Nursery World - Nursery Management: Sustainability

The volume of plastic now littering the environment has provoked widespread realisation that our consumer habits need to change. Meredith Jones Russell reports on the settings leading the way

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Plastic waste is damaging our health. After decades of growing use, this durable, flexible, cheap material is found in everything from coffee cups to clothes to teabags. The way we now live means plastic is endemic in our environment. The consequences? The vast majority – 90 per cent – of seabirds have plastic in their stomachs, while microplastics are commonly found in fish, and tap water around the world has invisible plastic fibres in it: a direct threat to human health.

The mainstream media is waking up to the cause, with anti-plastic campaigns such as Sky’s Ocean Rescue, while the Government has planned a consultation on charging for single-use plastic and committed to eliminate plastic waste by 2042. With half of the plastic that exists being made in the past 13 years, however, campaigners have said this does not match the scale of the problem.

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