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Environment & Climate vocabulary · Waste and Recycling

Single-use plastic

Meaning in environment & climate, with examples

/ˌsɪŋɡəl ˈjuːs ˈplæstɪk/nounCore term

In environment & climate, single-use plastic means: Plastic items designed to be used once and then thrown away, such as bags, straws, cups, cutlery and much of today's packaging.

In Turkish: tek kullanımlık plastik

How it is used

A key target of waste policy. Governments ban, restrict or charge for single-use plastics; the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive bans items such as plastic cutlery and straws. Also used as an adjective: single-use plastic bags, single-use packaging. The alternatives are reusable or refillable products.

Example sentences

  1. The festival banned single-use plastic cups and introduced a deposit on reusable ones.

  2. Single-use plastic makes up most of the litter found on the beach.

Common collocations

  • ban single-use plastics
  • single-use plastic bags
  • reduce single-use plastic
  • reusable alternatives
  • microplasticsVery small pieces of plastic, less than 5 millimeters long, that come from larger items breaking down, synthetic clothing, tires or products such as cosmetics.
  • recyclingThe process of collecting used materials such as paper, glass, metal and plastic and turning them into raw materials or new products.
  • waste hierarchyAn order of priority for dealing with waste: first prevent it, then reuse, recycle and recover energy, and only as a last option dispose of it.
  • extended producer responsibility (EPR)A policy approach that makes producers responsible, financially and sometimes physically, for collecting and recycling their products and packaging after use.
  • biodegradableAble to be broken down naturally by bacteria, fungi and other living things into water, carbon dioxide and natural materials.

More terms: Waste and Recycling

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