Impact Productions

The Fight Against Plastic

It's been calculated that on average we eat a credit card's worth of plastic every week. Fortunately, an ordinary man is aiming to make our diets plastic-free. Thomas Goorden is an activist who is taking on INEOS, one of the biggest petrochemical producers in the world. Thomas is gathering data to prove how bad is the impact the current INEOS factory has on the environment and what would be the consequences of the expansion this plastic giant is planning at the Port of Antwerp. But he isn't doing it alone. A bunch of other activists are helping him on the ground. While lawyer Tatiana is also battling it out in the courts. Campaigners are fighting to ensure that this 20th-century thinking doesn't become a 21st-century reality. To date, they have achieved an injunction against the destruction of a forest on the site of the proposed new plant. INEOS has just announced that they will be scaling back their plans. We hear why plastic manufacturing is so bad for the environment, and follow the raw materials - the plastic pellets - from the plant to the shores of the riverbank, where the local wildlife mistake them for food. This is the way these chemical toxins enter our food chain. As fossil fuels fall out of flavour, petrochemical mega corporations, reliant upon their extraction and refinement, are pivoting towards the manufacture of plastics as their “plan B”, this is the perfect example of why activists and organizations need to remain vigilant.

05:59 | 2021

Go back to show page