UK bins 1.6 billion pieces of plastic packaging a week, says survey

According to a new survey, UK households put nearly 1.6 billion pieces of plastic packaging a week in the bin.

The Big Plastic Count, conducted by environmental charity Everyday Plastic, saw more than 68,000 people across the country record every piece of plastic packaging they threw away between March 9 and 15 this year.

The survey involved thousands of families, schools and communities all over the UK.

The count calculated that people binned a whopping total of 1.5 million pieces over the week.

If that is reflected across all UK households, it adds up to nearly 1.6 billion pieces of plastic packaging a week, and around 82 billion a year.

Daniel Webb, founder of Everyday Plastic, said plastic waste has become a "national crisis".

Mr Webb says reducing production, rather than just increasing recycling, is key to tackling the problem.

"The Big Plastic Count has again shown that plastic production is out of control, with billions of pieces of plastic being thrown away every week," he said.

"Recycling cannot keep up with the volume being produced, and we're incinerating more than ever. We can't burn our way out of this."

Of the plastic waste counted, 82% came from food and drink packaging – the most common type of which was from fruit and vegetables.

This type of packaging is made from soft film plastic, which is difficult to recycle on a large scale in the UK, and most ends up being incinerated.

One of main problems with plastic is that most of it isn't biodegradable.

That means it doesn't break down in the environment like paper or food, so instead it can hang around for hundreds of years, which causes plastic pollution.

This is when plastic waste ends up in the environment, and it can damage oceans, rivers, lakes and beaches.

The UK also exports waste, including plastic, to poorer countries to burn.

Everyday Plastic has asked the government to remove plastic packaging from uncut fruit and vegetables by 2030, stop the construction of new waste incinerators immediately and to end the export of plastic waste to other countries.

Do you recycle your plastic? What should be done to limit plastic packaging? Let us know in the comments!