Plastic Free Cotgrave

Reducing single-use plastics

 

The problem with plastics

 

On Monday 15th March we held our second event for Plastic Free Cotgrave, that you can watch on YouTube: ‘The Problem with Plastics’.

 

These talks and events are run by plastic free communities to raise awareness and understanding about the huge problems being caused by plastics all around the world. The more that people gain a deep understanding, the more likely they are to support our campaigns to encourage policy-makers to legislate around the mushrooming of plastics. Most plastics are made from fossil fuels; extraction of oil in order to make them contributes to CO2 and hence to global warming.

 

If we are to achieve 'net zero carbon emissions' by 2050 (as agreed by nations in the 2015 Paris Agreement), then our addiction to plastic will form an important part of the changes we will all have to make. The growth in renewable energy, coupled with reduction in demand for petrol and diesel means that the oil companies are desperately seeking new markets for their products: plastic is an important new market, hence the 'push' of plastics onto consumers everywhere. They are relatively cheap, but none of the producers are interested in how to deal with them once released into the environment.

 

Turtle