Climate Change

Food Waste and Plastic waste two driving factors in climate change?

Food waste is a huge problem in the west and across the globe, so does plastic pollution. Recent studies have shown about 350 million tones of plastic are being produced each year, and out of which 8 million tones of plastic end up in the ocean. 

How Plastic waste is affecting climate change? 

Plastic has become a core component of our daily life. Mostly used in packaging as it’s lightweight, durable. With the increase in plastic production, plastic pollution has also become a serious threat to our environment. Recent studies show that greenhouse gas emissions occur during plastic manufacturing, waste treatment, and while entering the environment. 

Recycling of plastic waste is a good method to handle wastes, but this process also increases greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gas emissions from cradle to grave of plastics will reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030 and 2.8 gigatons per year by 2050. Plastic packaging is mostly considered as one-time use. After the plastic has been used

Consumers discard them sometimes intentionally or unintentionally. Even if plastic goes to landfills it makes, it is light enough to blow in the wind or make its way to oceans or lakes.

How plastic pollution is affecting animals?

Animals are direct affecters of plastic pollution. A recent viral video of a turtle with a straw in its nostrils shook the internet. And the campaign named “skip the straw, save a turtle” started aggressively to reduce the use of plastic in our daily life. 

Thinking of solutions

At the manufacturing stage, it’s important to think about materials that can be used instead of plastics. 

Plastic has become a core part of our lives, in the food sector, it is a cost-effective solution to protect the food. Although plastic packaging helps consumers by keeping food fresh for a longer time, it also triggers harmful consumer behavior by alluring people to purchase more food than their actual need, which gets wasted in the end. A Lot of plastic packaging is hard to recycle which also ends in landfills or in the streets like trash. 

Solutions

Here are 20 different ideas to reduce plastic waste:

Reusable straws are very common in the market. Use them instead of plastic straws, even in restaurants.

• Plastic bags are costly to recycle and end up in landfills, where it takes around 300 years to photodegrade. Try using eco-friendly and washable plastic bags, and don’t forget to wash them often.
• Prefer boxes instead of bottles, buy milk boxes, and products like detergents that come in cardboard packaging are easy to recycle.
• Purchase food like pasta, rice from bulk bins and use your reusable bag to store. This will also save your money as products in bulk are less expensive.
• Avoid buying frozen foods as they are stored in plastic boxes, you’ll also consume less processed food.
• Avoid using plastic wares in your homes and keep your reusable boxes with you when visiting restaurants.
• Avoid purchasing single-serving yogurts, travel-size toiletries, small sizes of juices. Purchase bigger containers instead of several small plastic packets.
• Stainless steel options to store edible products is increasing rapidly. Replace your one-time-use cups, boxes with stainless steel containers.