Key figures:
Takeaway has always been a habit to lots of people in the US, but the demand seems to have almost doubled during the pandemic, along with the single-use waste that it generates
50% of the plastic produced worldwide is Single Use packaging: 190 million tonnes of Single Use plastic every year
Every day, almost 100 million plastic utensils are disposed of across the US (1)
36 million pounds of Single Use Plastic are discarded in New York City's waste stream every year (1)
How to reduce Single Use Items at the office?
1. Bring your own water bottle
Say no to plastic bottles and refill your own!
Consider also reducing the single serve drinks to reduce single-use waste!
Do you know what really happens to the plastic you throw away?
2. Bring your own mug
Let's say NO to disposable cups! We all need our everyday cup(s) of coffee or tea. But, do we really need a Single Use cup? Single Use beverage cups are among the top items found littered on beaches around the world(5). Over 500 billion disposable cups are consumed worldwide annually, of which between 250 and 300 billion are plastic-lined paper cups (5) and more than 25 billion styrofoam cups(3).
20 million trees are cut down each year to produce Single Use paper cups.(4)
Bring your own mug or use the cups and glasses provided at work!
3. Bring your own food container and reusable utensils for lunch
Avoid these plastic or polyfoam containers thanks to your reusable lunch box.
And don’t forget your reusable cutlery! Do you know the story of a spoon?
Can you also say NO to straws?
4. Bring your reusable bag
An average of 793 tonnes of plastic bags are disposed in Hong Kong landfills every day. Bring your own bag when you go shopping!
5. Refuse free stuff
Breathe in, smile, and just say “no, thank you” to these free items that will end up in general waste...
Say NO to Single Use Items!
Every little action counts to reduce waste
References:
(1)https://nylcv.org/news/skip-the-stuff-a-simple-solution-to-the-single-use-plastics-epidemic/
(3)https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-how-much-disposable-plastic-we-use/
(4)https://plastic.education/the-problem-with-disposable-cups/
(5)https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/UNEP_-LCA-Beverage-Cups-Report_Web.pdf
(6)https://plasticoceans.org/the-facts/
