‘The Truth’

Plastic

  • At the current rate, the world produces 100 million tonnes of plastic a year – less than 3.5% is recycled
  • Nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today
  • One tonne of plastic is equivalent to 20,000 two litre drinks bottles or 120,000 carrier bags
  • There are around 300,000 items of plastic on every square kilometre of the worlds oceans surface
  • The Pacific Ocean has a patch of floating plastic estimated at 3.5 tonnes
  • Plastic in the Worlds oceans exceeds 100 million tonnes, 20% from fishing and 80% from land
  • Around 10% of the debris found on beaches is preproduction pellets lost during industrial processing
  • Plastic uses 8% of the Worlds oil production

Waste

Household Waste

  • The UK produces 424 million tonnes of waste a year (the equivalent of over 1 million jumbo jets in weight)
  • 20% of household waste is paper and cardboard
  • 30 million tonnes comes from households: Only 11% is recycled! 81% ends up in landfill and 8% is incinerated
  • It costs £130 million a year to dispose of the UK’s waste packaging
  • Each tonne of paper recycled saves 15 average trees and helps the surrounding habitat and wildlife
  • Each year a family throws away 6 trees

Reality

Deforestation

  • If we continue at the same rate, by 2030 we will need 2 planets to maintain our lifestyles
  • Ecosystem destruction COSTS our global economy £1.2 TRILLION A YEAR
  • Fossil fuels are depleted 100,000 faster than they are formed
  • Water is FINITE, it is NOT RENEWABLE
  • Tropical deforestation and land degradation contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than all the worlds cars, trucks, planes and trains combined

*Sources

WWF International Director-General, James Leape
news.bbc.co.uk
Chairman and CEO of US NGO Conservation International, Peter Seligmann
waste online
Aligalita- Greenpeace Ocean Defenders
BBC.co.uk, ’06
Waste Online.org
The Telegraph 2009