Susan Dlugach was a reporter for the Las Vegas Daily Optic in New Mexico before turning to a career teaching English in New Mexico and California. These days she spends her time folk dancing, doing yoga, and dreaming up stories.
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The Problem With Plastics
The Problem With Plastics
A while back I hit the proverbial dusty trail to toss out my reliance on plastic. I have even tried to remember what my parents lined the kitchen garbage can with, but I hit a wall. Was it newspapers? Grocery sacks? Maybe nothing? Plastic garbage liners used today make easy work of keeping the garbage pail clean.
Why eliminate plastics? They’re so convenient. But their production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Plus the plastics themselves, most of which end up as litter that contaminates land, oceans and waterways, don’t biodegrade. They persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
I remember well those big oil derricks back in Texas where I grew up and the stinky refineries in my hometown that pumped out the oil and gas used to make things like petroleum jelly, mechanical pencils that we throw away when the lead is gone, laundry baskets, primary colored toys for children and so on. But I tell you, the air around those refineries doesn’t make you want to take a deep breath.
So what does the metaphor about the canary in the coal mine have to do with plastics? This practice of miners taking a caged canary with them into the coal mine was a macabre but useful way to check for toxic gas. If the little bird became agitated, stopped singing or fell off its perch, the miner knew the place was dangerous and got out.
The contemporary canary in the coal mine is marine life like crabs, sea turtles, fish and sperm whales as well as non-marine wildlife warning us about the toxic dangers our addiction to plastic products is causing.
Since only nine percent of plastic is recycled, the rest simply hangs around wherever it’s dropped or blown or wherever it drifts. About one or two truckloads of plastic waste are dumped in the ocean every minute every day worldwide. That’s about 788,400 truckloads a year!
It takes a plastic bag ten years to decompose. A plastic bottle takes over a thousand years to decompose. But these items never truly disappear. Instead, they break apart into microplastics.
Microplastics are prevalent in ocean waters, on the ocean floor, on beaches and they spread throughout the ecosystem. They have been found in many marine species, in drinking water and in numerous foods, such as salt, honey and marine organisms like the shrimp in that salad you may have had for lunch.
Toxic chemicals in microplastics, like BPA and phthalates, leach into food and water, presenting health risks to humans as well as wildlife. These risks include various cancers, endocrine disruption, which are changes in hormone activity that affect reproductive health, growth and can cause cognitive impairment.
Chunk plastic, items that haven’t broken down into micro bits, harm wildlife when it’s ingested because it’s mistaken for food. It fills the stomach but isn’t expelled, causing starvation. Wildlife may also die from suffocation or entanglement in plastic litter.
China is the largest producer of plastic, but the U.S. generates the most plastic per person worldwide.
Rwanda, however, became the world’s first plastic-free nation in 2009 ten years after introducing a ban on all plastic bags and packaging. Violations result in a sentence of up to six months. A number of nations are now banning single-use plastic products.
But plastics haven’t always been around, so what did our parents, their parents and the folks before them use instead? There was wood, metal, glass, ceramics, rubber and paper. In ancient times, goods were stored in clay jugs and vases, fiber baskets and wooden boxes.
How can we reasonably withdraw from wasteful plastic reliance? Think of substitutions for single use items, such as reusable grocery bags, reusable cups and bottles, glass and stainless steel food containers, bamboo toothbrushes and buying in bulk to avoid wasteful packaging. Also consider bringing your own containers for takeout food. Shop at farmers markets. Buy milk and juices that are sold in returnable glass bottles. Find fresh bread sold in paper bags.
Much of our clothing is now made with petroleum-based synthetic fabrics. Read labels and switch out polyester, rayon, nylon, acrylic and lycra for plant and animal based fabrics like cotton, linen, hemp, wool and silk.
Back in the day, my day, we washed with bar soap. If we return to bar soap, we won’t need plastic bottles of liquid soap. There are even shampoo bars that can replace plastic containers of liquid shampoo.
Many products like washing powder and cereals came in cardboard boxes like today. But the difference is that the items inside were contained in wax paper sealed at the top rather than plastic. Mom wrapped my lunch sandwiches in wax paper. We had no plastic wrap or zip-lock baggies.
To explore ways to leave some single use plastic practices behind, check out the archived blog, “My Plastic-Free Life.” Happy trails blazing your path to a more sustainable environment.
~ Susan Dlugach
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