A few days ago, the UK’s largest supermarket chain announced that it gives away to its customers each year no fewer than four billion plastic carrier bags. With a population of 60.4 million, that’s over 65 bags for every single man, woman and child in the country - from this one retailer alone. (To that company’s credit, it announced the figures alongside some new measures to help reduce the number of bags used.) The statistic is so mind-boggling, it may take a moment for it to ‘sink in’.
What does a number like that mean? Certainly, it’s four billion plastic bags for the UK waste industry to handle each year, in some way or another. Yet it’s also a massive reflection on the way a society and an economy works. Is the whole plastic bag phenomenon based on a set of misunderstandings? Do the supermarkets believe they have to provide the bags to retain customers? Do these UK shoppers believe that ‘these days’ a durable shopping bag is simply not something they need or want in their lives? Most importantly, is anyone willing to take responsibility for the plastic material’s life-cycle?
Questions such as this are not new to readers of Waste Management World. Some will be in countries such as Germany or Austria, which years ago achieved a swing in consumer and retailer awareness in this and many related issues. This September-October edition of WMW once again tackles the whole spectrum of waste solutions head-on. And it has, for the first time, a special section dedicated to waste recycling - it looks at recycling of plastics, paper, electronic waste and end-of-life vehicles, at numerous specific technological advances and wider aspects such as all-important policy.
As our Special demonstrates, recycling and materials reclamation are becoming an increasingly important means of managing materials’ life-cycles, and the sector is advancing all the time. All the same, without its partners - reuse and reduction - we’re not going to get very far with tackling those plastic carriers.
Jackie Jones
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
P.S. Starting in autumn 2006, WMW will have an increased web presence, with many more features on-line. Remember to check in at www.waste-management-world.com
