Nowadays, many nations are witnessing an increase of household waste, such as food packaging. I believe that this trend is caused by lack of awareness and businesses usage of non-recycle materials, while key solutions to this issue are raising public awareness and encouraging them to adopt reusable materials.
On the one hand, this problem is mainly due to the lack of public education on reusable materials, and the fact that this kind of material requires less financial investment. While currently many schools are now teaching students about the impact of non-reusable materials, school curricula in the past did not put much emphasis on this kind of knowledge. As a result, many breadwinners in the family tend to use single-use packaging without knowing that this action might contribute to an increase in household waste. Moreover, many food factories prefer non-reusable food packaging more in order to earn the most profits, as reusable food containers normally cost more to produce and maintain than plastic ones. For instance, a plastic cup in coffee shops normally costs only 2 thousand VND to produce, while a same-sized glass requires a ten times as much investment. Thus, household waste now surges dramatically in many countries.
On the other hand, this phenomenon can be solved by actions made by governments. To tackle the aspect of public awareness, encouraging people to use reusable materials such as glass, paper, or reusable plastic might be effective. For example, governments can hold projects regularly in residential areas, where people are educated about how the soaring number of household waste negatively influences the environment. Additionally, reducing taxes and enforcing regulations on food organizations using recyclable containers can be efficient in reducing household waste. As their main orientation when using non-reusable is to maximized profits, reducing fees that businesses need to pay while producing food can address this factor. Also, banning single-use containers would be effective as well, as they have no choice but to follow the law and adopt reusable methods.
In conclusion, the ongoing growth in household waste is caused by the users’ awareness and businesses’ preferrences while producing. Nonetheless, governments can raise public awareness and encourage organizations to use reusable materials while producing.