Big Plastic Count.
This week long citizen science investigation was founded by Everyday Plastic and Greenpeace in order to uncover the truth about how much plastic is passing through UK homes. Their unique methodology is then used to count each participant’s findings, subsequently collating a big load of data as evidence to convince the government, brands and supermarkets that there is a problem and they need to make change.
Something like 80,000+ participants submitted their week-long plastic pollution data to the Big Plastic Count, and I was one of them. In this article I will take you through my weekly pile of plastic waste, explaining why I had it, where I think it goes, and what really happens to it.
As a volunteer for local community-interest-company Plastic Free Hackney, it’s quite disconcerting to see any type of plastic pollution in my home. Hypocritical, not practicing what I’m preaching, and not taking responsibility. But there are situations where it is more difficult to reduce your single use waste, and often it is this guilt that makes us feel there’s no point in even trying.
What’s evidential to me, is the big drop in plastic waste I collected this year (2022) as compared to last year (2021). Sometimes it is circumstantial that you have more or less waste in this particular “big plastic count” week than any other, as explained by my Plastic Free Hackney colleague Daisy who had to host two birthday parties during this time. So rather than the Big Plastic Count being a shaming, it’s a chance to collectively call out the brands, supermarkets and retailers who produce and sell the waste you accumulate. This is also why the act of litter picking is useful - it’s not great that a team of volunteers must go clean up streets and rivers, but it offers the opportunity to publicly exclaim your disgust. As has been shown countless times, grassroots activism of this sort does make longlasting meaningful change.
This was my week’s worth of plastic pollution, and the tally sheet:
So first up, what gets you (me) confused is the plastic types and how they are categorised. There are some plastic types not on here, which I’ll address later on, but for now, I’ll take you through this sheet and what my tally was in reference to it. I wanted to put ‘food and drink’, ‘cleaning and toiletries’ and ‘everything else’ together for the sake of clarity, but they’d separated them for their own data analysis and so titles are different, annoyingly. It was a little tricky to get my head around what was what, and that’s part of the issue - we simply do not know enough about the variety of plastics, and each borough/council has it’s own list of accepted recyclables, so no wonder we just put everything in the bin (or in recycling as “wishcycling”).
Food and drink:
Small bottles (up to 500ml):
Moju x 4
These pesky little shots come from a trail running event I help and run at. Fortunately they are a hard plastic and so easy and common to recycle (PET > polyethylene terephthalate), but the fact that they’re so durable for such a small pot - and swift single use - is extra. Of course the better a material, the more quality we believe it is, right. They could be used as travel toiletries pots however, before being discarded. The lids are counted separately, as they’re a different plastic, and unsure about the lid rings - they’re made of the same lid material, but do they get lost in the recycling facility?
Large bottles (over 500ml):
None
The only time I use large bottles is when I’m particularly thirst-quenched and I haven’t already made homemade juice. I’ll buy juice if I “have to”, and save the bottle for when I make my own. I’d never willingly put it straight in the recycling bin without using it a lot first. Same as the small bottles, most larger bottles are made of PET, so easily recyclable into another PET bottle. When you see clothing made of recycled polyester, it is more than likely that the fibres are made from the “waste” stream of PET bottles - but be careful, some mills have been caught using un-used plastic bottles to create their yarn.
Hard plastic caps and lids:
Moju lid x 4 {unsure on the tamper rings}
Tetrapak Sainsbury’s apple juice carton lid x 1 {don’t think I actually counted this}
Tiny Itsu fish-shaped soy sauce dispenser lid x 1 {don’t think I actually counted this}
Green organic yogurt (glass jar) lid x 1 {it’s flexible so unsure if it should be under ‘hard’ plastic, and there was an additional lid pull without lid I didn’t know where to place}
Euthymol toothpaste tube lid x 1
Yogurt I find tricky. I’d prefer to buy River Cottage as they’re a great handy jar with paper seal, but they’re £3+ each. On this occasion the Bio Natur was on offer, so cheaper than my alternative Yeo Valley in Sainsbury’s. It’s a toss up between whether the latter with its peelable film lip and other three parts, are any better than the former, which is a glass jar with hard plastic lid that can be re-used. It’s still a plastic lid after all and I’d prefer to just refuse the brand for using such unnecessary materials. Glass and aluminium though resource intensive to make and recycle, do offer more opportunity to be repurposed first.
I’ve put the toothpaste tube lid here, because there isn’t a lid section in the ‘cleaning and toiletries’ category. It doesn’t make sense, especially as not all toiletries have the same type lid as their main body, and they’ve separated them for food and drink. Euthymol is a rather unique toothpaste in taste, and comes in a metal tube that can be recycled (I believe, because it’s aluminium). The lid is hard plastic. I fluctuate with what toothpaste I have dependent on my financial situation, and also to change up the type - I have glossitis, and don’t know the cause, so experiment with toothpaste types in case the chemical ones are causing it, or the fluoride, or the type of flavouring.
**The receipt, by the way, is in this photo as it was a miscellaneous small item. According to a friend, receipts were changed to use vegetable-based inks rather than bisphenol A (BPA) or bisphenol S (BPS) on thermal printer, so they indeed can be recycled. The look of the ink meant I put it in the refuse bin, but according to Treehugger, if you scratch the receipt and a dark line appears, then it contains BPA/BPS and will contaminate other recycling-ready items.
Peelable film lids:
from Marks and Spencer salad pots x 2
from Marks and Spencer salad pot salad dressing x 1
I wanted to put the two stickers in here too, shown in the photo above (one from a satsuma, one from a Lush discounted shampoo bar), but it wasn’t noted as a separate thing on the tally sheet, so didn’t. Thin film is a type of plastic that cannot be recycled. It’s a scrunchy type and has no value, however, firms like Terracycle are collecting them. Generally when something can’t be recycled, it’s because it’s too expensive to collect it for recycling into a new commercial material.
Fruit and veg trays, pots and their hard lids:
None
This is a particularly confusing one, as the “hard” plastic of bottles is different to the “hard lid” mentioned here. It’s referring to the lid in the same material, presumably because unlike bottles, they are the same type of plastic. I don’t understand why these are separate to the yogurt pots et al category, probably for the “methodology”, but any fruit trays, mushroom boxes, and anything else sizeable (that seem to be in this category) does go with me to the garden to use for harvesting herbs and berries, so they’re repurposed before recycling. Salad and yogurt pots, though “recyclable”, are totally pointless - yet often necessary.
Fruit, veg and salad bags, wrappers and nets:
None
I had a cucumber in the fridge at this point, but not used so the wrapper wasn’t counted. Ordinarily I refuse to purchase cucumber in a wrapper, but I’d been running and was thirsty and the organic shop/grocer has to be planned in advance. I absolutely refuse to purchase fruit in a net, so pointless, and even if they’re reduced (so will be thrown out) I think twice. Or more than that. And in terms of salad bags, it is rare that I’ll purchase from a shop because I grow my own (which actually has flavour), but it does happen. As they’re so crinkly there’s nothing they can be re-used for (I’ve tried in the past to use them as freezer bags). Where I can, I just refuse. And so no items this week.
Black pots, tubs and trays:
None
I will completely avoid black plastic. It can’t be recycled, even though it’s a similar weight or type to other plastics. The way recycling facilities sort waste is by using infra red. And infra red lights simply cannot detect black. So when the infra red points at an item, say a white yogurt pot, it says ok, and a jet of air will direct it into the yogurt pot section. With black plastic, it can’t detect that it is there, and so this goes down a black hole i.e. the incinerator.
Pots, tubs and trays:
Marks and Spencer salad pots x 2
Marks and Spencer salad pot salad dressing x 1
Honest Burgers dip pot and lid x 2 pieces
Marks and Spencer sushi lid x 1 {don’t know if this should be here}
I was going away for the weekend, hadn’t made any food, couldn’t get hold of dinner from local organic vegetarian fast food places (Leon and Pure) that use paper and foil packaging, and so went to Marks and Spencer. Here I discovered so many reduced items, and so I bought loads, spending the same amount of money I would’ve in the fast food restaurants. I simply ended up with so much plastic waste. The sushi was the worst, with: a paper tray, plastic lid, fish soy sauce and lid, pickle sachet and wasabi sachet. For the count I didn’t include these condiment bits as they didn’t ask for sachets, so they’re below under miscellaneous. What I found ridiculous is that M&S state on the front of the packaging that it is ‘fully recyclable’ and I’m shouting on the train at the packet, “but where!” and are they including the little bits of packaging in this?
Honest Burger is a favourite takeaway. It’s simple, relatively good value and they deliver it in a simple corrugated cardboard box (not technically recyclable as it has oil soaked into it), paper for the burger, and then plastic tubs for dips (which I could avoid if I made my own sour cream dill thing, but then I’d have the sour cream pot anyway). The dip pots are saved up, and last batch was given to Plastic Free Hackney for Make Your Own Toiletries workshops.
Snack bags, packets and wrappers:
Sainsbury’s garlic bread baguette wrapper x 1
Sainsbury’s pack of 4 croissant wrapper x 1
McVitie’s chocolate digestive biscuits wrapper x 1
This is always a big one. And big in the sense that it shows my weaknesses. I should make my own garlic bread; I’m good at making the butter and I wouldn’t be in a shit-bread coma afterwards, but sometimes I simply want the simplicity and easy comfort.
I’d been spending a lot on pastries, and I had a couple weekends of race events to work, so purchased bulk croissants to freeze. The tray then was recycled a previous week, but the wrapper existed for this week. It isn’t common that I purchase this stuff, especially as it’s poor flour, but it is still cheaper than buying “fresh” pastries from the supermarket bakery. On this occasion, cost won out.
And for biscuits, it’s also rare that I’ll purchase a pack. Especially as I’ve been making my own. But again, sometimes comfort just wins. I’d prefer to purchase organic, but there isn’t any organic choc digestives! Everytime I purchase bad flour biscuits, it’ll take me a while to do it again, purely because I feel bad afterwards, so I get the shame from the purchase for more than the plastic waste. What McVitie’s have at least done, is stated on the packaging that the film is recycled by Terracycle. This is a great clear message - though the user would need to research Terracycle, the website is stated.
Other hard food and drink packaging:
None
I’ve sometimes had polystyrene given at a takeaway, but would never use coffee pods, and I don’t buy corked wine anyway.
Other soft food and drink packaging:
Sainsbury’s chilled pizza wrapper x 1
Chicago Town frozen mini pizza wrapper x 1 {other one used in a previous week}
Sainsbury’s organic cheddar packet x 1
Jimmy’s iced coffee 12 pack wrapper x 1
McCain’s frozen oven chips packet corner x 1
I’d been on a pizza binge this week because I realised I wasn’t eating anything “proper” over lunch and so thought something easy and warm would do the trick. But after a run one day I decided I wanted a larger pizza. It may have even been the same day. Would much prefer to make my own pizzas, but last time I tried (like 12 years ago) the base expanded so much that I haven’t tried since.
Cheese is one like yogurt that I find difficult. I really do just like a plain cheddar, so going out of my way to purchase from a deli, when it’ll cost me more anyway, doesn’t make sense. And then to get organic too would cost more still. At least there’d be more relationship to the farm, but I would still need to be more adventurous with my cheese tastes. I like to grate cheese onto stuff for added protein, and that seems silly with a more expensive deli variety.
I wouldn’t purchase bulk iced coffee cans, but this was left over from a run group sponsor, and so is very one off. It’s the hard shrink wrap type stuff that surely must have a recycling stream as there’s so much of it from warehouses.
And the frozen chips packet corner. Another guilty pleasure recently of chips, and those frozen packets. Could be washed out and re-used, but first you have to remember not to cut the corner off.
** The paper wrapper is included here as it has a plastic film window like that of envelopes. This was a doughnut binge and feel that the paper is better than buying the scrunchy not-soft-not-hard boxes, but still, for this count it couldn’t be included as it is mixed material composition like with sandwich packets.
Cleaning and toiletries.
Small bottles (up to 500ml):
None
I refill all cleaning stuff so wouldn’t ever have small bottles, and I’m even making my own anti-bac spray from citric acid and lemon rinds per a Plastic Free Hackney recipe. If I buy anything new, such as face wash, I ensure it is glass so it can be re-used elsewhere. And I buy unpackaged soap (unless my mum decides to “look after me” and purchase plastic wrapped brands I won’t even use unless last resort because they’re not at least somewhat organic ingredients.
Large bottles (over 500ml):
None
I tried to do refill shampoo, but I get dandruff. I don’t get dandruff when I use the Jasön brand, and so do purchase these hard plastic bottles. I only wash my hair once every 7-10 days so it does last though. I’ve been using Lush shampoo bars since my first ever Inter-rail trip at age 19 and needed something lightweight to wash body and clothes, and so continue to use these for travel.
Laundry detergent I purchased in 1.5 litre bottles and now refill. I’d like to switch to Ecoegg or the simple essential oil balls, but for this task I do tend to go for ease. I wash my clothes maybe every 7-10 days and one cycle (all mixed as it’s generally sports or gardening clothes).
Pots, tubs and tubes:
None
Again, it’s all refilled - washing up liquid and hand soap. Moisturiser is another I select in glass, apart from again the stuff from my mum, which sits unused until I’ve ran out of everything else.
Squeezy tubes:
None.
I have a stash of toothpaste tubes that I was saving up for a trip to Bulk Market in Hackney where they had a Terracycle collection point. They’ve since closed down and yet I still have the tubes for when someone else takes up the mantle. This week I didn’t have any though. I’ve tried toothpaste cream in a glass jar, but I was feeling frivolous then. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable, and next time I’m feeling juicy with my finances I’ll try toothpaste tabs.
Other hard cleaning and toiletries packaging:
None
This is supposed to be toothbrush packs and cosmetics, but I don’t use that stuff. I have a rechargable electric toothbrush and a bamboo toothbrush (which come in card). As an additional point, I’ve never replaced the head on my electric… I figure it still looks good so why bother. I’m never sure if it’s just a marketing ploy saying replace every 3 months, so I only replace when the bristles are lying flat or have separated.
Other soft cleaning and toiletries packaging:
None
And this is the likes of wet wipes and toilet paper wrappers. I use wet wipes only as an emergency after races when I can’t clean elsewhere - I select organic cotton wipes so at least that’s something, but the packet of course is still crap. And we use Who Gives A Crap toilet paper in my house so I have a stash of patterned paper to use some time.
Everything else.
Other hard plastic packaging:
None
This is packaging for things like stationery or toys. If I buy new items like this, I’ll buy to have them last or I’ll buy them loose anyway. There’s probably many occasions when I have random ‘everything else’ hard plastic, but not this week so I can’t recall what I would use.
Other soft plastic packaging:
None
Sometimes I’ll bring home the carrier bag from my Growing Communities organic vegetable bag, and these are stashed in our house for whatever reason. But mostly I have no need to get a carrier as I have a tote spare when I go out anywhere. Bubble wrap is sometimes at the bottom of fruit trays, and this would be counted separately here. And I don’t buy clothes.
Miscellaneous.
Ok, so the miscellaneous - or erroneous, even - stuff is pretty annoying for this survey. You want to count it, but can’t. The founders have a pre-selected list of what they are including in the data:
“We don’t want to include plastic items that are used for medical or sanitary reasons, or by people with disabilities who rely on plastic items for independence. Also, we are not counting coffee cups or Tetra Pak, the plasticised cardboard material that many juice/milk cartons are made of.”
This means that my sandwich boxes are out. My apple juice carton is out. My sushi plastic coated card tray is out. My doughnut paper and film packet is out. And my stickers are out.
Tetra Pak is collected by Hackney Council (my borough) but who knows if they’re actually recycled in the UK, or instead exported. These cartons have a foil inner and plastic outer - known as paperboard - so that they keep produce fresh and the carton leakproof, and I use these primarily for non-dairy milks and sometimes juice when I need my thirst quenching. According to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Tetrapak have offered advice and financial support for councils to initiate recycling schemes since 2006, so now are able to be included in kerbside collections, but they’re still a massively intensive material. I’ve seen some fun uses of Tetrapak cartons, from bird feeders to plant pots. Frustratingly, on this Sainsbury’s carton, they say check home collection - if you find that your council isn’t collecting and recycling Tetrapak, find out why as the training is supposedly there.
The Marks and Spencer sandwich cartons, though they say are recyclable on the packet (again I’m there shouting “where?!”), do require you to separate the film and outer card. When it has a reduced sticker on it, it becomes fiddly and you wonder how the tiniest bit can be recycled anyway. So these I just put in the refuse. Same with the sushi tray - it’s card but is shiny so clearly has a coating, and it’s black, which is energy-intensive to recycle back into useable paper anyway due to bleaching. Coffee cups would be here too (any that say “compostable” confuse matters further).
I do use ibuprofen and paracetomol caplets and have a stash of these little packaging fucks ready for the day when someone collects them.
The stickers I tend to leave with the retailer where I can. For Sainsbury’s they’ll probably get pissed off that someone’s leaving barcoded stickers on the self service screen, but hopefully they get the picture and re-use them, because surely, they can. And the Lush shampoo bar one was a one off, and necessary due to how they operate packaging-free in store, and need to identify discounted items.
In this article I’ve actually highlighted that I used 29 pieces of plastic, rather than the 26 submitted in my count, which shows how subjective identifying plastic types can be.
The second image of statistics is a general one that highlights how much of our plastic packaging waste is recycled in the UK, exported, landfilled or incinerated. It’s dependent on where in the nation you live as to what facilities are used, for instance, I’m in North London and so we’re governed by incineration of the North London Waste Authority based out of the Edmonton incinerator - which, they want to make even bigger so negating any carbon emission lowering targets the local councils have set.
My statistics show that I primarily use hard plastic over soft plastic, yet all that soft plastic is then burned. The hard plastic is still massively energy intensive to produce - from fossil fuels - and is transported most definitely from overseas (more fossil fuels), and then requires yet more energy to recycle.
Recycling is not a solution. First we have to refuse so reducing the amount that brands produce, and persuading them to shift to better designed packaging (or no packaging) and a shift to refill economies. Reuse and repurposing has to be next, because even if something is recyclable, we’re not getting the full value out of that durable material. And then following that, recycling needs to be productive so that the material is recycled exactly back into the same material - not PET into clothes where it escapes its original value stream. Brands need to be using recycled alternatives, and retailers need to be championing the brands using recycled packaging in their stores. The more recycled materials are used over virgin, and communicated clearly to citizens, it will make it easier for recycling waste streams to come to the fore (as cost is always the driver) - but again, this is not a long-lasting solution because of the energy involved.
Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle.
