Plastic Pollution and the Supermarket Solution
“Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications.” — IUCN. (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
Plastic has dominated the world for over a century now due to its versatility. The material industry would have been swept off its feet back in 1907 when Modern Plastic made solely from chemicals was first introduced by Leo Hendrick Baekeland when he invented “Bakelite” it was manufactured from a mix of Formaldehyde and Phenol. Nowadays we have two categories that separate plastics based on their reaction to temperature, Thermosetting and Thermoplastics.
Thermosetting plastics cannot be re-moulded once formed. These plastics are therefore commonly used when a product will be susceptible to electricity or any high temperature environments. Some examples of thermoset plastics would be, Polyester, Polyurethane and Epoxy. These plastics all have different advantages with each playing to their own strengths. In product design an example of some products manufactured from thermoset plastic are pacemakers, coatings, bottle caps, toilet seats, printing rollers, vehicle panels/parts, electrical parts and shoe heels.
Thermoplastics on the other hand, can be re-heated and re-used. One benefit off the bat is that this property can make recycling easier. Examples of thermoplastics would be, Acrylic, ABS, Polypropylene, Nylon, Polystyrene, Polyethylene and PVC. Each specific plastic provides differing properties to one another. Some products made from thermoplastics consist of packaging, utensils, household appliances, medical equipment, pipes, toys, clothing, furniture and lighting.
Evidently, plastic is now everywhere, and it is becoming clearer that this is a major problem for our future generations. The fundamental issue with plastics (synthetic specifically) is that they pollute the earth and are a huge advocate for climate change. They are made from non-renewable resources, carry many toxic chemicals that harm the environment and take centuries to fully decompose. In turn, releasing Carbon Dioxide emissions in the atmosphere leading to temperatures rising. This has a chain effect which results in natural disasters becoming more frequent and loss of land caused by sea levels rising due to the increase in temperature.
Not only do plastics pollute our air they are affecting our oceans too. Eight million tons of plastic find their way to our oceans. Eighty percent of ocean detritus is from plastics. This has detrimental affects towards ocean wildlife with most of it ending up in their systems, killing them and microplastics end up in our digestive system as well. So called “Invisible plastics” have been traced to our drinking water. These plastics contain cancerous chemicals that could directly affect you. From an economical standpoint the appearance of ocean plastics detracts from the surrounding environments resulting in a profit loss for tourism.
So how are we combating these issues in design? The most common one is recycling. Certain Thermoplastics are organised through labelling and numbering that arranges each specific material into its own category making it more efficient to identify and recycle. Yet, there is a loophole in recycling system. How do we really know for a fact if these plastics are being recycled correctly? A recent article from The New York Times (2018) claims that recycled plastics are being unloaded into landfill sites instead.
This is the problem with our approaches towards finding a solution, instead of looking forward, waiting eagerly for the new revolution that will resolve all our problems we should be looking back at what we already had. There is no need for future development. Not until we find a viable route to go down first.
Plastic pollution did not start to occur until after the sixties since by then the resources we needed to make plastic were plentiful and cheaper. So, what was life like before that? Well, to begin with there were not as many supermarkets, instead we opted for local shops like butchers, bakers and grocery stores. Supermarkets are one of the worst facilities to overuse plastic for packaging foods we live in a time were Bananas come in a plastic bag. Fortunately, changes are being made in various countries Thailand for example have switched out to Banana leaves. It is interesting to see how other countries as such approach the ordeal considering they are developing and usually viewed as inferior to western culture, yet they seem to have found a viable solution, of course in regions such as the UK we cannot grow Banana trees (efficiently) therefore, these methods would not work for us but that is the beauty of co-existence (we get to see other cultural perspectives and ideas).
We (UK) used to have most goods weighed out in paper bags which was locally sourced produce. Globalised produce such as rice or pasta would be sealed in a paper bag through maritime links. Freshness issues is a factor that some may consider however, most global produce was capable of being transported throughout the year and for fruits and vegetables that were not in growing season would mostly be packaged in tins.
Milk was sent door to door via glass bottles, there was a set-system that involved the collection of empty milk bottles for re-use. Instead of plastic bottles we had glass. These were returned to local stores. There was an incentive to return bottles as you were financially rewarded each time, promoting recycling. (Even back in 2008 we had local corner shops doing this with the bar cream soda bottles).
Fresh Meat’s from the Butchers were wrapped in paper. They even offered delivery services; you are less likely to see a Fish van these days. Food overall was more organic, natural, homecooked and far healthier. This whole system promotes local social interaction which is something that is missing in present times. If we step back and analyse the generation who experienced these years, they have all prospered in living to ripe ages (90’s — 100’s). The following generation (Baby boomers) who grew up with toxic plastics, ready meals poorer health etc. are now more susceptible to things such as cancer. This is just a theory however, maybe plastic has nothing to do with it.
So why not re-establish a system that promotes the use of glass bottles, replace plastic packaging with paper and cardboard, focus on sustainable agriculture collecting the used paper and use it as fuel for fires like they used to, reduce the amount of supermarkets and focus on developing proper communities that locally source what they can. Ultimately it is the choice between humans co-existing with nature and promoting longevity or proceeding to follow the adverse system chooses finance and “efficiency” that will inevitably feed climate change to a state at which we cannot reverse.
Citations:
Forbes.com. (2019). Thailand Supermarket Ditches Plastic Packaging For Banana Leaves. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/25/thailand-supermarket-uses-banana-leaves-instead-of-plastic-packaging/#53f2fdb87102 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].
IUCN. (2019). Marine plastics. [online] Available at: https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastics [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].
Nytimes.com. (2019). Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not. [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].
One Brown Planet. (2019). Life Before Plastic — One Brown Planet. [online] Available at: https://www.onebrownplanet.com/life_before_plastic/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].
Science History Institute. (2019). Leo Hendrik Baekeland. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/leo-hendrik-baekeland [Accessed 20 Apr. 2019].
