PLASTIC BOTTLES ARE NOT TRASH

Plastic. Love it. Freaking hate it. Plastic is fantastic. Plastic pollutes. Ban it. Rethink it. Redesign it. Use it. Refuse it.

One thing is for sure though: We will never get away from plastic. The keyboard I type this on is proof of that.

Bottles. Glass. Plastic. Pretty much the only 2 options you have really (and metal). Glass is cool. It breaks. It’s heavy (think about the extra carbon emissions when transporting). It’s recyclable. It will cut your kids foot if they stand on it at the beach. Plastic. It doesn’t break. It’s light. It transports easily. It floats. It pollutes our rivers and oceans. It is easily visible on afore-mentioned rivers and on our beaches. Perfectly recyclable.

Are. What are our options? Is it plastic that pollutes? Is it people that pollute? Is it industry that makes the stuff? Is it us that buy the stuff? Is it the wind that blows the stuff onto our shores? Is it illegal dumping in communities that “cause the stuff” to land up in our waterways?

Not. An easy discussion to have. Hundreds of different and varying opinions. Ban it. Reuse it. Recycle it. Make sure the manufacturing is done correctly so it can be recycled. Collect it. Sort it.

Trash. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it is a job creating, value adding, educational driving, thinking stimulating product that can be used and used again. In clothes. Furniture. Roads. Houses. It creates tens of thousands of jobs in Africa and internationally. People feed their families with it and from it.

One thing is for sure – we all have a responsibility to take.