Did you know that disposable plastic straws contribute to a mass of plastic rubbish that will, by 2050, outweigh all the fish in the sea?
And did you know that in the US alone, plastic straws, which began replacing paper ones in 1960, 500 million straws are used and disposed of every day?
Personally I am gobsmacked!
I know straws are nor recyclable, but never thought that this would be the case, I mean especially since I actually take the time to recycle almost everything we use in the house.
Straws are not recyclable, they will sit undecomposed in landfills and will float out into the sea perhaps suffocating a turtle or two! The straw may not be the worst plastic, or the most prevalent one, but it is somewhat an unnecessary toxic, which contributes to a mass of plastic garbage.
And experts say that it could be the hardest thing for humans to get rid off, as it seems we are bizarrely attached to them!
It is estimated that Americans use and then dispose of 500m straws every day. And unlike any other recyclable plastic, the straw cannot be recycled and would eventually end up in the landfills of America.
Reading how drastic straws can be to the environment, it makes me look at these helpful little things in a totally different way!
Recycling just over half of our household waste may seem quite a low rate, but Eunomia, an environmental consultancy, says that reported recycling rates have been overstated.
For instance, it has been reported that Sweden recycles almost all of its waste. But Eunomia says that is only because the country counts energy recovery from waste incineration as a form of recycling, which it says is out of step with how the term “recycling” is generally used.
And although Singapore says it recycles more than 60 per cent of its waste, it seems much of this is actually commercial and industrial waste so in fact 34pc is recycled.
In 2013, leading the list of best countries that recycled with a whopping 52pc of its waste being recycled was Switzerland. Nearly double what the US has. Number two on the list was Austria with 49.7pc. This was a close match for number three-ranked Germany with 48pc and number four-ranked Netherlands with 46pc.
The US was seventh in the listing of countries with the highest recycling rates.
Last year, Germany had the best recycling rate in the world. Austria was second, followed by South Korea and Wales. All four manage to recycle between 52pc and 56pc of their municipal waste.
Switzerland, was ranked fifth.
Wales aims to achieve zero waste by 2050 and the EU is looking at adopting a new target for 2030, thought to be at least 65pc.
A huge amount of recycling ends up being shipped to Asia, with China ranked as the world’s largest importer and recycler of scrap metals, plastic and paper.
However, it has now decided it would no longer take what it calls “foreign garbage” and is set to ban imports of 24 types of waste, which may force industrialised countries to recycle more of their own waste.
It turns out that five countries are the leading contributors to the landfill waste crisis and they are all in Asia.
It is said that the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and China are spewing out as much as 60pc of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas.
Just think a tonne of recycled paper can save, in its equivalence, an average of 165 gallons of petrol. It is becoming more and more apparent to me, as I hope it is to you that recycling and going green are not anything to be lax about.