Faced with shops full of food and other goods swathed in plastic, families across the world are trying to reduce its use and recycle wherever possible to lower its impact on the environment.
People from Yokohama to Athens are trying to play their part as the war on plastics becomes a hot political topic and governments work to outlaw single-use items such as drinking straws and cotton buds.
Eight million tons of plastic — bottles, packaging and other waste — are dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, the United Nations Environment Programme said in December.