Why are we so stupid?

 

Yesterday I sent a recent Guardian article to my friend David King, on a subject we've often discussed in the past, the problem of proliferation of plastic waste.

Hello David, just wondering if you've seen this article recently published in Guardian.

I had no idea the situation was as bad as it has been described here:

Despite national packaging targets set by governments in 2018 for 70% 

of plastic packaging to be recycled by 2025, only about 6% of used and 

discarded soft plastics were being baled, sorted, shredded, washed, melted – 

or chemically processed – and turned into new products, according to data 

published in December by Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia. 

The rest has headed to landfill.

What a stupid species we are.

pt

So the question is "Why are we so stupid?"

Going to waste: two years after REDcycle’s collapse, Australia’s soft plastics are hitting the environment hard

Almost 95% of Australia’s soft plastics are still headed for landfill and experts say the packaging industry must take responsibility for the mess.

The full piece was written by Petra Stock and was published 2.08.2025:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/going-to-waste-two-years-after-redcycles-collapse-australias-soft-plastics-are-hitting-the-environment-hard?CMP=share_btn_url

David responded:

I hadn't seen that article, Peter

But it doesn't surprise me. Apparently, much of the plastic we use in Australia is manufactured/packaged with other stuff and can't be easily sorted for recycling.

Overseas in Indonesia, we were diving in an ocean of plastic rubbish just off the village of Ped, Nusa Penida. We had never seen so much rubbish - most of it plastic - floating on the surface of the water except in a video somewhere about some other place in the Pacific where plastic and other junk seems to congregate and form into a whole island of the stuff. Every time we surfaced from a dive, we would have to push all this rubbish aside. Lolly wrappers, sandwich wraps and the like. 

And this was about half a mile offshore from Ped where Freedive Nusa conducts its line diving for depth practice and classes with instructors. The water is about 50m deep and once you leave the surface, it's clean and clear. But on the surface, it's disgusting. We were so stunned, we couldn't say anything about it. In fact, I haven't said anything about it until just now. 

Interestingly - and perhaps ironically - closer inshore there are coral regeneration projects on the seabed in 3m to 12m depth and the surface of the water here is pristine and uncluttered. Go figure. 

David. 

You see how bewildering this subject is, how complex and how intractable it is, locally and globally.

It took me back to the 5 "large islands of waste" we've known about floating in the Pacific and other oceans and then I decided to check out about smaller conglomerations such as the one David mentioned.

His example did not score a mention in my searches, but I came across these two items:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch#Other_removal_efforts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_RGn2NKhQg&ab_channel=TopFives

I'm one of those silly people who try to minimise whatever I buy which is packed in soft or hard plastics, or packed in some of each. Many supermarket items have a hard plastic container with a soft cover, as well as their paper labelling.

Like any responsible consumer I try to recycle these in the appropriate rubbish bins for collection and disposal (hopefully).

I also wonder why we could not have more cardboard packaging without any hard or soft plastic inside that packet? 

In the case of crumbed fish, there are many brands which present fish pieces in such a carboard package with no plastic liner.

But all my efforts and all my concerns are futile. Compared with the immensity of the problem which is seen everywhere, on land, in rivers, in the ocean bays and in the wide expanse of the Pacific, our efforts count for nothing. 

Why? Because we are so stupid! 

WE THINK GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATIONS ARE LISTENING. 

 WE HOPE THEY WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT'

SOLUTIONS THEY PUT IN PLACE SEEM TO BE A WASTE OF TIME.

 

THE MOUNTAINS OF WASTE ARE NOT DIMINISHING 

THEY ARE GROWING EVER FASTER.

And we are so damned stupid we keep doing little token things, making our tiny futile efforts which may give us some personal satisfaction, but which do not make the slightest dint in the immensity of this global problem.

Sadly,

pt

Postscript:

I received this from Avaaz shortly after I posted the blog this morning.

It’s everywhere: in the rain, our oceans, our food, our blood, even in human placentas! Plastic is poisoning our planet – but there’s real hope. More than 100 countries are meeting now to approve a global treaty to ban plastic pollution. More than a million people like you backed this campaign -- now let’s take the next step. Ministers need to hear from us to stand up to blockers like Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Message your Minister today and tell them we demand an end to plastic pollution! MESSAGE YOUR MINISTER

Dear friends, We've been fighting the plastic crisis for years now! We’ve seen it choking life in the deepest oceans and on the highest mountains. Shocking studies are finding plastic pollution everywhere: in the rain, our blood, our food, our drinking water, even in human placenta! It’s killing us and life on Earth. But now we have a final, urgent chance to stop it. In days, a new ambitious global treaty to end plastic pollution could come to life. If countries agree to it, we have a real chance to cut production and use, and clean up our planet! But big polluters are continuously trying to block or water down the proposal — recently, the US publicly opposed limits on plastic production. They're working hard to block or weaken the treaty. But we can be louder! More than 1 million of us have signed – people like you. Now, one last push to get the treaty over the finish line. It's up to all of us to show each one of our governments that the whole world supports the strongest possible treaty to end the plastic crisis! We know from experience that direct, personal messages really work. Negotiators are MEETING NOW – click to use a tool created by our partners and contact the decision-makers: Message Your Minister: Demand a Global Treaty on Plastics (This link opens a simple tool from our partners at Break Free From Plastic – no data is captured, it only takes 2 minutes, and it’s super effective.) Plastic is toxic from the moment production begins. It’s made from the same dirty fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis. And it doesn’t decompose! A plastic bottle breaks down into tiny, invisible pieces that can travel around the world through water and air, contaminating our seas, our rivers, and even our bodies! Even rain is polluted with plastic. Scientists in the US found that rain is flooding protected national parks with 1,000 tons of microplastics every year -- that's the equivalent of pouring over more than 120 million plastic bottles! This is a planetary emergency, and we need an urgent, coordinated international response -- to an ambitious, binding global treaty that could bring an end to the throwaway plastic culture and transition the world towards a future that protects people, wildlife, and our climate. But big oil and chemical firms, as well as oil and gas producing nations lead by Saudi Arabia, are trying to weaken the plan. So we need to mobilise fast, and let the Ministers who make the decisions know that people everywhere demand the most robust treaty to end the plastic plague:

Message Your Minister: Demand a Global Treaty on Plastics This is the fight of our time. We must show leaders that the world demands the strongest treaty possible. We’ve done it before. Our movement spearheaded the mobilisations that led to the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, and more recently, we mobilised from around the world to stop rich countries from dumping their plastic waste onto low-income nations. We know that such battles can be long, and treaties don’t always deliver the results we need, fast enough. But this is the best chance we have ever had to kick-start a coordinated, international response – so, we all have to speak out now, and keep pushing until we win a world safe from plastic. With hope and determination, Nate, Laura and the whole Avaaz team In collaboration with the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement.