Plastic-Pollution-Solution-Tool-Kit-Guide

5 How-to Reduce Single-Use Plastic in your Office Did you know that every year, we produce 300 million tons of plastic worldwide? That is nearly the weight of the entire human population! And it’s estimated that every year, 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans – and single-use plastic makes up roughly 50% of this amount. The big problem with plastic waste is that we just don’t know how long it will take to break down. Researchers believe that plastic may take up to 500 years to break down, but others think it may not fully break down – only break up into smaller pieces. Right now, these micro plastics can be found in our drinking water, in the fish we eat, and in the soil we grow our food in. Scientists think that we could be eating as much as a credit card sized amount of micro plastics each week! What is single-use plastic? Single-use plastics are items that are made to be used once or maybe twice and then thrown away. These are items that we use every day, for as little as five or ten minutes at a time, and then discard. Items like bottles, straws, shopping bags, coffee cups, and takeaway containers are everywhere in our offices as well as our homes. While cheap and convenient, single-use items are also doing immense environmental damage right under our noses. Don’t worry – it’s not difficult to do our bit for the environment. Most of these single-use items can be swapped out for reusable or recyclable alternatives! It’s up to us to make a difference. 1300 88 22 44 www.cos.net.au info@cos.net.au