This is the followup to an Instagram post about getting rid of my microfibre cleaning cloths. I watched a program on plastic waste hosted by Hugh Fernly-Whittingstall and Anita Rani, produced by BBC1, and it showed the terrible cost of keeping those cloths. It's on Foxtel's Lifestyle Channel in Australia (episode 3 tomorrow at 7.30pm) and on the BBC iPlayer in the UK. If you don't have access to those sites, the first episode is here: DailyMotion. I hope you watch it if you can but it is the second episode that was mind-blowing for me. I can't find that one or episode 3 online.
It looks clean but there are plastics in all our oceans and the problem is getting worse.
IN THE UK - that is England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, population 67 million, these are some of the statistics they highlighted:
- 19.5 billion pieces of single-use plastic in UK homes at any one time.
- 2.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste produced per year.
- 8 billion single-use water bottles per year.
- Loose fruit and vegetables are more expensive than fruit and vegetables sold in plastic.
- Wipes of various kinds (for baby, toddlers, car windscreens, stain removal wipes, leather wipes, teeth wipes (!!), dog ear wipes (!!), antiseptic wipes. 11 billion packs of wipes are bought in the UK per year.
- 90 per cent of wipes are made of plastic and they contain 84 per cent plastic.
- 16 tonnes of used wipes were collected in sewerage in Bristol in three days.
I'm highlighting the problem in the UK because that is the information I have. It's definitely not because the UK is the only country with problems. We all have them. Both the UK and Australia have sent many tonnes of plastic rubbish to Asia. I'm sure other countries have too.
When you're recycling, there are differences between council rules in each area so you need to go onto your local council's website to find out what is recycled and what isn't. When you know the recycling rules for your area, stick to them. There will be plastics that can't be recycled and they will go into landfill, so contact your local MP and ask how the plastic that can't be recycled will be dealt with.
I don't see the need for wipes and I have bought two packs of wipes in my life. One was Waterwipes and we used them in the car during our book tours so we could clean our hands. The other was antiseptic wipes. As soon as I got them home I regretted buying them. I didn't know the extent of the wipes problem and in fact, wipes have two problems. They're packaged in plastic and 90 per cent of wipes on the market are made of plastic! Those wipes are 84 per cent plastic. I think that will surprise most people. There is no mention of plastic at all anywhere on any wipes packaging. Some wipes are disposed of in the bin, but many of them are put in the toilet and flushed away. The city of Bristol in England collected the wipes that had been disposed of in the toilet and 16 tonnes were collected in three and a half days. That doesn't account for all the wipes disposed of in the bin and sent to landfill.
If we can see there is a huge problem with single-use plastic why do our governments fail to see that too? Or do they know exactly what we know, and probably much more, but fail to act because it is big business? It would be interesting to find that out from your local MP. I emailed my MP over the Christmas break asking why the newsletter he sent out, in which he patted himself on the back for all sorts of challenges, programs and funding, didn't mention climate change at all. I'm still waiting for the reply, if it doesn't come soon, I'll phone him.
Two-thirds of the clothes we buy contain acrylic, which is plastic. The main problem seems to be that every time acrylic fabric, yarn and microfibre cloths are washed, about 700,000 fibres are shed into the water in a single wash. They end up in the oceans where they cause massive problems.
There is another plastic problem we don't know much about - plastic air pollution. The scientist doing tests on plastic fibres in the wash said to Hugh he would be more worried about plastic air pollution and the plastic falling on our dinner plates! So Hugh went to meet another scientist who was collecting air samples on top of a building in London. She was collecting 700 plastic fibres per metres squared every day. Which means that over 2 billion microplastic particles are falling on London every day. They are mainly acrylic and polyester and they come from clothing, sails, awnings etc.
Hugh took measuring units to Bristol and installed them inside two homes. When analysed after a couple of days, they found microplastics, inside normal houses, that had the potential of embedding themselves in lungs. The scientist was surprised by the results and said: "it's urgent to understand the concentration and harm that these things pose."
I said in my IG post that I think we all have to change ourselves. No one else will have the solution to this problem that works for you. I think we all have to work out what our main problems areas are - for example, mine, at the moment, are plastic packaging on food and reducing the amount of plastic I have in my home. I encourage you to think about this and work out how you are affected by plastics, then decide what you'll do about it in your home and workplace.
The problem with plastics won't go away. It is up to us to work out our own solutions in our homes but to come together and share solutions for workplaces, schools and communities. I hope when we share what we're doing, we support others and we keep a lid on the criticism. You'll need to do a lot of research because it's only when we have the truth, and not just what we see on social media, that we'll know how to start working on genuine solutions.
Links:
Summary of Australian War on Waste episodes (bottom of page)
Plastic pollution - facts and figures
The plastic polluters won 2019 – and we're running out of time to stop them
Plastic pollution - facts and figures
The plastic polluters won 2019 – and we're running out of time to stop them
Recycling in my local area Find information for your area and learn what you can recycle.
What are microplastics?Tips to Use Less Plastic
