How plastic got political – and why it’s an opportunity for Labour

There’s no denying that plastic pollution is being talked about in ways no other environmental issue has for many years. Plastic is the hot topic that everyone – from the BBC and the Queen to Wetherspoons – is making announcements and taking action on. Unlike carbon budgets and energy efficiency, plastic pollution has surged out of the green bubble, making a splash on front pages and capturing high-level political attention at no less than than the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, summits of G7 leaders and the United Nations.

In some ways, campaigning to stop the flow of plastic into our environment defies so many of the lessons I learnt as a climate campaigner. With carbon reduction, the conventional wisdom went: go less heavy on the facts that imply doom and gloom, and avoid focusing on individualised solutions that both sound like you’re casting blame and can feel hopelessly inadequate compared to the scale of the problem.

With plastic, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard news presenters – and even people in pubs and cafes – recalling that ‘up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year’. And while the Daily Mail, and in turn David Cameron’s government, howled over EU standards for more energy-efficient vacuum cleaners and toasters, we now have the entire cabinet swapping throwaway coffee cups for reusable ones and the Mail celebrating a “cabinet alliance to press for new taxes and restrictions on throwaway plastic”. When energy saving regulations were slammed as interfering and invasive, it’s pretty incredible that affecting the nation’s morning cup of coffee is now regarded as fair play.

So why are plastic tonnes a goer while the gigatonne gap remains the preserve of energy policy wonks? On the simplest level: plastic is hugely relatable. The very nature of the problem is that single-use plastic has become central to our everyday lives. Visit any train station and you’re sure to see passengers carrying disposable coffee cups, signs urging us to carry water bottles in the hot weather and salads covered in plastic film, with throwaway plastic forks and spoons included (which may also be wrapped in yet more flimsy plastic packaging, designed to be discarded immediately).

If throwaway plastic is relatable, then so is the waste it leaves behind. Who hasn’t seen plastic food trays by the roadside, or plastic bottles bobbing along in rivers? While we might baulk when hearing about the 16 million water bottles that go unrecycled in the UK every day, if we break that down per person then, yes, that sounds about right. When we hear about a rubbish truck’s worth of plastic that enters our ocean every minute, it may be shocking but the now commonplace picture of coastlines and entangled sea creatures across the world make denying the problem pretty impossible. Plastic pollution is a very visible scourge, which leaves an immediate trace. This is a key advantage over the invisible carbon mounting in the atmosphere, with widespread, diverse and long-term impacts.

But it’s the way that plastic pollution has hit an emotional chord that is really striking. It’s not that we’ve suddenly become inundated with single-use plastic, or that we’ve only just noticed the waste strewn across beaches, roadsides and riverbanks. But it’s undeniable that David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series, portraying the painful, poisonous impact that plastic pollution is having on marine life across the world’s oceans, galvanised the public mood, catapulting plastic into the watercooler issue. (Ironically probably leading to the downfall of watercoolers and their little plastic cups.)

Given this emotional resonance, it’s interesting that caring about plastic pollution, even companies and individuals taking action to reduce respective plastic footprints, isn’t seen as threateningly ideological. It’s become one of the rare issues around today that isn’t embroiled in conflicts over whose ‘side’ you’re on. But here we come to the question of whether plastic is just the latest green fad, or something deeper: a gateway issue to much bigger social and political change.

Watching the flurry of tweets after Blue Planet II told the heartbreaking story of the harm plastic is causing to whales, it was incredible to see how many people were turning straight to big retailers, tagging the Tescos and Amazons to ditch the amount of plastic packaging on their products. The power of plastic to galvanise people into action, defending the natural world and demanding major shifts in corporate responsibility is something to watch very closely indeed. It is here that plastic becomes politically very interesting: opening up the potential for broader societal and political shifts.

Government ministers are already paying lip-service to this. Michael Gove has hooked his green crusade on plastic as the clearest illustration of his affirmation that environmental policy “must also be insulated from capture by producer interests who put their selfish agenda ahead of the common good”. Even the Prime Minister herself has spoken about the need to “end throwaway culture” – words you’d expect to hear more from a seasoned activist.

But we need a societal response that goes beyond pithy phrases. We’re already started to see big plastic producers deploying the same tactics from the fossil fuel industry’s playbook (themselves copied from tobacco companies) to shirk responsibility for the problem. Those efforts to cast doubt over the scale of the problem (“it’s just a litter problem”) and offering solutions that avoid tackling the problem at source (such as funding bins emblazoned with corporate logos, rather than reducing the production of single-use plastic) could gain the upper hand. If we want the current buzz around plastics to have a profound political legacy, Labour must seize the moment and play a role in what can become a powerful movement for change.

For while the Tories have tried to own this issue – from Gove matching his tie to his reusable coffee cup to the Treasury consulting on new taxes and charges – tackling plastic pollution properly and embracing the opportunities it opens up should be Labour’s natural territory. Labour’s efforts to open up access to coastal paths tapped into the nation’s nostalgia for seaside holidays and coastal walks – the same sentiment behind communities coming together to clean up beaches. Equally, provisions for introducing the hugely successful plastic bag charges across the UK comes from the Climate Change Act, one of the most important and vital pieces of legislation passed by the last Labour government. It shows that Labour can be ahead of the curve and tackle the big picture – not just ride the wave.

Passing the world’s first comprehensive climate law underpinned the UK’s efforts to motivate a global response to climate change. Just as carbon pollution doesn’t stop at any borders, plastic now flows on currents all around the world. That means we need an international response, underpinned by global solidarity that acknowledges our responsibility (with many of the major plastic producers headquartered in Europe and North America) and capacity to make a difference, rather than falling into the trap of simply blaming the South East Asian countries frequently name-checked for the highest leakage rates of plastic entering the ocean.

That global response starts at home. Labour-run cities and councils can set the bar high, just as they have with plans to shift to 100% clean energy. Sadiq Khan has announced plans to roll out a network of water found across London to cut pollution from single-use plastic bottles, while Bristol Council have built on the Refill campaign, started by Bristol campaigners City to Sea, making it easier for people to fill up on tap water across the city. Labour councillors are well-placed across the country to take action, showing what ‘resource efficiency’ looks like in practice.

This can also go bigger. There’s a significant opportunity for Labour to channel momentum to tackle plastics into support for new and innovative economic models, developing a ‘sharing economy’ that safeguards workers and consumers. These are vital tenets of a less resource-intensive economy, where everyone has a role and a responsibility.

As the sea of announcements tackling plastic continues, it’s injecting both hope and urgency to public concern for the natural world. I’ve recently heard mutterings that the focus on plastic pollution has distracted attention from all the other environmental challenges facing us, pulling focus from climate change. But this issue is now thriving off its own momentum, and offers an entry-point for broader change. Environmentalism at large is now being viewed as a vote-winning strategy by the Tories. Labour should see it as a strategy for change.