We must remember, plastic is not the problem. If we use it properly we can only benefit from it. It’s the amount of plastic we produce and the ways we DON’T manage it. We created it so we must take responsibility for it.

Steps need to reduce the single-use plastic waste includes instituting the famous 3Rs of the Environment and Sustainability -  REDUCE or Reducing Consumption.

By far the act of reducing your consumption, in this case of single-use plastics, is the most effective way to keep plastic waste out of the landfills, oceans, land environments and our bodies. By not purchasing these one-time products in the first place we can reduce the plastic waste problem by near a half. 

Steps needed to incorporate reuse of plastic material is to remember that one use is often not enough. Whether its an item you purchased or something you were give there is always an opportunity to reuse, refill, resource,  re-share or re-sell. Changing our society from a throw-away to society back to a value-based society is a matter of mindset , planning, process and follow-through. 

~ War Advertising Council 1944

Unfortunately the last step of the 3Rs, Recycling, is the least effective. Back in the 1970 and 1980 the plastic industry (estimated to be a $3 trillion industry in 2020) doubted the usefulness and efficiencies (i.e. money) of recycling.

So that's why in the past 40 years, less than 10% (8.4%) of plastic has ever been recycled. 

According to the above article the plastics industry has spent tens of millions of dollars promoting recycling while all along they knew, as far back as the 1970s, “that recycling plastic on a large scale was unlikely to ever be economically viable.”

So why did (and does) the industry play this charade? 
They do it to keep plastic bans from going in effect and so they can sell more plastic.

So the three things that has failed the recovery of plastic in the environment have been:

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has really set back the efforts to address the massive plastic waste problems we face.

As we move into a new year we will start to address new and not so new ideas that we can use to fix the problem we have created. Stay turned.

Resources for review.