With an estimated 8 million tonnes of land-based plastics ending up in the world's oceans each year, the prediction of a catastrophic environmental impact could well become reality.

Unless, of course, we take drastic steps to reduce our fixation - some would say addiction - with single-use plastics in our homes, workplaces and the broader community.

While individual efforts in our homes to use less plastic will add up considerably over time, cutting back on the use of single-use plastics in the workplace has the potential to have a far-reaching and positive impact on our environment.

Plastic doesn't go away - items just break into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics, which eventually make their way into our food, drinking water and even the air we breathe.

A study by the University of Newcastle found we are inhaling about 2000 tiny pieces of plastic each week - an amount equivalent to the weight of a credit card.

Plastic rubbish, particularly of a single-use variety, is everywhere we work and forms a significant part of the throwaway culture that pervades many of our workplaces.

Watch one colleague drink from a single-use plastic water bottle, another sip a skinny latte from a disposable plastic cup complete with plastic lid and plastic drink stirrer, and two team members walk in each with a plastic tray holding not just their plastic lunch box but also a plastic soft drink bottle and plastic straw protruding from the top. It all adds up.

Visit the office kitchen and you will find cling wrap, bin liners, plastic bowls and single-use cups. Even the dishwashing detergent bottle standing by the sink will more than likely be a single-use plastic throwaway variety.

In addition, our workplaces are the largest culprits of wish-cycling - throwing things into recycling bins that you wish could be recycled, even if you have no idea whether they can be or not.

While many workers think wish-cycling contributes to a better environment, it actually makes the entire recycling process more costly and ineffective.

Our overuse of plastics is not because of a lack or availability of more environmentally friendly options.

New alternatives appear on the market every day. Think bamboo straws, steel water bottles and wooden stirrers.

An increasing number of workplaces are attuned to environmental concerns associated with single-use plastics and taking steps towards using only 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable plastics.

But there is a long way to go before we can arrest the devastating dump of plastics into our oceans. Leaders at all levels of every organisation must drive the sea change to end the era of throwaway plastic.

Single-use plastics have long been a concern amid widespread recognition of their negative impact on the environment.

But for years single-use plastic was just one of many environmental issues discussed around the office watercooler or in the queues at the local barista - accepted for being "bad" though not regarded as a priority issue.

Fast forward to 2020 and the tide of opinion has turned.

There is widespread and growing rage against the use of single-use plastics amid public momentum that is building fast in support of action on climate change.

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There is growing awareness of the massive carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of plastics and, of course, the country is still fighting, and reeling, from the devastating bushfires that have swept through large swathes of the east coast of Australia. Consider also that other countries are refusing to accept our wasteful ways by rejecting Australia's plastic waste.

It is easy to be dismissive of effecting change. Only a few years ago there was rage about single-use plastic shopping bags being removed from retail outlets.

Today, in what might be described as rage-reversal, the fury has turned against single-use plastic products.

In the short term, bosses who fail to act on reducing the wastage associated with single-use plastic will not just risk alienating customers but also falling out with employees and struggling to attract new talent.

Our bosses have endless tools to help end the workplace age of throwaway plastic.

They can kickstart the process by conducting an inventory of single-use plastic items alongside raising awareness at work of single-use plastics and the damage they cause to the environment. Follow up by encouraging workers to talk about office wastage, provide staff with unlimited filtered tap water, make re-usable items available in office kitchens and canteens, and favour procurement from suppliers who use less plastic wrapping and packaging.

Some bosses will even encourage workers to participate in plastic detoxes, which require them to completely abstain from single-use plastic items for a period of time. Other leaders will provide time off for staff to participate in clean-up activities in the broader community, which can help prevent single-use plastic items from making their way into our waterways.

Collective workplace efforts will help to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the production of single-use plastic items and prevent many of them from making their way into landfills and oceans.

Those efforts will in turn create a ripple effect of positive change among peers and competitors, within industry and in the broader community, and help to end the age of throwaway plastic - which needs to take place today, not tomorrow.