A fork with our takeaway noodles, a coffee cup lid so our coffee doesn’t spill, a stirrer to stir our sugar into our tea, a plastic packet to carry our groceries or a paper takeaway box. 

Currently, about 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year. That plastic is used in many single-use plastic items that everyday people use.

⫸Americans consume 70 million water bottles a day
⫸2.5 billion coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK
⫸The world uses 5 trillion plastic bags… per year! That’s 160,000 a second!
⫸Australians use more than 7 million plastic utensils a day.
⫸Americans use more than 500 million straws every day.
⫸1.8 billion cotton buds every year in the UK
                          “It’s just one”, said 7.6 billion people. 
 
Single-use plastics are made from plastics and are meant to be used only once and then thrown away. They include disposable items like plastic cutlery, plastic straws, water bottles, and most food packaging.

What Can You Do To Help?
Be a conscious consumer-
Be curious about your world. Stop and think about what you are doing. Ask yourself questions like “how long am I going to use this item for vs. how long will it stay in landfill or the environment?” or “do I really need this item?”.

Examples of single-use items that can technically be used again if they are washed:

PET plastic bottles
Plastic straws
Drink stirrer
Plastic cutlery
Plastic cups
Plastic plates
*The above is not an exhaustive list 

Many countries are introducing soft plastic recycling where plastic bags and another soft plastic packaging can be recycled. You can learn more in our article Recycling plastic bags and soft plastics.

Be sure to dispose of your hard plastics correctly too.