We are drowning the world in plastic. It washes onto our beaches, it sits entombed for centuries in landfills, it floats around the ocean in a cloud of microscopic particles twice the size of Texas. Most of it — 88% in Australia — never gets recycled.

Recycling it still takes 10% of the energy of making new plastic — not nothing. It would be nice to use a little less in the first place.

Turns out Australians aren't quite ready to live a life without plastic bags just yet. In the wake of Woolworths removing single-use plastic bags entirely from its stores last week, the company has backflipped on that decision.

Woolies stores will be giving out 'reusable' plastic bags for free between now and Sunday July 8, as a means of easing the transition and getting customers into the habit of bringing their own bags.

In a continuing campaign against single-use plastic, Woolworths has announced it will discontinue sales of plastic straws from the end of the year. It's a great step forward for environmentalism, but what does it mean for people who rely on straws for medical reasons, or just prefer it with their weekend cocktails? Here are some alternatives.

There is about a tonne of plastic for each person living in the world today -- that's 8300 million tonnes of plastic produced since 1950, most of which has become waste and ended up in landfills. Even worse, plastic production is increasing and half of all the plastic on Earth was created in the past 13 years. But you can reduce your own impact by cutting back your plastic consumption. Here are eight steps you could take.