Note the mention, at just past 2 minutes into the video, that once sorted, your household recycling is baled and stacked for delivery or shipping overseas.  They’re not specific about where it goes but The Guardian told us over a year ago that British companies have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 – two-thirds of the UK’s total waste plastic exports.

According to Unearthed and Greenpeace, the UK exported more of its plastic packaging waste abroad for recycling in 2016 than in any of the three years previously, and industry insiders warn that waste sent abroad may be incinerated or buried rather than being recycled.

China has since implemented stricter rules on the quality of plastic it will accept and as a result more plastic waste is now making its way to Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Now consider the fact that, according to Avaaz, 90% of the plastic in the oceans comes from just ten rivers in Asia and Africa.

That’s our waste! 

The plastic packaging that we diligently put in our recycling bins is ending up in the oceans!

For too long we have been led to believe that sorting our rubbish for recycling discharges our responsibility to the environment – but now we know different.  We have to take responsibility ourselves.  We have to take charge.

We have the power!

The only way to save the environment is to stop buying new plastic.

Click on the headings below for some ideas of how to do that – it’s not as difficult as you might imagine – and do let us know if you’ve got any more ideas 😀