Do you remember Daniel Webb, the guy who collected his plastic for a year and turned it into a billboard? He just conducted a survey with more than 200 people across the UK, who collected and recorded their plastic waste as part of The Everyday Plastic Survey during lockdown. The survey challenged participants to collect and record a week’s worth of their household plastic waste before submitting their data to receive their own personalised plastic footprint. This footprint provided a comprehensive breakdown of what they throw away and where it goes.
On average, each household tossed out 141 pieces of plastic in the week. If all households in the UK threw out the estimated average, it would mean that 3.9 billion pieces of domestic plastic waste are being thrown away every week.
THE UK IS JUST UNDER 1 PERCENT OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION. EXTRAPOLATED OUT, THAT SAYS HOUSEHOLDS THROW OUT AROUND 390 BILLION PIECES OF PLASTIC EVERY WEEK.
Over the last 4 weeks, 218 participants (74 households) have taken part in a special lockdown edition of the project. In total, 10,440 pieces of plastic were collected, recorded and analysed.
Extrapolated, if all households chucked out the estimated average, it would mean that 3.9 BILLION pieces of domestic plastic waste are being thrown away every week in the UK alone.
It's a fairly straightforward process to extrapolate those numbers across the world and know we are literally drowning in the stuff.
Round 2 of this Household Plastic survey starts on Thursday 4 June (GMT +1) and it is opening globally. Here is where you can sign up and take part in the Survey.