A hundred and fifty million metric tons of plastic is currently floating in the sea, estimates say. And the quantity of plastic in the great oceans is ever increasing. Some of this is litter dropped from container ships or lost items from the fishing industry, but most of it, by a long chalk, is street litter that ends up here via rivers. To prevent even more plastic entering the sea, disposable plastics were banned in the EU on July 3rd. And in the coming years beverage bottles must contain an ever increasing percentage of recycled plastic, and manufacturers will pay towards the cost of plastic waste processing. As of last week, the Netherlands has added water and soft drink bottles to its refundable bottles system as a measure to reduce litter.

Very positive, believes TU/e Full Professor of Physical Chemistry, Remco Tuinier. “We must start using less plastic, and when we do use it, do so with awareness. Priority must now be given to preventing disposable plastics from getting into the environment. For nature, no scenario is more dramatic than this. Plastic does not rot away, instead it decays into tiny pieces - microplastics - that pile up in the environment, with predictable consequences.”

There is large overlap between the types of packaging now prohibited and the types of plastic waste found in the plastic soup, says Jaap den Doelder, part-time Professor in Physical Chemistry of Polymers. “Everything that goes into the sea is too much. So in this sense the ban is a good thing. But at the same time, I'm worried about suboptimal alternatives. The paper straw isn't great to drink through and is often wrapped in plastic foil. I wish it were easy. As consumers we have to be more aware of our choices, and take more responsibility. How important is a straw? Can we do without one?”

The 'unnecessary' category may well be the place for a drinking straw, but some types of plastic packaging are certainly useful, to combat food wastage, for example. In view of this Den Doelder prefers the term Single Use Plastics (SUP) to disposable plastics - “Plastics are not designed to be thrown away.” The environment impact of a piece of plastic packaging depends on various factors like material, application, scope for reuse. According to Den Doelder a life cycle analysis (LCA) reveals a great deal and a study like this also provides starting points for improving sustainability. It is essential even, echoes TU/e colleague Remco Tuinier. “An LCA allows you to approach a discussion very rationally. Take this example, the Danish government conducted an LCA when people were keen to replace plastic bags with paper ones; many people think this is ‘better’ for the environment. The opposite turned out to be true: the energy cost of making a paper bag is seven times more than for a plastic bag.”

Den Doelder likes to take the coffee cup debate as an example. “Polystyrene cups - easily recyclable by the way - were replaced by cups made of plasticized cardboard. A material that can't go into the waste paper, but can be collected separately, as we do here at TU/e using the special waste bins, the Tulips. But at home these cups end up in the general refuse and are incinerated, bumping up CO₂ emissions. Ideally, you are looking for a solution that benefits both the climate and the plastic soup. This means, wherever possible, choose to reuse - take your own coffee mug with you - but otherwise a circular model is preferable, and that means the collection step is essential. Not incinerating but keeping the material in the chain. Can we make something new out of these coffee cups?”