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Watch: Sustainability and plastics

Learn about sustainability and plastics with Sue Venir.

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What does sustainability mean?

  • If something is sustainable, it can be carried on for a long period of time.

  • Being sustainable means doing little or no harm to the environment.

  • Throwing plastic bags away is not sustainable because the planet will eventually run out of landfill space.

Sue surrounded by heaps of plastic bottles.
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What is single-use plastic?

A cartoon of showing a hand pouring a bottle into a cup and a food carton with a plastic fork in it.
  • Some plastic objects are only used once then thrown away. These are called single-use plastics.
  • This includes things such as plastic bags, bottles, straws and crisp packets.
A cartoon of showing a hand pouring a bottle into a cup and a food carton with a plastic fork in it.
A cartoon of a plastic bag next to some fish bones on the ground. It is year 2225.
  • These objects cannot be recycled and can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

  • It is not sustainable to keep on using them - and if we do, we could permanently harm the environment.

  • Plastic harms animals and wildlife in rivers, lakes and oceans.
  • To help the planet, people can:
    • recycle
    • reduce packaging
    • reuse things such as bottles.
A cartoon turtle in the sea with a plastic ring caught around its body.
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Where does all the plastic go?

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 3, Landfill site: waste disposal is a big problem around the world. , Landfill site Waste disposal is a big problem around the world.
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What is recycling?

A cartoon person is standing with a banana outside a Grocer's with a rubbish bin and recycling bin.
  • When something is recycled it is reused or turned into something else.

  • Materials such as glass, metal and paper are quite easy to recycle and certain types of plastic are too.

  • Objects that aren’t recycled are taken to landfill sites.

  • These are places where rubbish gets buried and left to rot away and biodegrade.

A cartoon waste disposal truck dumps lots of rubbish in a big hole.
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Activity: Quiz – Sustainability and plastics

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