By Staff
We all have our pet worries about the environment. Global warming is in vogue. Loss of rain forests and destruction of the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels are good for some hand wringing, too. There's one issue of more immediate and perhaps greater significance that we hear much less about – plastic pollution. Since the 1950s plastic has been an integral part of our lives and today we are even more dependant on it than the oil from which it is made. The problem is disposing of it. Plastic does not biodegrade like other materials. Wood and paper rots away. Metal eventually corrodes into nothingness. Plastic just stays plastic for hundreds or even thousands of years. Plastic does eventually break down from ultraviolet light, heat, cold and friction of soil and water movement but only into smaller particles of plastic and, worse yet, the chemicals of its composition. Nearly all plastics are a cocktail of toxic chemicals. If we bury plastic we introduce these toxins into the soil and ground water. If we burn it the poisons are released into the air.
Many plastic items such as computer housings, upholstery, carpet, car parts and thousands of other such items are necessities of modern life. However, if we had the will (which we rarely do) we could deal with these type of items by recycling. The overwhelming problem lies with our sinful addiction to disposable plastic. By far the worst offender of plastic pollution is bags and wrapping – garbage bags, food storage bags, plastic wrap and, the worst of all, shopping bags. Have you ever noticed how many plastic bags you bring home from the grocery store? Worldwide over a million of these bags are used every minute; over a billion every day. Manufacturers turn out around five trillion plastic garbage, storage and shopping bags every year. Just in the U.S. some eight billion pounds of plastic bags a year are stuffed into landfills where they will languish for 300 years or more before they finally break down into smaller plastic particles. A near equal offender is plastic bottles. Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Some of these such as milk jugs can take several thousand years to break down, still leaving residue, of course.
Plastic trash is even more devastating to the world's oceans. Every year boats and oil rigs dump nearly 100 million pounds of plastic, much in the form of bags, into the oceans. It's estimated that in every square mile of ocean there are 46,000 pieces of plastic. Sea turtles, most of which are endangered, mistake the bags for jelly fish and eat them. The plastic often clogs their innards and they die. Seals, whales, birds and other species also ingest or become entangled in plastic items and experience troubles. A constant tide of plastic junk continually washes up onto the world's beaches, including Antarctica, where it remains for hundreds of years unless cleaned up at great cost. Beaches around the globe are polluted with microscopic particles of plastic and plastic toxins, in some areas in great concentrations.
There is some movement to address the plastic pollution problem. Some countries such as Ireland, South Africa and Australia are seeking to tax or even ban plastic bags and similar items. Personally, I don't think that's the answer. Much more sensible is the promotion of biodegradable plastic. Some of the more practical biodegradable plastics are made of starch from corn or potatoes. It looks, feels and acts like plastic but is readily decomposed by bacteria. It is available now but costs about twice as much as traditional plastic, something society for the most part is not willing to accept.
As individuals we could hugely reduce this flood of plastic waste. Take all your plastic bottles to a recycling center instead of throwing them in the trash. Simply carry small purchased items instead of letting the clerk stuff it in a bag. Request paper bags instead of plastic at the grocery store. Take your own basket or cloth carrying bag with you to the mall. So what if that makes store security nervous? That's their problem. If everyone did these few simple, painless things it would cut plastic pollution by at least half. Carpe diem.