It doesn’t cross most people’s mind to think about trash, especially on the scale of the entire United States. However, it’s alarming to even begin to imagine the amount of trash you produce in a week, then multiply that by 250 million – the population of adults in the United States. That’s insane, right? My attention was first brought to the concept of waste when I heard the struggles of China’s waste problem, and with their recent ban on 24 imports of solid waste, I think it’s high time we all start reconsidering the way we consume. There are many troublesome materials when it comes to waste, but the most concerning one to everyone should be plastic. With the first man made plastic coming into existence around 1862, and mass production of plastic taking place in 1940’s and 1950’s, our lives continue to be changed by this product. It’s made of synthetic polymers which are cheap, very durable, and easy to manipulate into any shape, which is the prominent reason we see plastics used in almost everything that isn’t edible. Due to plastic, we have luxurious like never before – but it comes at a cost.
Because plastic is so durable, it’s resistant to natural decomposition. A plastic bottle, on average, will last 450 years; a plastic beverage holder will last 400 years. Currently we have 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic in total. 8 million metric tons end up in our oceans, and if we continue on the trend we are on plastic pollution, will outweigh our fish population by 2050. That’s pretty f**king terrifying.
Journal Post
These are all concerning numbers, and if you aren’t concerned yet, let me bring one more topic to the table: microplastics. The amount of plastic in our oceans, as previously stated, is already at a horrifying level, and is growing larger every year. This plastic is degrading into what is called microplastic (plastics smaller than 5mm) and is being ingested by fish and other sea creatures. With all the chemicals that are used in plastics, the adverse effects of consuming plastic ranges from interference with one’s testosterone levels to causing cancer. Even if you lack sympathy for the sea life that can be affected, consider the adverse health problems that we, in turn, may experience if we continue to ingest animals that have been force fed these chemicals. It may be time to take up being a vegetarian for this reason alone if our consumption of plastic doesn’t get under control.
If you aren’t on Twitter, or haven’t been to one of the 28,000 Starbucks that recently announced upcoming changes to their policies around straws, you might not be aware that there has been a significant push to rid the industry of single use plastic straws. Starbucks has recently stopped giving out plastic straws in select stores and instead are giving out what the industry is calling “adult sippy cup lids”. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of plastic straws, we should evaluate the change that is being pushed. The new lid is still made up of plastic, but is supposed to be more recyclable. However, it uses more plastic than the original straw and lid – up to .88 grams more depending on the size of the cup. Given that most of these Starbucks don’t even have a recycling bin in their stores, it appears that this change didn’t really accomplish much that the movement was hoping. This movement has been met with some other pushback with hashtags such as #strawgate, expressing that people don’t want to get rid of their plastic straws – some even going so far as to say the move is ableist to those who have problems tipping cups. Obviously, though, there are other options out there for people who need them. Stainless steel seems to be good choice for cold or room temperature drinks, and can be easily recycled at metal recycling facility. Another good option is a “Koffie Straw”, sold on Amazon with a packaging free option for ~$16; allowing you to drink hot coffee and cold drinks, unlike the steel straw.
Amazon
Another hot topic is plastic bags. With each one taking 10-20 years to decompose, they are causing a lot of commotion in the environmental circles and cloth alternatives have become widespread in every food market. Single use plastic bags take very little energy to make, and produce lower CO2 emissions than their cotton alternatives. In the production of paper, we sacrifice trees and a lot of water, and hope people change their recycling habits. This emphasizes the cruel reality that we can’t just make regarding plastic in every aspect, because there is more to the environment than that. We are forced to look at the tradeoffs of every product we are using. However, with conflicting studies out there about the effectiveness of multi-use bags, these tradeoffs can become hard to weigh. Personally, I use some overpriced cloth bags I bought from Whole Foods. I’m taking the side that I want limit plastic pollution, and I’ll limit my carbon footprint elsewhere.