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Calls for firms to reduce packaging waste but householders must also play their part

Recent estimates indicate that if everyone in the world were to live in the same way as we do in the UK, we would need a total of 8 planet Earths in order to satisfy our resource needs. The threat of global warming has also increased the impetus for everyone to be more responsible with our limited resources, and recycle wherever possible.

According to figures produced by recycle-more.com relating to household waste, each UK household produces about 1 tonne of rubbish annually, which amounts to about 27 million tonnes of waste nationally each year. This household waste consists of things such as the 4 glass bottles or jars, 13 cans, 3 plastic bottles and 5 kilograms of paper that the average family in a developed country manages to get through in just one week.

Steel is another major problem for recycling, as steel does not deteriorate each time it is recycled and is easy to separate from other materials, and the production of steel using recycled material saves 75% of the energy that would be needed to create it from new. Despite these facts, UK households are still sending around nine billion steel cans, equivalent to 350,000 tonnes, to landfill every year.

Other consumer waste, such as electronics and old mobile phones which are made of plastic, precious metals and some toxic materials can present their own sets of hazards, and could possibly cause serious damage to the environment if they were to end up in a standard landfill site. The battery from just one current mobile phone contains enough Cadmium to potentially pollute up to 600,000 litres of water, along with other toxic substances like lead, beryllium and brominated flame retardants.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) minister Malcolm Wicks recently announced that, "Electrical equipment is the fastest growing category of rubbish across the European Union, and the UK alone is now generating about one million tonnes of the stuff every year."

Thankfully the majority of UK residents now have access to recycling banks and many authorities provide collections from households for the main types of recyclable rubbish. Some of the big commercial electronics and mobile phone companies like Dialaphone have also seen the need for something to be done and teamed up with charity organisations such as Marie Curie Cancer Care to provide financial incentives to users encouraging them to recycle their unwanted phone handsets, which can then be sold on as a secondhand unit or dismantled so that the electronic parts can then be reused around the world.

The major supermarkets have started to take this problem seriously by increasing the use of returnable plastic crates used in transport and for display purposes from just 8.5 million in 1992 to an estimated 35.8 million in 2002. In 2005 Sainsbury's managed to reduce waste packaging amounts on certain own brand products by 40%. Other food and drinks companies like Coca Cola are also coming on board with the environmental message, with increased investment to reduce land fill waste coming from new manufacturing plants. However there is still a long way to go, as a recent study by the Environment Agency has emphasised. The report has criticised some of the leading companies in the food and drink sector stating they need to do more to reduce the amount of excessive packaging they use.

The Environment Agency's acting chief executive, Paul Leinster, stated, "We are asking the food and drink industry to look at the amount of packaging and waste they create because they are key to how much rubbish we all produce".

Gradually the public and businesses seem to be finally realising something needs to be done to help combat the problems that are being wreaked on the planet by our abuse of the planets resources.

Simple changes such as increasing the lifespan of plastic bags and bottles whenever possible by reusing them rather than immediately throwing them away can help to make a big difference, as reusing items doesn't require any additional energy or resources. Reuse is the best way to make a positive change as it is preferable to recycling but when that is not possible, recycling is much better than landfill disposal.

About the author

Richard lives in Edinburgh, occasionally writing for the personal finance blog Cashzilla, and listens to music no one else likes.

Article Source: http://www.changingearth.org

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