Blog Post: Plastic

Every piece of plastic ever made is still on the earth.

I’ve always thought whatever goes in the trashcan disappears. The men in the giant, dirty truck take care of the messy waste I create. It’s simply not my problem.

In my sophomore year of college, my composition professor screened the 2013 documentary Plastic Paradise to the entire class. For the first time, I was exposed to the reality of plastic waste on the earth.

In any given day, I could have a coffee drink in the morning, snacks from ziplock bags throughout the day, a couple of bottles of water, and top it all off with 5-10 grocery bags in the evening. All of it goes in the trashcan at the end of the day.

If trash isn’t my problem, why is an 87,000 ton of plastic waste floating in the ocean? Why are birds and marine life dying with stomachs stuffed full of plastic? Is convenience worth the damage plastic causes? Do I even realize the consequence every time I throw a piece of plastic away?

Maybe it is my problem.

How big is the plastic waste problem?

Plastic’s largest victim is the ocean. Plastic is not biodegradable, it’s photodegradable, meaning UV rays break apart plastic into smaller and smaller pieces over time. All plant-based, animal-based, and natural mineral-based materials biodegrade. Since plastic is manmade, enzymes and micro organisms do not recognize it as food, making plastic products indestructible. Plastic will never be naturally absorbed or changed. While we know plastic will eventually photo-degrade, no matter how small the pieces become, they will remain plastic forever. The tiny pieces of photo-degraded plastic (microplastics) float in the ocean and wash up on beaches.

Although plastic has been in widespread production for only 60-70 years, it has already caused a detrimental amount of damage:

Every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans.
All 1.5 million of the Laysan Albatrosses in Midway have plastic in their digestive systems; one third of Albatros chicks die from plastic consumption before they reach adulthood.
267 different animal species suffer from plastic entanglement and indigestion in the ocean.
100,000 marine mammals die of plastic annually.
79% of all plastic created (6.3 billion metric tons) is in landfills or the natural environment.
China is the top contributor to plastic waste; the US is among the top 20 contributors.

Learn more at Costal Care.

How did we get here?

Plastic was invented in 1907, but production was not widespread until WWII when it was used for parachutes and lightweight airplane parts. After the war ended, plastic producers began creating and marketing products to housewives. For women who were tired of doing dishes, plastic became a convenient savior. Instead of spending an hour washing a fork, spoon, knife, cup, and plate for every member of the family, plastic dishes and cutlery could be thrown away in seconds. The world fell in love with the versatility and low price tag of the plastic products.

Plastic is an extremely durable material used most frequently for single-use products (products that are used only once and then thrown away). According to National Geographic, 40 percent of plastic produced annually is single-use plastics.

Watch National Geographic’s video on the history of plastic here.

What about recycling?

If, we think we’re fixing the plastic problem by putting our plastic materials in a recycling bin, it isn’t quite that simple. Due to the costs and complications of recycling, most of the plastic we think we’re recycling actually ends up in landfills, which are piling up across the world. Recycling is important, but if it isn’t a regional government’s priority, putting plastic into a recycling bin isn’t helping with plastic waste.

So, what’s the solution?

The most necessary long-term solution is to invent a new biodegradable material; the most effective short-term solution is to simply clean up the plastic waste in both oceans and urban areas. For the individual wanting to reduce plastic, these can make a difference: