{"id":279489,"date":"2025-11-08T14:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/279489\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T14:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:47:10","slug":"huge-amounts-of-plastic-waste-goes-unnoticed-heres-what-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/279489\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge amounts of plastic waste goes unnoticed \u2013 here\u2019s what to do about it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, the average UK household throws away dozens of pieces of plastic packaging. When people actually start counting them, they\u2019re often shocked to discover just how much there is. And unfortunately, most of this plastic cannot be reused, refilled or recycled.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the main findings from our new research<\/a> on the Big Plastic Count<\/a>, a nationwide citizen science campaign organised by social enterprise Everyday Plastic in collaboration with environmental campaign charity Greenpeace. Involving more than 160,000 UK households, it\u2019s one of the largest efforts ever to track household plastic waste in the world. <\/p>\n

Our analysis combined the Big Plastic Count data with an attitude survey of more than 8,000 plastic count respondents and an experiment on public engagement. It showed that taking part in \u201ccitizen science\u201d, research carried out with the public rather than on the public, can do much more than generate data. It can bring a sense of urgency to an environmental problem, change behaviour, and even mobilise political action.<\/p>\n

People tend to overestimate the positive environmental impact of recycling<\/a>. Many participants began the project confident they were already making environmentally friendly choices, for example buying recyclable packaging. But when they actually counted their weekly plastic waste, the results told a different story.<\/p>\n

The typical household generated 20-30 items of plastic in just one week, mostly soft plastics such as film lids, crisp packets and food wrappers. These items, despite often carrying positive environmental messages, are impossible to reuse or refill, and are rarely recycled in practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This gap between perception and reality, what we call \u201cplastic blindness\u201d, reveals a crucial barrier to tackling plastic pollution. People simply don\u2019t see how much plastic they use or misunderstand, or perhaps are misled as to what happens to it after disposal.<\/p>\n

This blindness was especially pronounced among online shoppers, who tended to underestimate their plastic consumption the most. Having packaging arrive neatly at the door seems to obscure the sheer volume of waste produced in the process. This suggests the need for more visible waste information \u2013 and better ways to help consumers choose lower waste options.<\/p>\n

When we see it, we care more<\/p>\n

The act of counting plastic waste had a powerful psychological effect. Participants who tracked their own waste reported feeling more aware and more concerned about the plastic waste they were generating \u2013 and more open to alternatives such as refill and reuse systems.<\/p>\n

\"pile<\/a><\/p>\n

It can be hard to visualise how much plastic waste households throw away every day.
\n JasminkaM\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

These models, where customers use their own containers or borrow returnable ones, are widely seen as essential to a circular economy. Yet their success depends, along with supportive policies<\/a>, on public understanding of why recycling and other waste management strategies are not enough to tackle plastic pollution.<\/p>\n

By making the invisible visible, citizen science can help close that understanding gap. Participants who saw their plastic waste laid out in front of them were far more likely to express concern about pollution and to support stronger policies on plastic reduction.<\/p>\n

Citizen science can spark action<\/p>\n

We found that awareness translated into political engagement. Participation in the Big Plastic Count coincided with a significant increase in signatures on a Greenpeace petition<\/a> launched at the same time, calling for stronger action in the ongoing global plastics treaty negotiations.<\/p>\n

This suggests that citizen science isn\u2019t just a way to collect data. It can also mobilise public support for policy change. When people see clear evidence of a problem that they have limited control over, they\u2019re more motivated to demand systemic solutions.<\/p>\n

Our findings add to growing evidence that recycling alone cannot solve the plastic problem. In the UK, the Everyday Plastic<\/a> study showed that only around 17% of household plastic waste is actually recycled, while most ends up being incinerated, exported or put into landfill.<\/p>\n

Policies that focus solely on end-of-life solutions ignore the need to reduce plastic production at its source. That\u2019s why policy must look upstream. The global plastics treaty, a United Nations initiative aiming to reduce plastic pollution worldwide, could commit countries to legally binding limits on virgin plastic production and enforce stronger requirements for reuse and refill systems.<\/p>\n

The results of the Big Plastic Count show that when people are given the opportunity to see their own contribution to the plastic problem, they want to see change \u2013 and they expect policymakers to lead it.<\/p>\n

Quite simply, we can\u2019t fix what we can\u2019t see. Plastic pollution is often hidden in plain sight \u2013 behind positive \u201ceco\u201d or \u201crecyclable\u201d labels, messages such as adverts normalising single-use plastic use, within supply chains and under the convenience of online shopping.<\/p>\n

Citizen science initiatives such as the Big Plastic Count help to lift that blindfold, empowering citizens not just to count plastic, but to count in the movement for change.<\/p>\n

\"Imagine<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t have time to read about climate change as much as you\u2019d like?
\n
Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.<\/a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation\u2019s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who\u2019ve subscribed so far.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every week, the average UK household throws away dozens of pieces of plastic packaging. When people actually start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-279489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}