Plastics can be very useful and are an almost essential part of our life today but they come with loads of problems. One of the good things about plastics is that last a long time but one of the bad things about plastics is that they last a long time! Once you have finished with most plastic items and you throw them away they could still be around for centuries to come.

We have been looking at the Seven Rs of sustainability. When it comes to plastics we need to Rethink how and when we use them, Refuse to use them when there are safer alternatives, Reduce the amount of plastic we use, any plastics we do use we need to Reuse as many times as we can Repairing any plastic items that get broken as often as we can, Re-purposing them at the end of their useful life if at all possible before Recycling them into something else that we can use. If we did this with all plastics (and with all our goods) we would end up with a circular economy, a way in which as little of possible actually becomes waste.

Plastic Free July aims to help us reduce plastic waste by following the steps above. If you would like to know more then explore the Plastic Free July website or ask a pupil at ACE what they have been doing to reduce their use of plastic.