From the three 'Rs' to two

THE BOTTOM LINE ·
Now things are back to normal and pollution levels are also back up to pre-pandemic levels, have we forgotten what we're doing to the environment?

Jennie Rhodes

Friday, 10 February 2023, 13:33

Recycling figures were up in Marbella in 2022 compared to 2021, according to the town council's environment department. The figures, they claim, "show that the town has resumed normal activity" following the first two years of the pandemic.

On the one hand, I agree with Councillor Diego López's sentiment that "this is good news, bearing in mind that this is waste that is going to be given a new life, reducing pollution".

On the face of it, we can assume that people are separating their waste instead of throwing it all into the same, 'organic residue' container at the end of the road.

But is it because during the lockdowns we were simply consuming less, which like the drop in pollution levels because we were driving and flying less, had a hugely positive impact on the environment? Now things are back to normal and pollution levels are also back up to pre-pandemic levels, have we forgotten what we're doing to the environment?

We all know what the three Rs are: Recycle, Reduce and Reuse. A really positive story on the subject of plastic is that people can now take their own containers to supermarkets instead of having their meat and fish wrapped in plastic bags. This is a clear message about reducing and reusing plastic, rather than recycling and one that I think not just Marbella town hall, but all councils need to be getting out.

We all need to play our part. Supermarkets need to extend this policy and stop asking people if they need a bag, as well as charging a lot more for each plastic bag sold and not wrap fruit and vegetables in plastic.

We as individuals can make choices too, like using reusable bags for fresh produce and choosing to shop at shops that sell food by weight.

In a recent SUR article about the take-your-own container story, one shopper interviewed said, "a lot of shops are using biodegradable wrapping now so I don't think this is necessary". But how biodegradable is biodegradable?

According to a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), biodegradable and compostable plastic can be bad for the environment. "If these materials are not managed properly once they become waste, then they likely will not break down as intended," it states.

Surely the really good news would be that recycling figures go down in 2023, not because people have lost faith and gone back to throwing everything in the same bin, but because they are taking their own reusable containers to the shops and reducing the amount of plastics used. Never mind the three 'R's. We should only need to think about two of them.

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From the three 'Rs' to two

THE BOTTOM LINE · Now things are back to normal and pollution levels are also back up to pre-pandemic levels, have we forgotten what we're doing to the environment?

THE BOTTOM LINE ·
Now things are back to normal and pollution levels are also back up to pre-pandemic levels, have we forgotten what we're doing to the environment?