Bits I liked:
Absolutely love the first key messages encouraging forming new habits one at a time and not to throw out all your plastic at once. You already have it, use it, re-use it. The main aim is to not buy anymore plastics and evaluate your single use plastic. I like how the book is broken into sections. So you could choose to focus on one element at a time by one task at a time.
One of my main gripes about plastic use is the constant messaging and pressure around consumer behaviour, rather than more emphasis on the responsibility of the producers of plastic pollution. So I liked the recommendation of finding like-minded people to build a local community with and get campaigning - join Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace or other organisations who are pushing the government to make meaningful change. Get involved, make them do the hard work!
Bits I struggled with:
#25 'Choose brands with a good track record' - not sure Coca-cola and Unilever are quite the 'pioneers of sustainability' the author should be championing (Greenpeace highlight them as top polluters and uncovered the truth behind Unilever sustainability claims. Ethical Consumer flags both of these as companies to avoid). Unfortunately, as I have learnt the hard way, the more you look, the more you find and the angrier you'll get.
I was interested in the Upcycle section and the ideas are whimsy Forest Schoolesque. But I cringed in horror at the instruction of sanding rough edged plastic bottles and thereby releasing a cloud of microplastics into the wind. Furthermore I audibly baulked at the suggestion of using polystyrene for raised flower beds. Please don't do this.
Overall:
It's a good place to start to get an idea of how much plastic we have in our life and homes and how you can begin reducing plastic use; making positive changes for now and generations to come. I'll leave the assessment of what constitutes a 'busy person' to the reader. Worth noting it is UK orientated so whilst on the whole the advice seems universal, I don't how all of it will transfer to those outside the UK.
Plastic production is exacerbating the climate crisis and is set to triple by 2050. We know that we can’t recycle our way out of this crisis, we have to make less plastic! That is why we absolutely must reduce plastic production by at least 75% by 2040. A strong Global Plastics Treaty must hold the big polluters responsible and protect our climate, our health and our common home.
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