The Big Plastic Count results

A reminder of why the The Modern Milkman’s return and reuse system is so important…

Nearly 100,000 households in the UK took part in The Big Plastic Count, which saw people counting their plastic bottles and wrappers to help track how much plastic is thrown away, and what happens to it once it leaves the home. The results are in, and they’re pretty shocking:

♻️ Only 12% of plastic is recycled

♻️ Food and drink packaging makes up 83% of the waste generated

♻️ Almost half (46%) of the UK’s household plastic waste is being incinerated, with the remaining 25% buried in landfill – this incineration creates huge levels of pollution, and plants are often in deprived areas, impacting the health and lives of many people

♻️ 62% of recorded pieces of plastic are either not collected, or poorly collected by UK local authorities

According to Everyday Plastic, “the UK’s recycling systems cannot cope with the amount of plastic packaging waste leaving our homes”, which isn’t surprising, considering the UK is estimated to throw away 1.85 billion pieces of plastic packaging a week.

In case you didn’t know, The Modern Milkman is revolutionising how we manage and reduce food waste. The company uses intelligent data and analytics to map out milk rounds, assess demand and reduce carbon emissions.

Incredibly, in just four years, the company has helped UK homes to save over 46.5 million plastic bottles!

You can read the full report on plastic usage HERE.