Why Recycling is NOT fixing the Plastic Pollution Crisis
Shifting our mentality from recycling to reducing [or eliminating] plastic use is the only way out.
I have been going down a dangerous plastic journey this past week trying to make sense of a world where plastic didn’t exist. But I can’t imagine it. In our ‘modern’ day everything is made of plastic, from the kitchen to the bathroom, from my toothbrush to all the packaging around my food, I see and feel the unrelenting presence of plastic, especially now that studies have shown plastic has made it into our drinking water and therefore our food. I cannot seem to get away from it.
I used to believe I could recycle my way out of this problem, as I’d been indoctrinated [along with the rest of humanity] to seek the chasing arrows symbol as a guide to responsible waste management. I followed this idea at the store where I’d inspect all packaging in search of the iconic symbol, and at home, where I’d meticulously wash all empty containers so they would be ready for the recycling bin. But as much as I’d like to believe that recycling plastic can save us from killing more marine life, I have to accept the devastating reality that the intentions behind plastic production were never to make recycling work — in fact, less than 10% of all plastic ever made has actually been recycled, because recycling plastic is not economically viable for waste management companies or for the oil and gas industry.
As I work to create a plastic-free environment, I realize our world has been designed to keep us from easily escaping.
So carrying my water bottle for years, and judiciously bringing my own shopping bags to the grocery store was just a way for the plastic industry to continue inflicting the idea that the responsibility to keep plastic out of landfills, the ocean, and the rural areas in poor countries was mine. Turns out it isn’t. The plastic industry has been irresponsibly selling us this idea for more than five decades. Five decades of plastic collected in islands around the world. Five decades of pollution the plastic industry should be accountable for cleaning up.
The Frontline Investigation
At the beginning of the pandemic, an intriguing documentary by NPR/PBS Frontline Investigation called “Plastic Wars” came out. At the time with everything pointing to a health crisis from the spillover of a zootonic disease connected to deforestation I moved my research to the impact of human encroachment in nature, and I stored the plastic pollution crisis away for later viewing. I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the problem and how much it has to do with environmental degradation, and with big oil businesses until I watched the full episode — which I recommend you do.
- Since plastic is made of petroleum, oil companies are keen on promoting its mass-production, use, and consumption in any and all aspects of our lives.
- Since the 1970s, plastic producers have known that plastic cannot be recycled in an efficient enough way to make it economically productive for any company.
- Yet, the plastic industry has continued to promote recycling [in spite of the growing pollution crisis] so consumers would feel good about using plastic daily and would not protest.
- The plastic industry lobbyist forced their way to impose the recycling symbol on containers even though they knew there wasn’t a way to recycle most of it — They have used the chasing arrows recycling symbol to greenwash plastic and keep consumer perception high.
- The US ships 1 million tons of plastic waste [on average] to countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, where it is sorted into reusable pieces and the rest becomes trash dumped and burnt on vulnerable communities’ land or tossed into water sources. The US is not alone in this abusive practice, other rich nations like the UK and other EU countries continue to find loopholes to keep polluting other countries’ land.
A Pollution Crisis
Plastic has gone from a nuisance to a crisis. Its presence is everywhere… and growing. As reported by The Guardian, the US produces 34.5 million tons of plastic waste each year, precisely because we, the consumers, believed the industry was responsible enough to tell us the truth, and because we believed governments and recycling companies had it figure out. None of which is true. What these lies have created is an unaccountable amount of plastic waste around the world.
That waste is now floating, as millions and millions of pieces of plastic known as microplastic, polluting oceans, seas, and rivers all over the world. It has contaminated our soils and air, and it has finally landed on our plates.
From NPR. Brightly colored pieces of microplastic mar one of the 27 islands in the Cocos Keeling chain. Much of the plastic is hidden under the sand. The sun breaks down plastic debris, and the tiny pieces get buried in the sand. Image credit Jennifer Lavers
Plastic is the new ingredient in our food
Since our water sources are polluted with microplastic, as are our soils, it was a matter of time this plastic invasion translated into our food and potable water. Last month, Aljazeera published an article depicting the amount of plastic we are drinking and eating weekly, monthly, or yearly, in pictures of plastic items neatly displayed on a dining table. It asked, “What’s for dinner? Lego sushi, credit card burgers, or a well-done piece of PVC pipe?”
The question keeping me up at night has been, “How can I reduce my contribution to this vicious cycle?”
- Demand change: with a new administration in the White House, concerned citizens are asking the president to make it part of the policy within the environmental initiatives to tackle the plastic crisis. We each can join this petition and demand change from the top.
- Separate your recycling: This helped me tremendously while living abroad in a country where I had to separate paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, and food scraps plus other compostables. Consolidating all plastic items in a single place, including pieces like plastic wrap which would normally end up in the trash, can help assess how much plastic is making it into your house, and provide a place to start to reduce plastic consumption.
- Inventory your household items: Taking an inventory of all the plastic packaging and or products can help reevaluate and find alternative products to the disposable plastic version — I’m following this process by going through everything from toothbrushes to floss, toothpaste, shampoo, hand lotion, deli containers, and more. Fortunately, there is a slew of concerned entrepreneurs developing alternatives for many of these items, so it is a matter of supporting them to support a better system.
ReDuce, ReThink, ReUse
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, containers and packaging make up 30 percent of what we dispose of annually, as reported by Civil Eats.
- Seeking products in alternative packagings, like glass or cardboard rather than plastic [from oil bottles to peanut butter, pasta, tomato sauce, etc.] is a good place to start. Even though there are still flaws in the system — some of the bottles have plastic caps — plastic consumption goes down drastically. Plus, glass jars are great storage containers, I use them to make vinaigrettes, to freeze homemade tomato sauce, store pickles, or any other foods. Some are cute enough to use as glasses for fun cocktails. Worst-case scenario, glass can be recycled easier than plastic.
- Invest in produce bags: purchasing a set of linen or cotton bags along with shopping bags reduce the plastic bags needed to package carrots, potatoes, or wet cilantro and parsley, or when allowed, to use in the bulk section of the store.
- Buying loose items — with the boom of salad in a box or potatoes in a bag, items like lettuce have an added pollution problem. Meanwhile, purchasing these kinds of items without packaging greatly reduces the amount of plastic that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
- Rethink and Reuse plastic: The last time I purchased ziplock bags was three years ago, and I still have half of the box. I wash them between uses and keep using them to prevent bread from going stale, or to keep carrots and beets from going soft in the fridge. They transitioned from a throwaway item to a reusable item.
- Switch to compostable/biodegradable packaging — this one works best in conjunction with a compostable program [which many urban centers are now offering] because the composting facilities have the technology to breakdown the material quicker than it would in a landfill. Denver, for example, has curbside compost pick up for homes; plus there are other companies offering this service for those of us living in apartments. A quick internet search can yield options in your area.
- Ask your grocery store, bakery, or deli counter for alternative packaging — many food stores are listening to this demand and are willing to make the change if encouraged to do so.
~ Paula
