### Impact

Small impact

### Cost

Free

### Time

Long-term

We all know that plastic is an environmental hazard. It takes centuries to decompose, and in the meantime, it’s clogging up our landfills and polluting our oceans.

Across our planet, each of us generates around [a pound (0.45kg) of plastic waste](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita) per week. In some places like Germany, it’s more like a pound per day. Little of that plastic is recycled ([just 9% by latest estimates](https://www.dw.com/en/why-most-plastic-cant-be-recycled/a-64978847#:~:text=With%20only%209%25%20of%20annual,crisis%20doesn't%20add%20up.&text=Around%2085%25%20of%20plastic%20packaging%20worldwide%20ends%20up%20in%20landfills%20.)) and the rest ends up directly in landfills or our water streams.

Most of us are unaware of just how much plastic we use on a daily basis. From the coffee cup we grab on our way to work to the plastic wrap we use to store our leftovers, it all adds up. But what if we could reduce our plastic waste by making a few simple changes in our everyday lives?

Here are a few of the easiest ways you can reduce your plastic waste:

### 1. Use reusable bags or paper bags

- ✓ Mark as complete  
  - **Cost:** Affordable  
  - **Impact:** Tiny impact  
  - **Time:** Quick  
  - **Completed:** 3,422

### 2. Use a reusable water bottle

- ✓ Mark as complete  
  - **Cost:** Free  
  - **Impact:** Tiny impact  
  - **Time:** Immediate  
  - **Completed:** 2,731

### 3. Create a zero-waste kit to carry with you

- ✓ Mark as complete  
  - **Cost:** Free  
  - **Impact:** Tiny impact  
  - **Time:** Immediate  
  - **Completed:** 220

### A note on global plastic waste management

The issue of plastic waste as it relates to ocean pollution and impacts marine life cannot be entirely solved by plastic bans.

Shockingly, even if all of Europe and North America cut out plastic use completely today, globally mismanaged plastic (the kind that ends up in oceans and affecting marine life) [would decline by less than five percent](https://ourworldindata.org/faq-on-plastics#what-can-i-do-if-i-want-to-stop-plastic-pollution-of-the-oceans).

In high income countries, most plastic—even if it doesn't get recycled—ends up in a closed, well managed landfill. Unfortunately, these high income countries will also export recyclables to low- or middle- income countries where inadequate infrastructure leads to mismanaged waste; think dumping outside of landfills or open landfills where plastics can be carried to the ocean via wind.

What is needed long term is global collaboration to reduce plastic waste export & waste mismanagement. If you’re interested in following, keep up with developments around the legally binding [Global Plastics Treaty](https://wwf.panda.org/act/plastic_pollution_treaty/), which is currently being negotiated.

So remember to keep up the momentum. Reducing your own waste, having conversations with friends and family about your learnings, asking brands to take responsibility for their waste along their supply chains, and reminding your local government to take ownership of reducing and managing waste all contribute to keeping the pressure up on the plastics conversation.

And plastics is just one part—food waste, textiles, electronics—all of these are big parts of the zero waste conversation.