Making Scotland Plastic-Free
Welcome to my website!
Ready to take your first step towards making a difference?
So Who’s Asking?
‘Make Scotland Plastic Free’ is run and managed by me- Tabby. I’m seventeen and a huge fan of books, wildlife, long walks with Griffin, and riding horses. I’m the author, photographer, manager, website creator, and the drive behind the idea!
Young people across the globe are making a big splash in the field of environmental advocacy and I’d be proud to make myself a part of that.
So what’s the problem?
From coffee cups to cat-food pouches, period products to pasta packets, huge quantities of the products we use in our daily lives are plastics- ‘plastic’ being an encompassing term for a range of synthetic oil-derived materials which won’t biodegrade. The key issue arises after use, as these plastics will stick around for centuries without any safe place to go. Recycling, incineration and landfill are all methods of disposal used in Scotland which have their own individual advantages and disadvantages, but the truth is, none are fool proof. All across the world, more and more plastic is washed up onto our beaches every day. More plastic lingers in our ditches, our woodlands, our streets, in the stomachs of our wildlife and pets alike, than ever before. More recently, studies have shown microplastics* have even accumulated in the human brain.
* Microplastics are any plastics smaller than 5mm in size. They are created via the breakdown of larger plastics (called ‘macroplastics’), through movement, time, or, quite commonly, washing synthetic clothes.
The Impact of Your Life
We see it every time we leave the house- but what are the actual figures?
171 trillion pieces…
of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans.
7 million..
coffee cups are discarded every single day in the UK alone.
250 tonnes…
of microplastics enter Scottish seas each year, which is the equivalent of about 250 trillion individual pieces.
So far…
Already in Scotland we have laws in place applying to the use of plastic cutlery, plates, straws, and cotton buds. In 2018, the UK government set a strategic ambition to “…work towards all plastic packaging placed on the market being recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025.” Whilst they may be patting themselves on the back for the integrity of this statement, it’s worth noting that just because an item is recyclable doesn’t mean it’s automatically widely or easily recycled. In some areas of Europe, such as France, there are bans on single-use packaging for fruit or veg. 91 countries have at least a partial ban on plastic bags. Whilst all of this is undeniably a great start, I’m aiming to make Scotland the first country in the world to ban the usage of all single-use plastics for good; this would include items such a silage wrapping, disposable vapes, wet wipes, crisp packets, balloons, and single-use water bottles, which are all huge polluters.
DEAR FUTURE…
It’s clear as day that we need to change the way we’re living our lives to create coexistence rather than an oppression of our natural world. Already, anthropogenic activities have forever changed the fragile ecosystem that we’re such a tiny fragment of. When geologists of the future look back at the rocks created in our time, they’re going to see the layers of microplastics imbedded in the very pores of the ground. We’ve done a lot of damage in our short timeline, but it’s not too late- it just means we have to act now. It’s time to be proactive. It’s time to have a voice.
Change is a drop, a splash, a ripple and perhaps a wave.
Change starts here. Sign up now.
