At most places Melissa Valliant goes when dining out, she carries in her backpack a set of reusable flatware — prepared to refuse the disposable utensils she says are part of the plastic pollution crisis that's inextricably linked with the climate crisis.
Some reports estimate that potentially between 36 billion and 40 billion plastic utensils are used every year just in the United States, which is more than 100 million per day, Valliant said.
You might think recycling plastic flatware may offset the harms of using it. But as of 2018, only 9% of all the plastic the world has ever produced — around 9 billion metric tons or nearly 10 billion US tons — had been recycled, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme. What isn't recycled or thrown away is burned or littered, experts said. Burning plastic utensils releases carbon dioxide into the environment, Dr. Jillian Goldfarb said, and an incinerator that isn't at peak performance can release particulate matter and carbon monoxide.
To limit your use of plastic flatware, you could switch to compostable, bamboo or metal options, all of which generally require or produce significantly less energy, water, waste or emissions, Goldfarb said. Producing a pound of bamboo forks, for example, expends 0.46 kilowatts per hour, whereas making a pound of plastic forks expends 11 kilowatts per hour, according to Goldfarb. (Manufacturing metal utensils, however, does require more water than plastic utensils.)
But you don't have to buy a reusable set from a trendy environmental store — you can just use what you already have, Valliant
said.
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The construction sector is entering a decisive stage in its push toward sustainable building design, shaped by new policy advocacy, improved regulation, and demonstrable industry commitments. The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) has formally supported the Architects Climate Action Network’s Circular Economy Policy Campaign, a move signalling broader acceptance of circular economy principles as central to environmental sustainability in construction. The focus on reuse, adaptability, and end‑of‑life reuse in construction reflects a maturing understanding that the carbon footprint of construction extends across a building’s entire lifespan. Introducing whole life carbon assessment as part of standard design processes is becoming a practical necessity for both cost management and long‑term resilience.
Equans UK & Ireland’s status as a Building a Safer Future (BSF) Champion highlights how sustainable design and accountability increasingly overlap with safety and social responsibility. The company’s recognition shows that decarbonising the built environment demands organisation‑wide transparency backed by measurable sustainability targets. Integrating lifecycle assessment across the supply chain ensures that embodied carbon in materials and operations is quantified and reduced. This shift towards low carbon design complements broader frameworks such as BREEAM and the forthcoming BREEAM v7 updates, both reinforcing the importance of life cycle thinking in construction.
Regulators are beginning to respond to industry calls for a streamlined approach that maintains ecological rigour while reducing unnecessary bureaucracy. The proposed reforms to environmental permits illustrate that practical compliance can coexist with high environmental performance when founded on evidence‑based life cycle cost analysis. Clear guidance on sustainable material specification and environmental product declarations (EPDs) can support consistent measurement of carbon footprint reduction across projects. This regulatory evolution encourages wider adoption of resource efficiency in construction, particularly as governments commit to net zero carbon and carbon neutral construction targets.
Recent research into circular economy in construction, inspired by modular telecoms infrastructure, demonstrates tangible potential for embodied carbon reduction. Applying circular construction strategies to wider sectors could significantly improve building lifecycle performance and deliver major financial and environmental savings. Modular, renewable building materials and low embodied carbon materials extend the service life of assets and underpin the shift to low‑impact construction models. As net zero whole life carbon frameworks become embedded, reuse and refurbishment will play equal roles alongside green building products and renewable design innovation.
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to fall, driven in part by energy‑efficient buildings, low carbon construction materials, and a stronger focus on whole life carbon metrics. Challenges remain in housing retrofits, supply chain emissions, and verifiable reporting, but sustainable building practices are advancing rapidly. The convergence of eco‑design for buildings, sustainable architecture, and green infrastructure shows that sustainability is no longer a niche aspiration but a defining measure of quality. Genuine progress depends on integrating evaluation tools, transparent data, and consistent application of sustainable construction principles so that every low carbon building actively contributes to the net zero carbon future the sector now strives to achieve.
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