The comeback of single-use plastics
Over the last year, there has been a huge increase in use of single-use plastic gloves, masks, aprons and plastic bottles of hand sanitiser. While these products are needed to help protect people from COVID-19, they are also becoming the symbol of global plastic pollution.
Last week, during my 15-minute walk to drop my children off at school, I passed three masks and two separate gloves lying on the pavement. One of the masks was only a few metres from a communal bin, so there was no excuse for it to be thrown away. Not only is the increase in plastic pollution from these products an environmental concern but it is also unhygienic and not sanitary for these products to be discarded like that.
Over the past few years, we’ve made some real strides in the fight against single-use plastics. Reusable water bottles have become the norm and supermarkets have moved away from single-use plastic bags. We must make sure that as our society comes out of this pandemic, we do not reverse the positive long-term gains we had already secured in the battle against plastic pollution.
How to tackle the plastic problem
The bottom line is that we all need to ensure that we are recycling as much as we can.
Since the start of the pandemic, the nation has been buying every bottle of liquid soap and hand sanitiser it could lay its hands-on, Mark Hall (Spokesman for businesswaste.co.uk) saw up to 10 million empty bottles ending up in over-stretched landfill sites.
And it’s feared that levels of recycling will drop during this global pandemic, but we have to keep stressing to people that as they use more sanitisers and soap, these plastic bottles could be polluting the planet long after coronavirus is gone.
Opus Innovations is proud to contribute to the solution.
We have recently launched our new My Happy Planet 70% alcohol gel. Made with premium grade alcohol with added emollients to moisturise and protect your skin but with the huge added feature of being sold in 100% recycled plastic bottles/containers.
It forms part of our 'refill system’ so no plastic bottles need to be thrown away. Our system has 3 sizes (100ml, 500ml and 5 litre) and one can simply refill the smaller recycled plastic bottles from the larger one. We also provide a ‘pelican’ pump so things don’t get messy!
As a company, we at Opus work tirelessly to innovate new ideas or make existing products more eco-friendly and stick with our ethos of being kind to people, animals and the planet. You can find out more about us at: https://www.myhappyplanet.co.uk/
Member-to-Member offer.
As part of our plastic-pollution reduction endeavours we are also offering a refill service at our site in Manor Royal, Crawley in partnership with Manor Royal Business District. We are delighted to offer a 25% trade discount to our fellow Sussex Chamber members and encourage them to use the refill system, save money and play a part in reducing plastic pollution together.