Plastic is Poisoning the Planet

By FRANK LINGO

Our world is awash in plastic trash. The vast majority of plastic bags and containers do not get recycled despite dutiful efforts by some consumers to recycle them.

Consumer Reports’ October 2021 issue takes a comprehensive look at the fate of the mountains of plastic we use. CR cited data that in 2018 the US generated over 70 billion pounds of plastic. That’s about 200 pounds for every man, woman and child. Much of it was put in the proper bin but then less than 10% was actually recycled.

In September 2020, National Public Radio and PBS’ Frontline collaborated to reveal the mendacity of manufacturers. The plastic makers have known for several decades that their products would seldom be recycled. Corporations like Exxon, Dow and Dupont knew it was physically and economically unsustainable to recycle, but they still spent millions in the media to promote plastic recycling. As Big Oil did with global warming, they knew and yet promoted their products with reinforced lies.

Until 2018 we shipped a lot of our plastic waste to China. What happened to it is unknown, but China has a terrible record on environmental issues. Anyway, that’s over now.

So we currently incinerate about 15% of our plastic. That creates toxic emissions, which get released into our atmosphere. Seventy-five percent of the plastic goes into landfills. Over the long term, plastic breaks down into micro-plastic, which is already omnipresent in our air, land and water.

A 2018 article in Scientific American reports that micro-plastics can damage our organs, suppress the immune system, and stymie growth and reproduction.

The effects on the entire ecosystem are bound to be devastating worldwide.

National Geographic reported that we breathe, drink and eat thousands of microscopic plastic particles every day. That is besides the humongous amount of visible plastic befouling our oceans that end up killing fish, birds and aquatic mammals.

So what can be done about it? One solution is extended producer responsibility (EPR), which would require manufacturers to take care of their products after sale.

Sometimes, there are little beacons of light like a shirt my buddy recently bought made from microfibers of recycled plastics pulled from the ocean.

The Consumer Reports article cited Professor Shelie Miller of the University of Michigan saying, “Plastic companies are actively looking into better recycling methods and how to design plastics to be more easily recyclable because they know this is such an important consumer issue.”

Even if plastic is recycled, after a time or two it loses viability. The fibers weaken with every cycle, so it’s an expensive process just to make an inferior product that will in turn have less recyclable value.

The CR piece came up short on alternatives to petroleum-based plastic, but there are products that have been available for years. Hemp, corn and many other plants can be used to make biodegradable plastic bags and containers. It would certainly help if consumers would put pressure on plastic makers and politicians to use eco-friendly source material.

The volume of plastic may seem overwhelming, but if we all participate in changing our ways, it becomes more manageable. As with other ecological issues, nothing much will change until we take personal responsibility for the things we buy and how they affect our world.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, October 15, 2021

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