{"id":24844,"date":"2019-10-15T04:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T02:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=24844"},"modified":"2022-07-21T15:11:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T13:11:10","slug":"reuserevolution-vs-plastics-pollution-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/24844\/reuserevolution-vs-plastics-pollution-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"The #ReuseRevolution is the answer to the plastics crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plastic pollution is everywhere. Starting as toxic fossil fuels, then ending up from beaches in Southeast Asia to the remote Antarctic, corporate throwaway culture is harming communities, animals like turtles and seabirds and possibly human health.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In response to this global environmen<\/span>tal crisis, a growing movement\u2014<\/span>the Reuse Revolution\u2014<\/span><\/b>is already finding real and innovative solutions focused on reusing sustainable materials instead of throwaway plastics. Communities, progressive businesses, and local governments are stepping up with solutions centered around reduction and reuse. There are zero-waste cities, water refill stations at more airports and other public places, and even discounts at some retailers for bringing your own bags and at coffee shops for bringing your own reusable mug. There are markets full of plastic-free produce and grains that have been around for decades, and new zero-waste shops popping up around the world. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Plastic-Free
In this traditional market, people can purchase many items with their own carrier bags to avoid plastic packaging.
\u00a9 Jung Park \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The Reuse Revolution is underway. <\/b>And<\/span> you are a part of it<\/b>, even if you may not have realized it yet. When you shop at places where you know you can get what you need without plastic. When you take your reusable bottle with you when you travel. When you bring your own bag and shop at the farmers market. When you intentionally <\/span>replace throwaway plastic with reusable solutions<\/b>.\u00a0And, most of all, when you <\/span>ask companies to do the same<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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All these actions, gathered up and multiplied, are <\/span>providing the counter power to the corporate controlled system built on throwaway packaging. <\/b><\/p>\n\n

Thanks to pressure from millions of people like you, companies are finally admitting they helped create this crisis. <\/span>Some of them are even making commitments<\/span><\/a> they say will help solve it. But so far, corporations are mostly pushing <\/span>false \u201csolutions\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u2014switching to other throwaway materials like paper or bioplastic, relying more heavily on the already broken recycling system, even investing in harmful chemical recycling and incineration\u2014to justify their addiction to single-use packaging. <\/span>These alternatives will only continue to harm the environment. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n

Industry\u2019s narrative around individual responsibility and false solutions is coming to an end. The only way forward for them is to join the Reuse Revolution. And those that don\u2019t will become increasingly irrelevant in a world where people aren\u2019t willing to sacrifice a liveable planet for the illusion of \u2018convenience\u2019. So what do the right kinds of solutions look like? We put together this list of criteria to help guide companies like Nestl\u00e9 to move in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

The only way we\u2019re truly going to solve this crisis<\/b> is by demanding that corporations reduce their plastic footprints, move away from the throwaway business model, and start investing in refill and reuse as the way toward a sustainable future. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Graham Forbes is the Global Project Lead for the Plastic-Free-Future Campaign at Greenpeace USA<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLet\u2019s end the age of plastic!\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Ask world leaders to support Global Plastic Treaty so that we can finally turn off the tap and end the age of plastic.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to a global environmental crisis, a growing movement is finding real and innovative solutions focused on reusing sustainable materials instead of throwaway plastics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":24847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[67],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-24844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-consumption","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24844"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54816,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24844\/revisions\/54816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24844"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=24844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}