Video: Is Plastic Sustainable? - By The British Plastics Federation 

By Shardell Joseph 

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has released two videos to to help tackle some of the public misunderstandings around plastic, addressing its role in society and the best ways to prevent plastic waste. 

The video’s were released after an international debate on plastic waste at the World Economic Forum last week,  in support of the BPF’s recent document Understanding the Debate about Plastic, which outlines why plastic is important for modern life and the evidence on effective ways to reduce waste.

Video: Improving Plastic Recycling in the UK - By The British Plastics Federation

YouGov findings recently revealed over two-thirds of the public believe that plastic packaging is the most damaging material for producing carbon emissions during its lifecycle. Research into the environmental impact of plastic,  however, disproved this, and indicated that that replacing plastic with other materials is not necessarily better for the environment. Academics have also cautioned against swapping plastic for other materials due to the unforeseen negative consequences it may have for the planet.

‘We hope that through widely sharing content such as these videos, we can help clear up public misunderstanding about plastic,’ said British Plastics Federation Director General, Philip Law. ‘The recent YouGov poll results show the issue clearly - most do not appreciate plastic’s role in helping us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

‘Policymakers and the media need to take note. By turning away from plastics we may do a lot more harm to our environment than good. We must ensure we work together to make the best choices for our planet, and plastic has an important role to play in fighting climate change.’ 

Creating Space for Eco-Conscious Policies and Procedures

Creating Space for Eco-Conscious Policies and Procedures

by @lukesmithwrites
#greenbusiness #sustainablebusiness #sustainability

As the world grows increasingly conscious of the necessity for sustainability, it’s crucial that businesses do their part by making environmental changes as well. However, to genuinely effect change and make a difference, companies need to entirely reinvent their core business processes and policies.  

Small changes are a good place to start, but true sustainability can only be achieved by…

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warning: rant

I’m hearing a lot about sustainability and going green and supporting local, but most of the information is USA/large agricultural country centric. as a very average singaporean i, i can’t think of any ways to do that

in terms of food…

99% of all our food is imported because the land area is too small to sustain an effective % of the population. local produce is simply too expensive to completely switch over unless the family earns a lot how do we reduce our carbon footprint like this?

recycling…

there are many blue bins for recycling but irresponsible people are always throwing their food waste and rubbish inside and it results in the entire bin being thrown away so it’s a waste of water and time. especially in residential areas.

i feel schools should do more for paper recycling since they’re probably the largest users of paper and not able to be fully digital yet. they could encourage recycling amongst students like P2/P4/P6/Sec 2/Sec 4/JC 2 after EOY/National Exams because honestly they don’t really need their materials anymore as they move up to the next year. I’m sure the mountains of used assessment books and worksheets could be diverted from the incinerator while textbooks in good condition should be passed down to those who can’t keep affording brand new ones. I understand that NTUC has a textbook initiative but hardly anyone would take serious note unless they were already interested. by converting this programme to the individual school level, it would be easier for students to hear about and take part in since the entire programme is within school premises anyways. if manpower is needed to sort/promote/quality check, an additional VIA project wouldn’t hurt interested students/student leaders anyway

plastic-free shopping…

our rubbish disposal system requires all rubbish to be neatly tied up in plastic bags. we NEED plastic bags to make the rubbish disposal process easier. wet food items like meat need to be kept fresh with plastic bags. wet market and hawker centre shop owners rarely stop for us to switch to reusable containers when there’s business. in supermarkets, fresh produce that doesn’t actually require bagging is still put in bags to buy as a bunch (e.g cabbage, apples, bananas). nowadays supermarkets make their plastic bags super thin to ‘reduce’ plastic waste but it means that the bags can serve their purpose at the bare minimum. it breaks so easily its ridiculous. that also means that cashiers double or triple bag, which defeats the original purpose anyways. requiring customers to pay for plastic bags hinders no one but lower income households, who aren’t the main problem anyway.

Just finished watching David Attenborough’s ‘A Life On Our Planet’ all the way through.

Everybody needs to see this documentary. It is a wake-up call that things need to change. And fast.

The thing that people need to realise is that it only takes small changes to make a big difference. On an individual level, we can all make changes that won’t disrupt our daily lives in huge ways - we can switch to using less plastic (even if it’s just replacing bottles of soap with soap bars), a few times a week we can choose to walk to places instead of using transport and we can cut down on meat and dairy in our diets. These are just a few examples, but any small contribution makes a huge difference if we all play our part.

But we cannot just tackle climate change on an individual level - governments and global corporations need to recognise the damage they are doing and they need to operate more sustainably. This is has been proven to be possible, for example, Switzerland operates on a tariff scheme which means electricity is generated by primarily renewable means and hydroelectric powerplants produce 60% of the country’s electricity.

With the loss of species, wildfires, violent storms and the coronavirus pandemic, there is no excuse for governments to ignore the devastating effects that humans are having on the environment. Powerful world leaders cannot sit in their chairs, pout and simply say “I don’t think science knows” when they’re presented with evidence for climate change. They also cannot continue to label protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion “terrorists” when they are ultimately fighting for a more peaceful world.

I know that after watching 'A Life On Our Planet’ I will make changes to try and help as much as possible. I will be careful not to purchase products which contain palm oil, I will try to use less plastic and although I have never eaten meat I will be reducing my dairy intake. I will also vote only for political parties that have sustainable environmental policies.

I hope we can all learn from David Attenborough and put his advice into action. Although there’s a chance we can still save our world, that window of opportunity is closing fast and we can only keep it open if we work together.

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