For some time now, the possibility of replacing the plastic of saturated assembly lines is being seriously considered. Now, there are people who try to carry their own bag so as not to consume more (much more since their collection was ordered to the establishments by the Government), many citizens have chosen to consume products in bulk and to reduce the daily consumption of unnecessary minutiae packaged.
It is true that we have been a great example in the recycling industry, especially the paper industry. We have etched some basic rules for recycling and little by little, people become aware of the need to stop the consumption of plastic.
Everything is positive, any attitude that is beneficial to the environment, whether collecting waste from the beaches or cycling around your city is not negligible, but it is not enough.
Most social attitudes and trends are promoted massively, which is what at the beginning of the twentieth century sociologists called the theory of the masses. Therefore, individual gestures remain in the background when there are large industries that produce large amounts of plastic waste daily and consume numerous resources to obtain, transport, etc. To see the full picture, let's see several examples.
There is an international traffic of plastic waste, in fact, since China stopped buying waste from other countries the painful “garbage market” has collapsed, something that has directly affected the Spanish market that saw its best customer in the Asian giant of waste And is that in Spain we generate more than 21 million tons of waste per year.
Today there are companies that are dedicated to collecting garbage from the ocean, associations that clean beaches and even popular movements such as 'picking' that consists of walking along the beach or the field in order to collect any waste or garbage that is found. At the same time, according to GreenPeace, 79% of the plastic produced ends up in landfills or in the environment y every day more than 30 million plastic bottles and cans are abandoned in Spain.
It is said that In the Pacific Ocean alone there are almost 80 thousand tons of plastic waste. And is that only 9% of the plastic we have produced and consumed comes from recycling, that is, only 1 in 10 containers, bottles, bags, etc. are of recycled origin.
Therefore, it is very good to get plastic, paper, glass and organic waste in your home, it is great that we use our own bags to go to the supermarket and stop taking the car for small trips using the bicycle. They are positive actions for the environment, of course, but also insufficient.
It is essential to start changing and demand changes. We need a change within the productive system, of the economic system and therefore that change has to come supported by governments and businessmen.
Today there are projects for entire cities that undoubtedly open a thread of hope. Smart cities that facilitate the reduction of the use of the combustion car, reduce the environmental impact by betting on sustainability and renewable energy and also have a regulation system before the merchant, which avoids unnecessary packaging and helps ecological trade.
Within these projects there is a key concept for the success of any ecological project. The emergence of the concept circular economy It has changed many business models and above all it has helped to provide the degree of sustainability that all companies should comply with. Circular economy It consists of a continuous cycle of positive development that conserves and improves natural capital, optimizes the use of resources and minimizes the risks of the system by managing a finite amount of stocks and renewable flows. In addition, it works effectively on all types of scales.
The importance of such concepts and actions being taken to a strategic level, and measures such as European Union ban on single-use plastics they make us see how the movements that demand real change are already paying off, that little by little we get something, but not only from individual action, but collectively demanding and providing real solutions at large scales. The combination of individual and collective change can make one day see that we were part of the solution to biggest problem in the history of mankind.