Plastic bottles are getting a lot of attention for the devastating effect they are having on our environment and oceans. Plastic bottles are the third most common ocean polluter after cigarettes and food packaging and are causing enormous damage to our oceans.
The world is producing too much plastic
The Guardian states that a mind-boggling one million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021. Several high-profile campaigns are trying to flag the issues to consumers and change their habits. Sky’s Ocean Rescue campaign is looking at ways the Sky organisation can help tackle this growing problem, committing to remove all single-use plastics from their offices, including plastic bottles, plastic cups and straws.
Plastic never decomposes
Once plastic is in our oceans, it remains there forever. Sky’s Ocean Rescue campaign states that if nothing changes, by 2050 all the plastic in the ocean could weigh more than all the fish. Precious marine life live in plastic-riddled water, they eat it and get caught up in it. It ends up in the food chain too. In an attempt to reduce their contribution to plastic waste, high street café chain Pret-a-Manger is leading a trial to scrap plastic bottles in their outlets and provide refillable glass containers instead.
We aren’t recycling enough plastic bottles
When plastic bottles are not properly recycled through specialist machinery or through bottle buy-back schemes, they end up on our roadsides, in landfill, and in the sea. The UK government is considering a buy-back scheme, backed by big plastic bottle producers like Coca-Cola, that have proved successful in other countries. But until the plastic bottle problem has a better solution, next time you hire a skip or wheelie bin from Rabbit, don’t forget to throw in any odd plastic bottles you have so you know they’re being properly recycled and do your bit to reduce the devastating effect on our oceans.
For more information about skip hire, contact us on 01903 762020 or email info@rabbitgroup.co.uk
