Sustainability is going mainstream. The Collins dictionary has revealed “single-use” as its Word of the Year for 2018. The term “single-use” has been widely used and quoted on the internet this year.

An increasing number of brands are adopting eco-friendly lifestyle and shunning single-use items like various kinds of plastic for good replacing it with environmentally safe products. Starbucks, Ikea, Unilever, Coca-Cola are a handful of those.

The current single-use lifestyle has resulted in the accumulation of a huge amount of waste which is toxic and severely affects land and water bodies. Images of plastic adrift in the ocean, causing the suffering and death of marine animals, have led to a global campaign to reduce its use.

Throwaway plastic cutlery is an example of single-use plastic. The plastic used in making thin plastic is usually of lower quality and do not biodegrade. Hnce, it creates a havoc.

Since the award’s inception, these timely terms have been singled out for special recognition: geek (2013), photobomb (2014), binge-watch (2015), Brexit (2016) and fake news (2017).

Green issues feature elsewhere on this year’s long list, with “plogging” also emerging as a popular conversational term.

Helen Newstead, head of language content at Collins, described 2018 as “a year where awareness and often anger over a variety of issues has led to the rise of new words and the revitalization and adaptation of old ones.”

“The words in this year’s list perhaps highlight a world at extremes — at one end, serious social and political concerns, and at the other, more light-hearted activities.”