Half of all plastic produced on Earth is designed to be used only once. Plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic bottles all come in single-use containers. In this episode of One Small Step, Lucy explores whether reusable containers are the future.
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The average American produces 4.4 pounds of waste per day, and within that waste you will find a ton of single-use plastics that are contributing to the crisis of plastic pollution. Straws, bags, bottle caps, and more end up in our oceans harming sea creatures and even ending up in the food we eat in the form of microplastics.

So, it is time we take a closer look at other options and consider reusable containers as an alternative to single-use plastic.

Reusables are nothing new. It’s the old milkman model. A milkman would deliver full bottles to your door and later he’d pick up the empty containers, clean them, and reuse them.

This system was a closed loop, where the bottle was used again and again.

The milkman model worked well for decades and in 1963, nearly 30% of Americans had milk delivered to their homes. But as the shelf life of milk was extended and it became cheaper to buy at the store, and just like that the milkman model became a thing of the past and single-use plastics entered the ring.

It’s unfortunate that our current convenient but wasteful single-use packaging system has taken control of almost all of the food industry.

But, as concern for our environment grows, and a desire for sustainability becomes more prevalent, companies are seeing value in reusable containers as their customers come to understand our out of control waste problem.

So, are reusables the future?

If we want a future with less waste, we all need to vote with our dollar and support companies that are providing reusable packaging and stop using single-use items every chance we can.

#Sustainable #Reusable #SingleUse #ClimateChange #Environment #OneSmallStep

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What happens to everything we use after we throw it away? How does our trash impact the environment and contribute to things like pollution and climate change? From plastics and recycling to food waste and composting – we're breaking down the issue of waste and sustainability piece by piece to answer one of the most important questions facing the world today: How do we save our planet?

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