Rubbish Roundup 28th November

Rubbish Roundup 28^th November

Break Free from Plastics, an environmental pressure group, has said that much of the plastic that’s polluting our planet comes from just a handful of big corporations. Its statement comes a month after the group’s volunteers collected almost half a million pieces of plastic during a series of coordinated clean-ups across the globe. Almost half of this waste came from big brands.

They named and shamed Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo as the main offenders, but also on the list were Unilever, Mars, P&G, and Colgate-Palmolive, among others.

Coca-Cola came on top of the list for the second year running; more than 11,000 pieces of plastic collected across 37 countries in four different continents had its branding.

The pressure group said that even though big brands say they have committed to make their packaging more sustainable, their push for recycling has been mainly aimed at shifting responsibility away from them and on to consumers.

Coca-Cola now makes bottles made from plastic collected from the oceans, but they are still single-use. Nestle sells more than one billion products in single-use packaging every single day but it said that it was working to make its packaging either reusable or recyclable by 2025. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have also made the same pledge, and they have also pulled out of a plastics industry lobby group in the US.

Angry residents on a Sheffield street have been left perplexed after the council rejected an offer by a local McDonald’s drive-through restaurant to install bins to tackle the growing problem of fast food litter. Residents in Norfolk Park Road near the centre of the city have raised concerns over the growing amount of fast food litter in the street.

The manager of the restaurant approached the council and said it would install and empty five litter bins in the local area to tackle the rubbish problem. But the council rejected the offer due to concerns about the bins being damaged or not being emptied often enough.

The council suggested that McDonald’s could pay the council’s waste contractor to supply and empty new bins, or it could sponsor existing bins, and it appears the company wasn’t keen on either suggestion.

Residents took to Facebook and it seems like many of them were of the opinion that the council should not be held responsible for people dropping litter. Some people called for tougher enforcement of littering fines, and some complained that there aren’t enough bins.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s said that staff do carry out daily litter picks in the areas surrounding the restaurant, and added that it was open to further discussions with the council and residents to find a solution.

Pupils from a school in West Bridgford in Nottingham recent cleaned up a local woodland as part of a charity litter picking event. The pupils regularly visit the woods to learn about nature, and they decided to tackle the growing amount of litter that they saw at the beauty spot.

The youngsters donned their warm clothes and grabbed their litter pickers and collected 16 full bin bags of waste including cans, bottles…and a tent!

64 pupils took part in the clean-up with their teachers and learned plenty about the importance of looking after green spaces along the way.

The event was initiated by the Friends of Sharphill Wood volunteer group, and it was funded by TK Maxx and Homesense. The brands have joined forces for a six-month environmental programme to give out funds from the sale of single-use plastic carrier bags to good causes across the UK.

The school used the money it got to buy equipment for the litter pick, including grabbers, gloves, recycled rubbish bags, and high-visibility vests.

One of the teachers who took led the litter pick said it was a great way of getting the children outdoors and teaching them how to look after green spaces. He added that it’s more important than ever to teach the younger generation about the impact of litter on the environment.

A spokesperson for the Friends of Sharphill Wood said it was great to see so many enthusiastic children learning about how to look after the environment. She added that the group wanted to thank the staff for organising the litter pick and that the woodland was a beautiful local nature reserve that should be preserved for future generations.