A study by Midlands based company Cease Using Single-Use Plastic (CUSP) into the volumes of single-use plastic packaging waste generated across Laois has identified hotspots.
These are in terms of volumes, which, CUSP say, if given priority, would see significant reductions in the amounts generated in the county each year.
Households in Laois generate a combined 5,100 tonnes of single-use plastic packaging waste annually. That’s enough single-use plastic waste to fill 113 Olympic size swimming pools.
CUSP was established in 2018 to develop solutions to this burgeoning crises.
“Our research found consumers are put-off trying to reduce single-use plastic waste by the continuous reporting of the crises in the ‘millions of tonnes”, according to CUSP founder Simon Ruddy.
“This leaves people wondering ‘what’s the point trying to reduce… my small contribution is hardly going to make any difference.”
CUSP takes the big global numbers on single-use plastic waste, the ‘millions of tonnes’ we read about frequently and distils these numbers down into smaller bite-sized reduction targets community groups and households can more easily relate to; all delivered via CUSP’s user-friendly, free mobile app.
Portlaoise has the biggest mountain to climb at 1,425 tonnes annually, with Portarlington coming in a distant second at 505 tonnes.
The table below provided lists volumes for seven Laois towns, which cumulatively accounts for 49% of the counties annual single-use plastic waste pile.
Also listed are reduction targets aligned to the key UN sustainability goal for the elimination of all non-essential single-use plastic packaging by 2030, estimated at 70% of current global consumption.
According to CUSP, to achieve 70% reductions by 2030, Laois would need to reduce single-use plastic waste from its current 5,100 tonnes annually to 1,500 tonnes annually by 2030.
Irish households generate on average 171kgs of single-use plastic waste annually, which is the highest in the EU, compared to France at 153kgs and the sustainability conscious Swedish at 55kgs per household, for example.
Laois households would need to reduce from their current average of 171kgs annually, to 51kgs annually by 2030. That’s a reduction of 120kgs per household over the next decade.
To put this in perspective, 171kgs is equivalent in weight to 3,000 empty 2ltr single-use plastic drinks bottles for example. 51kgs is equivalent to 900.
CUSP is asking households in Laois to reduce by 12kgs annually.
They say: “Why 12kgs? Because 12kgs annually (just 1kg monthly) over 10 years gives you 120kgs!
“Using the free CUSP app participants simply Identify 1kg monthly reductions and repeat that 1kg reduction each month for 12 months (12kgs annually); then target a further 1kg monthly reduction for the next 12 months.
“Very soon, we will collectively knock Ireland off that embarrassing EU top-spot and dramatically enhance the many beautiful tourist trails and amenity areas across County Laois.
“The CUSP app comes with weights preloaded for 22 of the more common items of single-use plastic packaging found in Irish homes.
“Users simply tap-in their estimated number-of-units day 1, for each of the 22 items listed; then, after 30 days and following CUSP ‘hints and tips for reducing’, users tap-in their new reduced volumes to see their reductions. All calculations and conversions-to-kilograms happen automatically.”
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