Explaining the new campaign, Peter Maddox, director of WRAP UK, told the ‘Rubbish to Resources’ conference in Bristol last week (27 February) that it would be “busting myths about what plastics are used for.”
He explained to the audience at the Viridor-organised event, that for food, plastic packaging could prevent waste which would have an even larger carbon footprint than packaging. “The truth today is that plastic packaging has a carbon footprint but the footprint of wasted content may be much higher.”
Moving
And, Mr Maddox said that plastic packaging is really important for moving goods around the environment.
WRAP said on Friday (28 February) that its aim is to give people clear information “about the complex world of plastics, waste and recycling – for instance, explaining the role of plastics, and demonstrating the balance between the benefits and drawbacks of alternatives.”
Clear on Plastics is to be a social media-led campaign “amplified by influencer content and the support of UK Plastics Pact members, Pact supporters and other partners such as Local Authorities.”
Driving the campaign will be a series of “new channels” including a citizen-facing website, social media channels and other media. Graphics will pose challenging questions as well as giving information, such as asking ‘Why can’t we replace plastics with other materials?‘.
Plastics Pact
“Why can’t we just replace plastics with other materials?”
The WRAP work comes against the background of its organisation of the Plastics Pact group. This describes itself as: “The UK Plastics Pact is a trailblazing, collaborative initiative that will create a circular economy for plastics. It brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs to tackle the scourge of plastic waste.”
However, there are concerns within the plastics sector and beyond that the current focus on plastics could be detrimental in that the material could be coming in for unnecessary criticism especially because plastic bottles, for example, are easily recycled.
Related link
www.ClearonPlastics.com
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