Facts on how plastic pollutes the world are all around, but very few of us realise the critical need for action today.
In 2019, an estimated 460 million tons of plastic was produced globally. Every year, an average of 36% of annual plastic production goes to single use items like bottles, which become waste after use.
Australians use billions of plastic bottles a year. With a global industry valued in 2023 at 624.8 billion USD dollars, there is no slowing down: an estimated compound growth rate of 4.2% is forecast until 2030.
To drive home a point: it is estimated that a million plastic bottles are bought every minute globally. This means that by the time you have read this, a million bottles may have just been sold.
Personal plastic: End-of-life awareness
The public is often not aware of the full story of plastic lifespans. Upon use of a plastic bottle, people dispose of it in the recyclable bin. That is usually the end of a person’s interaction, with the thinking that “it will be recycled.” The sad truth is globally, only one of every three bottles will get sorted and processed into newer plastic forms. The rest shall either become landfill, or flushes out into the environment, mostly to the ocean. And if one considers the numbers involved, two thirds of nearly 500 million tons a year is staggering.
If these facts are made clear to every global citizen contemplating buying a plastic bottled product, the question is more often: But what difference can I make?
Time for a personal mind shift
In 1505 at Nuremberg, Germany, craftsman Peter Henlein created the very first portable timepiece, the Pomander 1505. The ancestor of the modern watch, the device was simple and basic, yet it dramatically changed people’s mindsets on how to keep track of time. No longer would hours be tracked only in developed urban centres with giant clocks, but everyone, everywhere learned to make the full use of existing daylight to maximise daily life, and more.
It is that simple yet radical change in thinking that is needed. In the same way as the personal watch, the technology available today can make a difference. Solutions to single-use plastic water bottles do exist, and a prime example being BRITA’s efficient water filtration solutions and recyclable water bottles.
Like how it happened over 500 years ago with the personal timepiece, if a better way exists then change is natural and inevitable. People today can reject using single-use plastics on a personal level not just because of the environmental consequences, but also with the acceptance that there are alternatives readily available.
A leadership mind shift
Today over 50% of corporate offices worldwide still provide bottled water to their employees. Australians are the second highest per capita consumers of plastic water bottles in the world after Singapore. It is estimated that by 2050, plastic consumption in Australia will double.
But these numbers can be radically affected by sound decisions made by today’s business leadership and government. Today’s millennial generation is so acutely conscious of environmental impacts of business management and practice. Better awareness of plastic consumption and end-of-life waste can only lead to a hive-mind shift in daily applications.
Case in point: installing a BRITA filtration dispensers in a workplace can help a company of 100 employees cut their annual waste up to 500 kg. The carbon footprint of a litre of water from a BRITA filtration dispenser is up to 27 times smaller than producing the same amount of water in a plastic bottle.
But more than the environmental impression that a company makes with responsible design, a greater impact is made to its employees and corporate world. A social message is sent out to other companies for following the path of being a responsible business concerned about the future of the world. More recent innovations are available to keep the mindset change going. New BRITA dispensers – the BRITA Top Pro and BRITA Extra C-Tap - can be freely installed outside of the traditional office kitchens to create communal hydration stations. This powerful flexibility responds to a human need and lets leaders provide overall wellness benefits in any work environment.
The global mind shift
In 2022 the United Nations have signed a resolution calling to “End plastic pollution”. This ambitious document is authored by the U.N. Environment Assembly to help nations come together and take steps in addressing the problem of plastics on a global scale. And one of the key notes on the document is the recognition of the issue of single-use plastic products.
Like how the personal timepiece has radically changed our concept of tracking time, today we are slowly altering the way we look at plastic, and plastic waste. From a world view, to responsible leadership decisions, to personal awareness of the issues, the glimmers of change is there. Simple mind shifts combined can change future facts for a better world.
To drive home a point: it is estimated that a million plastic bottles are bought every minute globally. This means that by the time you have read this, a million bottles may have just been sold.
