Families around the world join war on plastic
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Faced with shops full of food and other goods swathed in plastic, families across the world are trying to reduce its use and recycle wherever possible to cut down its impact on the environment.
Reuters photographers met people from Athens to Singapore trying to play their part as the war on plastics becomes a hot political topic and governments work to outlaw single-use items such as drinking straws and cotton buds.
Eight million tonnes of plastic - bottles, packaging and other waste - are dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, the United Nations Environment Programme said in December.
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"They say ‘are you part of this green movement', ... They don’t understand it. Also not using plastic bags for vegetables is considered disgusting, they hate it .. but I still do it," said Tatiana Schnittke, 39, in Jaffa, Israel.
Roshani Shrestha, 57, and her husband, Indra Lal Shrestha, 62, pose for a portrait with their sons in Kathmandu. "I give back the plastic bags that I have to the vegetable vendors so that they can reuse them rather than using a new one," said Roshani.
"We would use alternatives to plastic since it helps the environment but it is not possible since most of the products come either in plastic wrap or some other forms of plastic," Roshani added. "We don’t use single-use plastics like cups, plates, spoon or forks."
"We recycle what we can, and try to minimise waste generally, including food which is composted," said Karen Downie from Scotland. "Even plastic that is recycled will ultimately have an impact.
Discarded plastic does not decompose and presents a serious and irreversible long-term threat to the health of our planet, and more immediately to animals which should enjoy pristine habitats," Downie added.
"We try to avoid certain purchases, mainly food, in plastic bags or plastic trays. We recycle as much as possible not only plastic but also paper or organic trash," said Laura Barrado (left) from Alpedrete, Spain.
"We try to the best of our ability to minimise our impact on the environment to leave a better world for future generations,” Barrado said.
"We separate plastics, glasses, paper, cardboard, waste oils and organic wastes," said Vicente Compas, 42, from Arriate, southern Spain.
"Our use of plastic decreases every day, we are more aware of the care of the planet, our home." said Compas.
"We started being more aware of the waste generated by our household when it was highlighted to us in our Buddhist teachings" said Audrey Gan, who poses with her family in Singapore. "We try to curb our desire to shop for new and unnecessary items. If we are really craving a drink of bubble tea, we bring our own containers to avoid the plastic cup and straw they come in," she added.
"I use a cloth diaper for Kyler once he reaches home, but we use at least one disposable a day because we haven't figured out how to avoid leaks with cloth diapers overnight." said Audrey.
"We try to lower our carbon footprint as much as possible. We are pretty much aware of the impact plastic has on our environment," said Alexander Raduenz, who poses with his partner Berit and children Zoe and Yuna in Berlin.
"If alternatives to plastic are available, we are using them instead." said Raduenz.
Gaspar Antuna (left), Elena Vilabrille and their son Teo pose for a portrait in Madrid. "We try to buy less but better - as much second hand as possible, reusing, and finally recycling. Mostly plastic and paper, but also fabrics, clothes and objects in general," said Elena.
"But we miss more institutional information about it. We have to make more effort when consuming but it won't be as effective if we don't know how to do it properly," added Elena.
Lauren Singer, 27, a former environmental studies major, poses at Package Free's headquarters in Brooklyn. Singer is the founder and owner of Package Free Shop, a business that sells products with a mission to create a positive environmental impact with little to zero plastic waste, and is also the founder and creator of the environmental educational blog Trash is for Tossers.
Over 5 years ago, Singer, wanting to align her lifestyle with her values of environmental sustainability, embarked on a path to reduce her personal waste and as a result, all of the non-recyclable or non-compostable waste she generated over that period fitted into a 16 ounce mason jar.
