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Plastic Bag Pollution on UK Beaches Falls 80% After Single-Use Bag Fee Policy, Report Finds

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01 Aug, 2024

This post was originally published on Eco Watch

A new report from Marine Conservation Society has determined an 80% decline in the amount of plastic bags found washed up on beaches in the past 10 years. The report links the decline in plastic bag waste to the enacting of fees for single-use plastic bags at large supermarket retailers in 2015.

Marine Conservation Society completes a survey on beach litter every year and has done so for three decades. Last year, its volunteers found 4,684 single-use plastic bags in the UK and Channel Islands. 

As the Centre for Public Impact reported, England first issued a law requiring retailers with 250 or more full-time employees to charge at least 5 pence per each single-use plastic bag. Fees typically range between 5 and 25 pence per bag, The Guardian reported.

“It is brilliant to see policies on single-use plastics such as carrier bag charges working,” Lizzie Price, beachwatch manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said in a press release. “There is no doubt that these policies have been extremely successful in reducing this frequently littered item.”

In 2023, the UK government shared a report that found plastic bag usage at major supermarkets declined by 98% from 2014 to 2023. 

A report from earlier this year found that in the U.S., plastic bag bans have been highly effective, reducing the amount of waste by millions of bags. Bans in just three states and two major cities in the U.S. cut single-use plastic bags by about 6 billion per year. In 2018, a report determined that a plastic bag ban by two major grocery chains in Australia reduced single-use plastic bags by 1.5 billion in just three months of the program.

Although the Marine Conservation Society praised the decline of plastic bags washing up on beaches since the bag fees were initiated, the organization noted that more work is needed to further reduce plastic bag pollution along with other forms of waste. Recent beach surveys from Marine Conservation Society found an increase in drinks-related plastic litter and an overall 1.2% increase in plastic litter across UK beaches, despite the decline in plastic bag litter, The Guardian reported.

In October 2023, the UK enacted a ban on plastic cutlery, polystyrene cups and food containers, balloon sticks, and other single-use plastics. However, as The Conversation reported, the ban did not apply to single-use plastic packaging. 

“Our volunteer surveys show 9 out of 10 beach litter items are made from plastic, and drinks-related litter, like bottles and cans, were found on 97% of UK beaches surveyed last year,” Price said. “We need broader policies that charge or ban more single-use items where possible such as the proposed deposit return schemes for plastic bottles, cans, and glass. We must move quicker towards a society that repairs reuses and recycles.” 

The post Plastic Bag Pollution on UK Beaches Falls 80% After Single-Use Bag Fee Policy, Report Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.

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Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

Taking the electronic pulse of the circular economy

In June, I had the privilege of attending the 2025 E-Waste World, Battery Recycling, Metal Recycling, and ITAD & Circular Electronics Conference & Expo events in Frankfurt, Germany.

Speaking in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track on a panel with global Circular Economy leaders from Foxway Group, ERI and HP, we explored the evolving role of IT asset disposition (ITAD) and opportunities in the circular electronics economy.

The event’s focus on advancing circular economy goals and reducing environmental impact delivered a series of insights and learnings. From this assembly of international expertise across 75+ countries, here are some points from the presentations that stood out for me:

1. Environmental impact of the digital economy

Digitalisation has a heavy material footprint in the production phase, and lifecycle thinking needs to guide every product decision. Consider that 81% of the energy a laptop uses in its lifetime is consumed during manufacture (1 tonne in manufacture is equal to 10,000 tonnes of CO2) and laptops are typically refreshed or replaced by companies every 3–4 years.

From 2018 to 2023, the average number of devices and connections per capita in the world increased by 50% (2.4 to 3.6). In North America (8.2 to 13.4) and Western Europe (5.6 to 9.4), this almost doubled. In 1960, only 10 periodic table elements were used to make phones. In 1990, 27 elements were used and now over 60 elements are used to build the smartphones that we have become so reliant on.

A key challenge is that low-carbon and digital technologies largely compete for the same minerals. Material resource extraction could increase 60% between 2020 and 2060, while demand for lithium, cobalt and graphite is expected to rise by 500% until 2050.

High growth in ICT demand and Internet requires more attention to the environmental footprint of the digital economy. Energy consumption of data centres is expected to more than double by 2026. The electronics industry accounts for over 4% of global GHG — and digitalisation-related waste is growing, with skewed impacts on developing countries.

E-waste is rising five times faster than recycling — 1 tonne of e-waste has a carbon footprint of 2 tonnes. Today’s solution? ‘Bury it or burn it.’ In terms of spent emissions, waste and the costs associated with end-of-life liabilities, PCBAs (printed circuit board assembly) cost us enormously — they generally achieve 3–5% recyclability (75% of CO2 in PCBAs is from components).

2. Regulating circularity in electronics

There is good momentum across jurisdictions in right-to-repair, design and labelling regulations; recycling targets; and voluntary frameworks on circularity and eco-design.

The EU is at the forefront. EU legislation is lifting the ICT aftermarket, providing new opportunities for IT asset disposition (ITAD) businesses. To get a sense, the global market for electronics recycling is estimated to grow from $37 billion to $108 billion (2022–2030). The value of refurbished electronics is estimated to increase from $85.9 billion to $262.2 billion (2022–2032). Strikingly, 40% of companies do not have a formal ITAD strategy in place.

Significantly, the EU is rethinking its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management targets, aligned with upcoming circularity and WEEE legislation, as part of efforts to foster the circular economy. A more robust and realistic circularity-driven approach to setting collection targets would better reflect various factors including long lifespans of electronic products and market fluctuations.

Australia and New Zealand lag the EU’s comprehensive e-waste mandated frameworks. The lack of a systematic approach results in environmental degradation and missed positioning opportunities for businesses in the circular economy. While Australia’s Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling recommended legislating a full circular economy framework — including for imported and local product design, financial incentives and regulatory enforcement, New Zealand remains the only OECD country without a national scheme to manage e-waste.

3. Extending product lifecycles

Along with data security and digital tools, reuse was a key theme in the ITAD & Circular Electronics track of the conference. The sustainable tech company that I lead, Greenbox, recognises that reuse is the simplest circular strategy. Devices that are still functional undergo refurbishment and are reintroduced into the market, reducing new production need and conserving valuable resources.

Conference presenters highlighted how repair over replacement is being legislated as a right in jurisdictions around the world. Resources are saved, costs are lowered, product life is extended, and people and organisations are empowered to support a greener future. It was pointed out that just 43% of countries have recycling policies, 17% of global waste is formally recycled, and less than 1% of global e-waste is formally repaired and reused.

Right to repair is a rising wave in the circular economy, and legislation is one way that civil society is pushing back on programmed obsolescence. Its global momentum continues at different speeds for different product categories — from the recent EU mandates to multiple US state bills (and some laws) through to repair and reuse steps in India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Commission has done a scoping study to identify product groups under the Ecodesign framework that would be most relevant for implementing an EU-wide product reparability scoring system.

Attending this event with the entire electronic waste recycling supply chain — from peers and partners to suppliers and customers — underscored the importance of sharing best practices to address the environmental challenges that increased hardware proliferation and complex related issues are having on the world.

Ross Thompson is Group CEO of sustainability, data management and technology asset lifecycle management market leader Greenbox. With facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Greenbox Group provides customers all over the world a carbon-neutral supply chain for IT equipment to reduce their carbon footprint by actively managing their environmental, social and governance obligations.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mustafa Ovec

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