Over the years, our Helpdesk has received a flood of inquiries seeking information about single-use plastics, bioplastics, and how to responsibly consume and dispose of them. Since then, our Helpdesk staff have curated blogs and factsheets, to address some of these questions. It was clear then, and it’s still clear now that we can’t recycle or compost our way out of the plastics issue.
COVID-19 presented layers of challenges to the zero-waste movement, as the plastic industry exploited the global health crisis to elicit fear around the safety of reusables and halted the momentum and progress around reuse and plastic reduction efforts. Now moving toward a post-COVID era, businesses and organizations like ours are prepared to move beyond plastics, and encourage support for plastic-free advocacy, as well as a plastic conscious and reductive lifestyle. We encourage you to visit our Plastic Free July page for plastic-free resources and actionable steps.
The Ecology Center has long been a supporter of eliminating single-use plastics, and encouraging reuse practices, but we are not the only ones trying to break free from plastic. Here, we aim to share a timeline of our community’s journey toward plastic-free living, and the leaps and strides made to accomplish our zero-waste goals. Thank you for being a part of our journey!
It’s a very good initiative, recycling or reuse of plastics in circulation is essential to prevent increased accidental or purposeful release of polymeric materials into the environment, and thus curb environmental pollution. In 2016, only 16% of polymers in flow were collected for recycling while 40% were sent to landfill and 25% were incinerated. computerscrapchamps.com