
- Refuse the lid on your take-out coffee.
- Don't buy bottled drinks and try to buy cans or glass bottles instead where possible.
- When food shopping online, opt for no bags.
- Always carry reusable bags with you instead of using plastic carrier bags.
- Swap your old plastic toothbrush for a bamboo one.
- Try to wash your clothes less.
- Try to cook from fresh rather than buying pre-prepared food in plastic packaging.
It's also a good idea to keep in mind how easy some household plastics are to recycle before buying anything that uses them. We love this table by Which? that clearly shows how easy it is to recycle certain plastic materials.
Top tips for recycling plastic properly
- Squash all bottles and anything that can roll - this will stop anything rolling off the recycling conveyor belt.
- Rinse your recycling well - if your plastic has food still on it, it could contaminate any cardboard in the same recycling bin which could make the paper or card unrecyclable.
- Screw on any lids - any loose lids may be too small for the sorting machine in some cases.
Related: Are you putting the right things into your recycling bin?
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