From what i see around most shops will allow you to bring you own tubs, i think they are coming around to the idea. That is great that your son gets involved, i have a 3 year old and i am trying to teach her about recycling its important to teach them that recycling is what needs to be done in the future. I did do a blog post on the different plastic symbols and what can and can not be recycled that may be of interest to you 

Plastic has his advantages. The weight reduction compared to glass bottles is important for transportation, and so for energy consumption.

I'd be much more for better recycling than not using plastics

Hi Gidan, the problem is many plastics can not be recycled and the amount of plastic being sold we just do not have the resources to deal with them sort of amounts. In a previous post i did make a blog post about why recycling is not the answer it may interest you to and you can read it if you wish, but while it may be a short term solution long term it will not benefit us.

Hi TeddySanders, 

Firstly I would like to say its a great thing what you're doing. I am actively following your blog, keep up the good work! 

I am not sure this is really relevant to your dissertation, but I am avidly in support for plastic recycling. I have been part of Ocean cleanup operations, particularly '4Ocean', I volunteered for a ocean cleanup project in Bali, for 5 days which was really eye opening for me personally. This really firsthand showed me the devastating impact plastic has had on our oceans, and the severe consequences it has on our planet.

I believe every little helps, and I am doing my part to live a plastic free life as much as I possibly can. I think people should start somewhere, whether its refusing to buy plastic water bottles (which is a massive issue) glass or paper based alternatives are available now. Or even just buying less plastic based products. Collectively I think we change and save our planet before its too late. 

This is just my two cents on plastic, I don't want to go off on a rant so i'll stop it here. Again keep up the good work, and I hope you inspire some people here who may be unaware of the negative impacts of plastic.

Hi Nexus,

Thanks for reply. Firstly that ocean clean up program that is a brilliant thing you are doing there, I believe 4ocean are one of the biggest organisations when it comes to Ocean clean ups so that is an amazing job. I know what you are talking about when it comes to being an eye open while I have not actively taking part yet in ocean clean ups I have seen videos of them in various countries and they certainly are a shocking thing to watch especially now when you think there is are actually garbage patches in our oceans now.

I am also with you when you say every little helps, I am a strong believe that maybe all plastic changes may not be easy for some people I believe all people can do one or two and yes one like bottled water... totally unnecessary but its the pick up and throw away culture we are part of unfortunately.

Thanks for following the blog, I really appreciate that I try and keep it upto date with different plastic swaps while adding a few other informative posts and the end game hopefully is to inspire others and show others that some plastic alternatives are easy to swap to. 

Hey TeddySanders, I read that post on your blog.

I studied plastics too, and yes, didn't liked the amount of non-recyclable ones, but those ones, things like rubber,  tyres, glues, are even harder to replace with something else than other plastics.

And afaik, plastics like PE and PET are fully recyclable, so I'm not sure that switching to glass for bottles and other containers would be a lot better.

You make a great point about rubber, tyres etc. As far as PE and PET being recycled yes they can be you are totally correct, but the means to recycle these things creates more dangerous gases and pollutes the air and water is needed and this risks water contamination, take glass for one example there is not environmental impacts from melting glass and re moulding no harmful gases or pollutants. 

Im sure you know having studied plastic it takes a lot of crude oil to make plastic a material that is no infinite it will eventually run out and the impact on the ways of obtaining the crude oil such as fracking, so yes recycling is the best way to deal with the problem i will still say its not the best way due to other factors involved with it. 

I have made lots of updates on my blog, written upto day 15 so far, so half way through really still lots of changes to make

I remember someone, don't remember his name, said that petroleum is a too valuable resource to be burned as fuel, would be a lot better to use it for plastics production and such things.

And along with that, I thought and hoped it would have been possibile to make all plastic recyclable, and change or replace the non recyclable one with something else.

Why recycling plastic would make more pollution than glass? PET and PE are melted, not burned, and they melt at a much lower temperature than glass.

While it might seem that I'm "fighting for plastics", I'd like if they were used better, and in ways that would allow them to be fully recyclable, and of course I think too that they are used too much in packaging and other things.

Hi Gidan, the problem with recyling plastic is it is much more difficult to recycle then materials such as glass or aluminium. It not only the recycling the production of plastic releases toxic chemicals such as benzene. Glass requires less energy to manufacture and recycle and it is made from natural substances.

There are two blog posts i have created, how plastic is made and why recycling is not the answer, if you would like to take a read please feel free it will have more explaination than the snippet i just gave.

Ive been a little busy so blog has slowed down by on day 26 of the plasticfreejuly challenge and it still going strong, there is still great stuff on the blog just needs a little updating.