PlastiCity
PlastiCity - resourcing plastics from the city
Southend on Sea is the only town in the UK to take part in PlastiCity. A three year research project that aims to increase the amount of commercial and industrial plastic that is recycled in the 2 seas region:
- UK
- Belgium
- France
- Netherlands
The project is part funded as part of the Interreg 2 Seas 2014-2020 programme.
The main aim of PlastiCity is to develop strategies and solutions that can be replicated easily. These should increase recycling rates in towns, from 20-30% to over 50%. We will aim to do this by unlocking the use of “lost plastics” as secondary resources from towns.
Lost plastics are products that cannot be recycled or products that are used for a single time, before staying on the planet for hundreds of years. The project will also look into research and develop strategies and solutions to identify, collect and recycle more commercial and industrial plastics.
This will improve the living conditions of more than half a million residents in the 2 Seas region by reducing the amount of plastic pollution.
There are tons of plastic in the ocean. It slowly breaks down into smaller pieces but never goes away completely. Marine animals eat it and become sick or die. It can also trap and injure them, making it difficult for them to swim or fly. Unknown numbers of animals die this way each year. Toxins from the plastics that marine animals have eaten are beginning to make their way into our food stream.
Re-thinking plastics
Plastics are everywhere. It is an amazing material:
- cheap
- strong
- flexible
- durable
And therefore used in many different forms.
This also means that plastic never really breaks down. For example, a non recyclable plastic bottle can survive in the ocean for up to 450 years.
Getting rid of plastic is simply not possible. There are many different types of plastic and some are impossible to recycle. What we all need to think about is how we use plastic and what we do with it when we no longer need it.
Watch how plastics are recycled on the mobile unit on the Interreg 2 Seas PlastiCity video.