Tag: plastic waste

• Plastic Bottles: 10 Million a day in the UK!

  

  I don’t know what made me first notice them. But when I did, I realised that they were everywhere. If I go for a half-hour walk from home, I’ll usually see three or four discarded water bottles. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you’re all drinking so much water; good hydration is important. But when you buy bottled water, you are driving a chain that’s having a significant impact on our environment.

  

  In 2021, UK consumers drank 2.5 million litres, or 10 million bottles of water, per day. That’s a lot of plastic. This figure is expected to grow 15% by 2027. If those bottles end up in a landfill, and about 25% do in the UK, they will take somewhere between 400 and 1,000 years to break down.

  

  Apart from the environmental impact of all that plastic, there is the carbon produced in trucking that water and plastic around the country. Our local water company, Southern Water, charges about a third of a penny for two litres of water. Buy the same two litres from Aldi, and you’ll pay 129 times as much. UK tap water undergoes rigorous testing; it truly is as good as, or better than, bottled water.

  

  Apart from the convenience, there really is no upside to bottled water. It costs more, damages the environment on a global scale and litters our streets locally.

  Reduce, Reuse, Refill: Invest in a reusable water bottle and make a long-lasting impact.

  www.refill.org.uk a campaign to reduce single-use packaging.

  Take care out there. N.
  

  2025.06.20

• Less

  

  I’ve become less interested in acquiring new stuff and more appreciative of things that last. I recently read Patrick Grant’s book Less, where he argues passionately against the throwaway culture of fast fashion and for buying quality that lasts and can be repaired. In my lifetime, the world has changed from one of hand-knitted jumpers and TV repair shops, to one where we just throw things away, to make way for the new model. I’m sure some of this is an effect of ageing, but there’s no doubt the planet can’t cope with our current rate of consumption.

  I can’t deny, there’s something amazing about living in a Joe 90 world (a reference for the kids), where you can get an instant message from the other side of the planet on your watch. In the 1980s, Casio launched a calculator watch, and I really wanted one. I wanted one so much it hurt. If my parents had relented (they didn’t), I’m sure, for a while, I would have been entranced. But how long would that fascination have lasted? I suspect the same will be true of today’s smartwatches. Who really needs to log their REM sleep, and is it even healthy to do so? Yes, you can get an iMessage on your watch. Until the operating system is updated or the battery dies.

  “Wildlife accidents aside, I’ll probably never need another pair, and there’s something very reassuring about that.”

  I was in the middle of cutting the grass when this came to mind, and I found myself looking more closely at the gloves I was wearing. They’re made by Wells Lamont, an American brand, whose website tells me have been making gloves since 1907. This is actually my second pair; I foolishly left the first pair outside where a fox thought they’d make a great chew toy, and it seems they weren’t wrong. So, on a work trip to Dallas a few years ago, I bought these. I can’t remember where, but they weren’t expensive. Wildlife accidents aside, I’ll probably never need another pair, and there’s something very reassuring about that.

  In the future, I’m aiming to consume less. When I do need to buy something, I’ll follow Patrick Grant’s lead in trying to shop locally and choose things that last.

  Let me know if there’s something you own that you aim to keep forever.

  N.

  PS. I’m thinking about moving away from Gmail to a smaller provider that’s not going to scrape my data. Is there a service you’d recommend?

  2025.06.03