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Sustainability Quiz 3: Virgin Single Use Plastic

Sustainability Quiz 3: Virgin Single Use Plastic

Sustainability Quiz 3. What percentage of single use plastics are made as virgin plastic?

Single-use plastics account for over 1/3 of plastics produced every year, with 98 percent still made as new plastic from fossil fuels, despite all the talk of recycling.



Single-use plastics account for over 1/3 of plastics produced every year. What percent are made new from fossil fuels? (ie: Virgin plastic, not recycled.)
      98%
      85%
      67%
      53%

Annually, 115 million tons of single use plastic is manufactured 

You will immediately recognise the make up of single use plastic. It's the stuff we use every day - and it piles up to a crap load of plastic. In order, this is the make up of the 115 million tons:

  • Food Bottles 26m tons 
  • Film Packaging 18m tons 
  • Retail Bags 16m tons 
  • Other Polymers 16m tons 
  • Food Packaging 15m tons 
  • Trash Bags 15m tons 
  • Sheet Packaging 15m tons 
  • Food Bottles 15m tons 
  • Industrial Bags 3m  tons
  • Laminated Packaging 3m tons 
  • Caps & Closures 2m tons
  • Cups & Containers 1m  tons

What can you do?

It’s really simple. Take a minute and think twice before you use any kind of plastic at all. Scan the list above. It makes it easy to avoid any kind of purchase you can in plastic. Choose bulk with no packaging, tin that recycles easily or glass that you will reuse. Don't buy or accept freebies that you don’t need. Always bring your own bags when you go shopping. Ditch bottled water. If you do accept plastic as part of any packaging or for carrying, make sure you reuse it. 

Ps – consider all plastic single use. Most ends up landfill.

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