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Covid-19 has brought more than its fair share of woes. Not least has been its deleterious effect on the environment. How? Well, it’s sent consumption of fizzy drinks from single-use cans and plastic bottles through the roof. And it’s derailed plans for the UK’s biggest-ever initiative to ensure drinks packaging is recycled, the deposit return scheme.
In short, it’s been a disaster for the Earth’s oceans – where the amount of plastic waste is expected to triple in the next 20 years, according to a paper published last July in the journal Science.
In 2020, shoppers took home 561.7 million more single-use cans of cola, lemonade, fruit carbonates and mixers than they did in 2019, bringing total sales to 2.9 billion cans. More than 710.4 million plastic pop bottles were taken home, a rise of 102.6 million [Kantar 52 w/e 27 December 2020].
Amazon deforestation breaks new monthly record
greenpeace.org.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from greenpeace.org.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
I ve spent 8 years campaigning for the oceans: here s what I wish more people understood
greenpeace.org.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from greenpeace.org.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Harry Holmes2020-09-04T11:29:00+01:00
Defra is regulating to make sure companies do not use commodities produced on illegally deforested land. Do the measures add up?
British companies are intimately linked, albeit inadvertently, to illegal deforestation around the world. For years, they have adopted voluntary commitments to tackle the problem but, according to a recent Global Canopy report, are still often falling short. Forty per cent of the companies assessed do not have any deforestation commitments in place, while half of those that do fail to report on them.
The UK government is now stepping in as it launches its ‘green recovery’ from the pandemic. Last week, Defra introduced proposals that will make it illegal for businesses to use agri-food commodities produced on illegally deforested land and will mandate due diligence requirements in order to enforce it.