And what we can do about it!

Picture this:

You grab a coffee between lectures, finish it in ten minutes, and toss the cup in the nearest bin. Done, right? But here's the thing, that cup was designed to exist for decades, yet we use it for minutes. And you're not alone. In 2019, the UK churned through over 3 billion fibre-composite cups, 1 billion plastic cups, and nearly 3 billion lids. That's roughly 100 cups for every person in the country. For one drink.

Welcome to the single-use economy, where convenience comes with a hidden price tag.

The reality check: We're not as green as we think

Despite some of the market moving towards "compostable" cups, the overall picture isn't much better. Less than 3% of single-use cups ever get recycled. Even if we diligently sort through all our recycling, there currently isn't sufficient infrastructure in the UK to industrially compost your single-use packaging. 97% of this ends up either being incinerated or in landfill. Your empty Starbucks cup isn't getting the second life you hoped for.

Meanwhile, plastic pollution still washes up on British beaches, and our streets are drowning in disposable waste. Local councils spend millions emptying overflowing bins stuffed with items built to be thrown away after seconds of use.

Why we got stuck here

For decades, packaging was optimised for one thing: getting products from factory to shelf to your hands as cheaply as possible. Virgin plastic was dirt cheap, recycling infrastructure was patchy, and nobody had to think about what happened after you binned that cup. The true costs? Carbon emissions, pollution, negative impacts to biodiversity and habitat which were all invisible.

Now those costs are catching up with us.

But here's the good news: change is possible

Remember when everyone carried plastic bags from the supermarket? In 2014, we each used about 140 bags a year. Then came the 5p charge (now 10p), and usage plummeted by over 95% - to just 4 bags per person. One simple policy change, massive impact.

We've seen similar wins elsewhere:

· UK Plastics Pact members have eliminated 33 billion problematic plastic items since 2018 and reduced packaging-related greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 14%.

· Podback—a free nationwide coffee pod recycling scheme launched in 2021, has now been implemented across many councils in the UK, offering kerbside collection alongside thousands of drop-off points.

· Reusable cup schemes are popping up on campuses and in cities across the UK, including the Borrow Cup scheme in Glasgow city.

The system can change. The question is: will we push it far enough?

What actually needs to happen

Radical shifts to the packaging market need to happen, and they can be driven from the ground up as much as from the top down. Yes, legislation is nudging us towards a more circular economy, but the pace simply isn't enough.

We need to imagine new realities: campus-wide reusable systems, packaging-free grocery options, businesses competing on sustainability rather than just price. These aren't pipe dreams, they're market disruptors creating regenerative solutions and green jobs.

The bottom line is: single-use is normal today, but normal changes! We've done it with plastic bags. We're doing it with problematic plastics. And we need to do it to single-use packaging.  Are you on board?

Want to dive deeper and be part of the solution?

Want to dive deeper and be part of the solution? Join the conversation with James Piper, co-host of award-winning Talking Rubbish podcast, UWE Bristol's own Dr Sarah Hills & Dr Ben Williams, and Toby Blewitt from SU The Green Team.

Discover what's working, what's not, and how students can lead the shift away from throwaway culture. Hear from experts, connect with changemakers, and learn practical steps you can take on campus and beyond.

Life after single-use—let's talk about packaging

Friday 7th November 2025, 10:00am to 11:30am Frenchay Campus

Register for the event here

Because the best time to change the system was yesterday. The second best time is now.