Eternal Wasteland: The Problem of Plastics, Part I

"The plastic polymers commonly used in consumer products, even as single molecules of plastic, are indigestible by any known organism."   

-CHARLES MOORE / Natural History v.112, n.9, Nov03

Dwell on that quote for a minute. Dwell on it because we, as a society, are hopelessly, recklessly addicted to plastics. According to Charles Moore, every year, about 250 billion pounds of plastic pellets are produced for use in the manufacture of plastic products. After taking a tour around my house, I was dismayed to discover that I could not even count the number of items in my house that are made, at least in part, of plastic, because there were just so many. Just siting here at my laptop, I can touch a dozen plastic items in close range: Laptop keyboard parts, plate for my toast, rims for a wagon wheel, spoon handle, air conditioner exterior, backing of rug, cordless phone, bin in which I keep my mail, power strip, shredder, vacuum cleaner, slippers, fake apples in centerpiece.... need I go on?

I think we've all been hearing it for years: plastics are not biodegradable. In fact, they only photodegrade, which means that the sun breaks them down into smaller and smaller bits, until they are only one molecule large... but then there is no voracious bacteria, no known organism, that can then act on that molecule. We have created, in essence, an ecological invasive "species" that no organism native to our planet can deal with. 

I can remember growing up in school in the 80s and learning about the problems with plastics. That was over 20 years ago, and our plastic consumption is only increasing. The use of disposable plastic water bottles has significantly increased the vast extent of our plastic waste.

I just came across an article that scared me. It was published a few years ago, and so does not even contain the most recent statistics, which have probably worsened significantly, and it is still terrifying. Charles Moore was on a research vessel in the North Pacific Gyre, between California and Japan, when they came across a vast wasteland of ocean covered as far as the eye can see in floating plastic debris. Because a gyre is an area that has little wind and current action, once garbage floats there, it tends to stick around. I had trouble comprehending the sheer enormity of the possibility of an area the size of Texas covered in plastic garbage. It made me stop and think: I HAVE to stop using so much plastic, and we HAVE to come up with a more ecologically sound alternative to PET plastic.

Please read Charles Moore article Trashed. I think you will find it eye-opening. Then try to come up with one way you can reduce your consumption of plastic. Here are some possibilities:

• Don't take a to-go lid or a straw when you buy a drink somewhere. If you are going to a Starbucks or similar coffee shop, they will most likely allow you to bring your own resusable coffee mug and fill that (when my husband does this at Starbuck, he even gets more coffee than he would for the same price in a to-go cup, they knock off 10 cents from the total cost, and they steam-wash your cup for you before they fill it!)
• If you or your child often take sandwiches to work or school, look into a reusable sandwich bag like the Wrap-n-Mat from Resusablebags.com.
• Buy glass (Pyrex work great!) containers for left-overs instead of plastic. I hear a lot of complaints that it's hard to take glass in a packed lunch, but as long as you buy a sturdy lunchbox/bag, and are mindful of the fact you have glass, it is totally possible, and you eliminate the possibility of toxins leaching into your food from microwaved plastics!
• Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles!
• Instead of plastic disposable water bottles, check out the awesome corn-resin PLA refillable water bottles with filters from TheGreaterGreen.com.  And while you're at it, check out my blog post on PLA plastics.
• When you can't avoid plastics,  be sure to recycle them. The most easily-recycled plastics are those with a 1 or a 2 inside the recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.