„Plastic was invented to save the environment“, stated headlines of some articles recently. It is hard to believe, that a material that does not decompose, but accumulate and leads to near-permanent contamination of natural environment gets such credit. So what gives?
We have to go back to the 19th century, when first plastics were invented. Back then, some of the billiard balls were made of elephant´s tusks and popularity of billiard along with the prices of ivory climbed. The industry acknowledged limited ivory supply and when celluoid, the first plastics used for large-scale production was developed, it replaced ivory pool balls. And it was praised for saving elephants from slaughter. How has the narrative changed? Not much.
New materials created by manipulating the structure of naturally occuring chemicals were deemed revolutionary in the midst of industrialization and over the course of time plastics gradually replaced materials in market after market. Over the last decades, the enthusiasm for plastics and our perception of their unlimited potential shifted to the Great Pacific garbage patch and polluted beaches.
Persistence of plastic litter began to trouble observers in 1960´s already, when awarness about environmental issues began to spread and plastic debris in the oceans was first observed. Up to now, plastics have reached summits of the highest mountains and the seabed of the deepest trenches. Plastic litter that escapes into marine ecosystems is especially arduous, because it can travel immense distances and can be taken by currents to completely different parts of the world.
Tens of thousands of people volunteer every year to pick up trash from beaches and elsewhere. The largest effort is carried out by the Ocean Conservancy, which has collected over 136 mil kg of litter in last 30 years of cleanups. At the same time an estimated 8 mil tonnes of plastics enter ocean each year from coastal nations. „The trash starts literally getting replaced as soon as you pick it up“, said the director of the Ocean Conservancy´s Trash Free Seas Program. It is beyond discouraging, but still better than the alternatives.
Over 70% of global inadequately disposed plastic waste is generated in Asia and 16% in Africa, where garbage collection systems are ineffective or nonexistent. President Donald Trump used this information as an opportunity to blame Asia for „abusing our oceans“. What he forgot to mention is, that since 1988 China and Hong Kong alone imported over 70% of all plastic waste, that was traded internationally and was shipped across the globe mainly from developed countries.
Each person in North America and Western Europe anually consumes on the average the amount of plastics equivalent to a weight of 2 adults. It is nearly 100kg of plastics more than an average person in the rest of the world.
But does it really matter? And why even bother? The only way to permanently eliminate plastic waste is by destructive thermal treatment. Thus, plastic litter that ends up in natural environment, will stay there forever unless we will find ways, how to remove it and prevent it. Negative impact of plastics on animals is significant and well documented. Tiniest of animals, such as arrow worms or algae and giants such as whales eat or get stuck in plastics. Plastic litter influences the whole food chain and we are part of the food chain.
Over 8 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced and of that, only 9% have been recycled and 12% have been incinerated. The rest of the plastic waste is accumulating in landfills and natural environment, and simply put, its life after disposal is eternal. Unlike other materials, such as bricks used in building construction, plastics do not have decades-long lifespan. Plastics´ largest market is packaging and most of the packaging is only used once.
Plastic products designed to be thrown away have experienced a boom after WWII. At that time, marketers and ads promoted disposables as means of effortless lifestyle and learned people, that if we use something, we can throw it away. A 1971 ad for convenient, disposable baby bottles Evenflo said: „In this disposable age, is there a reason for the nondisposable bottle?“ Similarly, a 1960s magazine ad for New Scott plastic cups campaigned for „all plastic disposable cup at toss away prices“.
And who does not enjoy a soft drink in throwaway bottle, that allows to skip the hard work of deposit and return? Who does not like to eat a take away every now and again, especially after a long day at work? It does not take much to persuade people, but the problem is, there is no away.
Supermarkets with many individual items wrapped in single-used containers on display can also tell a story of cultural change towards convenience. We can leave out cooking and food preparation completely and still get ready made meals, cut and sliced fruit salads or peppers, a single slice of bread or peeled orange. And there is more of it – secondary lids on joghurts and spreads prevent leakage in case the underneath aluminium cover get pierced, wrapping around beer cans makes them easier to carry. It is very unfortunate to have a yoghurt spilled in a bag, but how much more effortless our lives can be?
One of the major arguments that favour plastic packaging usage in food industry is, that it helps reduce food waste. But the data shows, that plastic packaging alone cannot do the job. Each person in North America and Europe creates on the consumer side around 95-115kg of food waste a year, compared to just 6-11kg in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia.
In the developing countries, produce simply rots on farms, or spoils before it reaches a market. In industialised world, on top of food loss, consumers and retailers reject imperfect food, overserve cooked meals and overpurchase grocery. And as a result we just have more waste, both food and plastic.
We focus on more, faster, easier, accessible, available anytime and everywhere, all of that ideally with the least amount of effort as goals to aim for in our every day activities and in business operations. It lulls us into a false sense of security and abundance, because it increases our sense of comfort and personal well-being, but at the same time, it degrades humanity´s most important life-supporting system – natural habitat and its biodiversity. Really, how safe are we, if we destroy our survival base?
We, people are living creatures and no matter how culture and technology shape and influence our lives, our basic biological needs will not disappear. But can we change the narrative? Can we do the things that we do in a way that promotes and respects life as it is? Our own and the wild outside?
1. Plastics market size, share and Covid-19 analysis by type, by-end use industry and regional forecast, 2020-2027
2. Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea: Marcus Eriksen, Laurent C. M. Lebreton, Henry S. Carson, Martin Thiel, Charles J. Moore, Jose C. Borerro, Francois Galgani, Peter G. Ryan, Julia Reisser, Published: December 10, 2010
3. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made: Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law
4. Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings-entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions. Gregory M (2009) Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364:2013–2025
5. Global consumption of plastic materials by region (1980-2015)
6. The Chinese import ban and its impact on global plastic waste trade: Amy L. Brooks, Shunli Wang and Jenna R. Jambeck
7. Fixing foods 2018: Best Practices towards the sustainable development goals – Barilla center for food and nutrition
8. Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste – Monika van den Bos Verma, Linda de Vreede,Thom Achterbosch, Martine M. Rutten (published – February, 2020)