{"id":3334,"date":"2019-10-16T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=3334"},"modified":"2025-03-21T15:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T07:37:49","slug":"the-reuse-revolution-is-the-answer-to-the-plastic-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/story\/3334\/the-reuse-revolution-is-the-answer-to-the-plastic-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reuse Revolution is the answer to the plastic crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Communities, progressive businesses, and local governments are stepping up with solutions centred around reduction and reuse.<\/h3>\n\n
\"Unpacked
Customers can bring their own containers, boxes and bottles to fill with groceries in the shop and reuse them on their next shopping trip. \u00a9 Dennis Reher \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\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.

In response to this global environmental crisis, a growing movement \u2014\u00a0the Reuse Revolution\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014\u00a0is 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 centred 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.<\/p>\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B3tT0fvpPWr\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n

The Reuse Revolution is underway,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0you are a part of it<\/strong>, even if you may not have realised it yet \u2014\u00a0when you shop at stores without plastic packaging, when you take your reusable bottle with you on the go, when you bring your own bag and shop at the farmers market, when you intentionally\u00a0replace throwaway plastic with reusable solutions.<\/strong>

And, most of all, when you\u00a0ask companies to do the same<\/strong><\/a>.

All these actions, gathered up and multiplied, are\u00a0providing the counter power to the corporate controlled system built on throwaway packaging.<\/strong>

Thanks to pressure from millions of people like you, companies are finally admitting they helped create this crisis.\u00a0Some of them are even making commitments<\/a>\u00a0they say will help solve it. But so far, corporations are mostly pushing\u00a0false \u201csolutions\u201d<\/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.\u00a0These alternatives will only continue to harm the environment.<\/a>

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.<\/p>\n\n

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

The only way we\u2019re truly going to solve this crisis<\/strong>\u00a0is 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.<\/p>\n\n

Graham Forbes<\/strong> is Greenpeace’s Plastics Global Project Leader. When not fighting to protect communities and our oceans you might find him surfing off California’s central coast.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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