Your donation is an important step towards collecting and recycling ocean plastic, but it always takes a change in consumer behavior. No change, however, leads to a permanent cycle of disposal and cleanup. There is an appropriate example of this: wiping up water that spilled on the floor while the tap is still running and the water continues to flow onto the floor.
A long-term goal should therefore be the elimination of single-use plastic, moving toward reusable or recyclable packaging. This is referred to as
the 3Rs:
Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
01
Reduce
- Only what is really needed should be purchased.
- Consider buying a needed product second hand.
- Most products are lying around no longer required, these could be resold.
- Products can also be shared, as most are only needed temporarily – “sharing” is the keyword.
- Repair products or have them repaired instead of disposing them.
- Food can be bought without packaging.
02 + 03
Reuse or Recycle
- As already described at point 1, most products can be reused. They change hands when they are no longer needed or can be repaired if they have a problem.
- In the packaging sector, which plays a major role in single-use plastic, there is the possibility of switching to reusable packaging materials.
- Another form of reuse is real recycling, i.e. feeding back into the production cycle. Often this is not possible because of too high costs or because of the mixed plastics used.
- Each packaging has individual requirements. This leads to plastics that are made from different components. Certain compounds are not reusable and can only be disposed of.
- Real recycling is possible, for example, with the well-known PET bottles, if they end up in the right place. These can be cleaned, sorted by color and shredded. New PET bottles can be made again from the raw material.
Find a zero waste shop in your area here:
- Zero waste shop
- Stores with unpackaged additional offer (e.g. unpackaged shelf)
- Unpacking-friendly (e.g. deposit system, accept own packages)
- Milk filling stations
- Plastic-free non-food stuff