The shocking extent of Britain's plastic crisis: 1.7 BILLION pieces of rubbish ... trends now
A shocking report has laid bare Britain's plastic crisis, with households throwing away a whopping 1.7 billion pieces of rubbish every week.
The Big Plastic Count, a study organised by Greenpeace, asked 225,000 participants to count how much rubbish they threw out in seven days.
The study found that UK households throw out 60 pieces of plastic packaging every week, which equates to 90 billion pieces of waste thrown out each year across the country.
Sadly, only 17 per cent of that rubbish ends up being recycled domestically, with 58 per cent of the UK's waste being incinerated.
Laura Burnley, project lead for the Big Plastic Count at Greenpeace, said: 'If I started counting every bit of plastic packaging the UK throws away in a year, it would take me until 2077 to count every piece.'
A shocking report has found that UK households throw out 1.7 billion pieces of plastic waste each year, much of which is burned or exported abroad (pictured)
Since 2022, when Greenpeace conducted the first plastic count, there has been a growing public push to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated.
A recent Greenpeace study found that 74 per cent of Britons polled supported reducing the UK's plastic use.
However, the amount of plastic generated this year is almost the same as in 2022 - suggesting that very little real progress has been made.
Ms Burnley said: 'Our national survey shows tidal waves of plastic packaging leaving homes every week.
'The problem is huge, and the challenge of fixing it can feel overwhelming.'
Snack packaging was the most
