NUMBER OF THE DAY
We’re Eating More and Smoking Less, According to Our Trash
Turning our beaches into a receptacle for Big Plastic
4.7 million: That’s how many food wrappers the Ocean Conservancy collected during its global beach cleanups in 2019, according to a report in Fast Company. This marks the first time since the Ocean Conservancy began its cleanups in 1986 that cigarette butts have been knocked off their perch as the most common form of beach litter. In 2019, cigarette butts came in second, at 4.2 million.
The reversal is not simply a reflection of the continued decline of cigarette smoking (though the pandemic has given that habit a bit of a boost): While the number of cigarette butts they found declined from 5.7 million in 2018, the number of food wrappers they found grew by a million, from 3.7 million in 2018.
The single-use plastic that forms the bulk of food packaging is a tough problem to solve as it’s hard to find snacks, candy, and other prepared food packaged in anything but plastic. Although various groups are working on alternatives, like the Swedish research institute RISE’s cellulose packaging, U.S. company MonoSol’s water-soluble plastics, and London-based startup Notpla’s seaweed-based edible packaging, adoption of these new materials is scarce. Since beaches have been one of the few places that people can go to relax while maintaining social distance during the pandemic, expect the Ocean Conservancy to find even more plastic on beaches in 2020.
Meanwhile, recyclable plastic is also causing its own issues, as much of the plastic that goes into recycling bins has ended up in landfills for the last few years.
Hey, VCs: Once you fix ACs, feel free to fix plastic.
