Unenthusiastic about Plastic

• Main Author: Rees, Olivia
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: New Zealand; Scott Base; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/15838

Plastics are a growing environmental problem that many nations are only just beginning to wake up to. While it is clear plastics can last for a very long time in the environment, causing harm to wildlife, it is unclear how to best reduce the amount we use. In Antarctica, ‘the last wilderness on Earth’, we’d like to think that plastics have not reached there, however human activity in Antarctica brings plastic along with it. This report investigated how plastics were used in relation to food at Scott Base and in a field camp, with the aim of finding some solutions to the plastic problem. Management and planning of how food was used was the best way of reducing plastic waste in the field, while at Scott Base a better understanding of what is recyclable was needed. Ultimately, the solution comes all the way back to New Zealand where better recycling and packaging systems need to be put in place to reduce plastics in the first place. Innovative food packaging is the ultimate solution to reducing plastic on food in Antarctica.