News

Plastic soup on our plate

Published on
October 1, 2011

Jan van Franeker was asked by the journal Milieu (Society of Environmental Professionals -GVVM) to write an opinion paper his personal views on the problems of plastic waste.

Milieu2011frontpage209x300.jpg
In their reports and scientific publications, researchers have to restrict themselves to sober facts and analyses. And rightly so, because facts and opinions should be clearly separated. Only occasionally a researcher can give an outspoken personal opinion on his view on the societal implications of the research.

Biologist Jan van Franeker was asked by the journal MILIEU (Society of Environmental Professionals -GVVM) to write an opinion paper his personal views on the problems of plastic waste. The paper is in Dutch only, but puts strong emphasis on deposit and return fees for most packaging uses of plastic to increase re-use and proper recycling. He advocates high tax-levies on packaging plastics that cannot fit in such a return system. In his view, so-called degradable or compostable plastics are mostly not degradable at all and are certainly not a solution to reduce littering as they continue the unsustainable habit of single use packaging, provide an excuse for littering, and frustrate recycling of plastics.

This article is one of a series in the journal 'MILIEU' on the same topic. The other papers are: