The global community has been polluting the planet with plastic waste for decades now and despite growing awareness of the associated problems, as a community we have been slow to act.

At Pakway we feel that the tide may well be turning. 2017 was a pivotal year for both raising awareness of the need for plastic recycling and the desire amongst consumers and politicians to act.

In 2017 the BBC’s Blue Planet II series, which highlighted the effect of plastic waste on the world’s oceans was the most watched TV show of the year in the UK. A staggering 14.1 million viewers watched episode one, more than three times more viewers than the X factor. Viewers were widely reported as feeling heart broken by the extent of the problem and took to twitter to continue the conversation.

Earlier in the year Prince Charles added his weight to the cause when he declared that plastic is now ‘on the menu’ in the fish that we eat.

With growing awareness of this global issue, it was no surprise to us when the UK government stepped up the battle when they unveiled their Environmental strategy with the aim of stopping needless plastic waste earlier this week.

If this level of momentum is maintained, we believe that consumers will increasingly vote with their wallets on environmental issues and will seek out products that have been packaged responsibly. In response, manufacturers and retailers will be forced to look again at the materials they use for packaging and when it comes to plastic will opt increasingly for rPet over first generation plastics.