What’s Wrong with Plastic? The answer is overwhelming and multifaceted so we cover just a small portion of them here.
The real beginning of synthetic plastic on our planet was in 1907 with the creation of Bakelite by Belgian inventor Leo Baekeland. He used fossil fuels as a replacement for whale oil and other early animal- and plant-based fuels. In the 1950s there was a mass production boom of petrochemical-based plastic, creating 8.3 billion metric tons of mostly non-recycled material worldwide; in 70 years only 9% has been recycled. This is a problem!
Much of the plastic tossed in a bin and collected for recycling ends up in other countries, usually burned or dumped in a landfill or in nature. This fact is masked by plastic industry trade groups touting the solution of recycling rather than addressing the problem of making plastic in the first place.
When plastic was first manufactured it was not in our culture to use something once and throw it away. As recently as the early 1960s, many people in the U.S. and Europe had milk delivered to their homes in returnable, refillable glass bottles; they carried reusable cloth sacks for groceries; brought tea towels to the bakery to hold their bread. Today, we use plastic.
A very disproportionate number of petrochemical plants are located in low-income communities and communities of color, churning out toxic air pollution and leaching toxic chemicals into the soil and water. This results in localized clusters of life- shortening and chronic diseases. People living in parts of southeastern Louisiana are exposed to some of the highest levels of toxic air pollution in the U.S., produced by industrial facilities placed predominantly in African-American neighborhoods.
Now that we have addressed some of the horrors of plastic production, there must be solutions.
Keep Framingham Beautiful is one organization working towards a solution. Their cleanup activities reduce local pollution, raise community awareness about plastic, and contribute to scientific data on litter composition.
I was fascinated to learn that trash-plastic is being used for paving roads, primarily in Australia, Asia and Africa. The plastics are melted down and mixed with crushed glass that cannot be recycled, rather than sand. The result is a solid product that is flexible and can withstand heavy vehicle traffic. The environmental impact from leaching is comparable to regular asphalt.
Many people advocate for a circular way of thinking to replace our present throwaway culture: instead of making products to throw away, we need to start making products we can reuse. So far, more than 1,000 single-use plastic laws have been passed around the world on municipal, state, and national levels. That’s in addition to the many institutions, organizations, places of worship, and businesses that have voluntarily reduced their use of plastic. Mexico City, one of the world’s biggest cities, has outlawed single-use plastic. This is something we need to continue to press for through our City Council here in Framingham. It is my understanding this option has been rejected by them in the past but we need to keep trying.
As we work for an overall reduction in plastic production, stay tuned for some concrete ways you can personally help reduce the use of plastic in our world!
Peggy Harrison for the Green Team.
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