COP 26 - Blog 3: Plastics - Ian Anderson

Plastics are one of the most useful but also the most harmful aspects of modern life. We could not do without them in our homes, our cars and our industry yet at the same time they poison our seas, our rivers, our countryside and harm our wildlife. And via microplastics, the small bits that have so many uses, they are getting into the food chain too. 

Reducing plastic use is often quite difficult because of how prevalent plastics are in society, so recycling is essential. Think how many items in our homes are of plastic and the things we buy every week – milk and juice cartons, margarine containers, ready meals, sauce bottles, wrapped vegetables – you just can’t escape it! For example, Coca Cola produces 3 million tonnes of plastic packaging a year, which is about 200,000 bottles per minute.. Recycling can also take some effort, especially in York where hard plastic can only be taken to somewhere like Sainsbury’s because the Council don’t recycle it.

So what can done? Various things: lobbying the supermarkets, shopping for loose veg in the market or at a local greengrocers where feasible; buy stuff in glass bottles if possible; use the Refill facilities at Asda or shops like Tullivers or the Bishy Weigh on Bishopthorpe Road. Rethinking aspects of our life may be something the Lord is challenging us to do.

Finally I would love to start an organisation called Christians Against Plastic –anyone want to join me?!