Organised by Everyday Plastic and Greenpeace to get some accurate data on just how much plastic we throw away. I’ve saved and counted our plastic waste for the week 16-22 May 2022.
Campaign web site: The Big Plastic Count
Results
| Food and Drink | |
| 0 | Small bottles |
| 1 | Large bottles |
| 1 | Hard plastic caps and lids |
| 14 | Peelable film lids |
| 3 | Fruit and veg trays, pots and their hard lids |
| 8 | Fruit, veg and salad bags, wrappers, nets |
| 0 | Black pots, tubs, trays |
| 17 | Pots, tubs, trays |
| 28 | Snack bags, packets, wrappers |
| 0 | Other hard food and drink packaging |
| 30 | Other soft food and drink packaging |
| Cleaning and Toiletries | |
| 3 | Small bottles |
| 0 | Large bottles |
| 0 | Pots, tubs, tubes |
| 0 | Squeezy tubes |
| 0 | Other hard cleaning and toiletries packaging |
| 0 | Other soft cleaning and toiletries packaging |
| Everything Else | |
| 2 | Other hard plastic packaging |
| 10 | Other soft packaging |
This is the result for our family of four, two adults and two children.
The food waste is typical of any given week, the cleaning and toiletries section is going to vary more week to week because many of the products last longer than a week before they are used up.
We have a single bin recycling system. Only the plastic bottles and hard plastic trays and tubs are collected for potential recycling. The rest of the plastic will probably go to the Waterbeach landfill as part of the black bag waste. Given that the single recycling bin also includes glass, paper and cans, presumably the plastic is difficult to separate out as a clean and uncontaminated waste stream for recycling.