Plastic
Pollution
Table of Contents
Main Sources of Plastic Pollution
A "report found that in 2016, four sources of microplastics alone accounted for 1.3 million metric tons (Mt)—or 11%—of total ocean plastic pollution. These were microbeads used in personal care products such as face scrubs and body washes; the breakdown of plastic fibers caused when synthetic textiles are washed; plastic pellets, also known as nurdles, that are used in the production of almost every plastic item; and the wear and tear of car tires, with this final source making up more than three quarters (78%) of microplastic pollution in the ocean. Notably, high-income countries are the main contributors, accounting for more than one-third of the global total of the above microplastics in 2016. Without immediate changes, the data shows ocean microplastic pollution will more than double to 3 Mt a year in 2040." PEW
Personal Care Products
While microbeads have been banned in body wash, the container that these products come in, as well as a surprising number of ingredients for the self-care and beauty products themselves are actually byproducts of the petroleum industry.
Click the Personal Care & Hygiene button to learn about the petroleum ingredients in most of our hygiene products, as well as what types of alternatives can reduce or eliminate those pollutants.
Microplastic from Tire Wear
Click the Transit button for ideas of ways to travel without tires, or with smaller tires. Bike, trike, and skateboard wheels for example have significantly less surface area than car or truck tires. Buses have slightly bigger wheels, but transport far more people, overall reducing their impact, while trains don't have tires at all, and can carry even more people.
Clothing / Laundry
"Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes contribute up to 35% of the primary plastic that is polluting our oceans. Every time we do our laundry an average of 9 million microfibers are released into wastewater treatment plants that cannot filter them. Because of that, these fibers end up in the ocean. Also, just by wearing synthetic clothes, plastic fibers are constantly being released in the air." - https://www.oceancleanwash.org/#:~:text=through%20washing%20%26%20wearing,plants%20that%20cannot%20filter%20them.
Click the Laundry button to learn how to reduce your impact, including reducing your emissions and the amount of microplastic that escape into the environment.
Fishing Gear
"Fishing gear accounts for roughly 10% of that debris: between 500,000 to 1 million tons of fishing gear are discarded or lost in the ocean every year. Discarded nets, lines, and ropes now make up about 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." WWF
Click the Commercial Fishing button to learn more about this industry and its contribution to pollution in our oceans. including plastic pollution.
Ghost Gear Solutions
The buttons beneath talk about the impact of our food choices, planet-friendly recipes, products, and ingredients to try that can help reduce our impact, improve our health, and some can even help the environment.
On the left are dietary changes we can all make, to help reduce the demand for seafood, which is the industry's excuse for destroying our oceans.
On the right we offer removal solutions including ways to capture and remove plastic, and products we've found which are made of ocean plastic. Buying them won't fix the plastic problem, but it will help fund the organizations who are currently doing the expensive job of cleaning up ghost gear at sea or along beaches.
Dangers of Plastic Pollution
Biological Impacts
Human Health
Plastic absorbs chemicals and breaks down into smaller, even microscopic pieces. These can be inhaled or consumed, and these small pieces can lodge in our organs, doing damage, including releasing toxic chemicals into our bodies. These can in turn increase our risk of diseased and hormonal imbalances.
Wildlife Deaths & Extinctions
"Consuming plastic leads to widespread scar tissue throughout the internal organs of these seabirds, which slowly starves them, causes kidney and liver disease, and makes them more susceptible to pathogens."
Researchers found that in addition serious damage to their stomach and digestive glands, birds go on to show outward signs including
Low body conditions - low fat which reduces their energy reserves.
Stunted growth
Shorter wing spans (a serious problem for migratory birds)
"as plastics float around in the ocean for a year, 10 years, a couple of decades, they basically act like a magnet or sponge, and they take all of the chemicals that we've put out into the atmosphere and elsewhere through things like fossil fuel burning, and they absorb it onto the surface so that the plastic becomes" as one marine biologist put it, "like a little toxic bullet.
It's... not just chemicals. Plastics that have been floating in the ocean for years can be vectors for a range of pathogens and diseases. So now we've kind of come full circle.
You've got plastics that can carry bacteria and viruses entering into an animal when it consumes that plastic, and then the plastic itself is breaking down the stomach's ability to defend itself — its mucosal barrier — and it kind of becomes like this loop where things kind of spiral a little bit out of control." - Plastic Pollution is so Bad for Animals it Now Has a Disease Name — 'Plasticosis'
Prevent Plastic Pollution
Personal Actions (Level 1-2)
Avoid Plastic Packaging and be aware that some companies greenwash by displaying products plastic free, which were delivered in large quantities of plastic
Switch From Plastic to Earth-Friendly Products which can save you money when you pick alternatives like safety razors and crystal deodorants over plastic dispensers.
Upcycle unwanted clothing to replace baby wipes or wet wipes
This guide focuses on different products that can reduce your impact. Disposable razors can be replaced by better quality and longer-lasting razors that will save you money. Plastic deodorants with questionable ingredients can be switched for products that don't come un un-recyclable containers. Even period care items can be replaced with greener alternatives that don't come with unpleasant perfumes or pesticides.
Instead of buying brand new products like books in plastic sleeves, why not borrow instead? The Libraries directory also includes other models such as Tool Libraries or even your local Library of Things.
Search products and services in your area. Many (but not all) of the services listed here offer glass bottle return schemes. Some return schemes have been put on hold due to covid, but will hopefully return soon.
Zero Waste Shops can include different business models. Some focus more on single-use products that will outlast regular supplies such as razors, cleaning supplies, cooking equipment, and reusable containers. Others may be more focus on providing bulk produce that you can take home in your own containers, thereby avoiding single use plastic and other waste.
Level 3 Action
For Companies
Replace/Avoid Plastic Packaging - or at least reuse as much as possible instead of recycling.
Drugs can be kept safe in foil packaging, and outer packaging with instructions can be offered in paper envelope form.
Bulk produce and products can be shipped in refillable tubs which should be sent back to the supplier for refill, instead of refilled from single-use plastic bags like this company was caught doing.
Offer Drop Off Points such as glass bottle return skips so that returning customers can drop off their old containers before shopping again.
Government Level Action (Level 4)
By starting with level 4 action, we can stem the massive flow of plastic into the environment. Currently more tax payer money goes into supporting plastic production, which makes the huge, but lesser amount of clean up money almost pointless.
Governments currently fund plastic production, but they can just as easily fund community and business projects that can solve our plastic crisis. In the USA, tax payers subsidize extraction of fossil fuels, with $20.5 billion per year, they pay for the environmental clean up costs, estimated at $500 billion annually. In addition "Taxpayers are also funding the industry’s plan to increase plastic production by 40 percent in the next decade, spurred by an oversupply of cheap fracked natural gas. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars per year to replace roads ruined by fracking and treat contaminated water." The plastics that aren't captured or recycled in rich countries, generally gets shipped to poorer countries who lack the infrastructure or finances to tackle the mountains of pollution.
End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel and Plastic Industries
Click the Financial button to learn about how subsidies and other monetary behaviors are hurting our planet, as well as what financial actions can help protect our planet.
Plastic Bans & Regulation
Plastic is really important for medical and safety devices, but bans and regulations can be a powerful tool against the increasing production of plastics. Until we reduce the influx, waste-clean-ups and litter traps will not be enough to fix our problems. Microplastic are present in our water, soil, air, food, our infants and breast milk.
Plastic Taxes & Fees
These have reduced the amount of single use places in countries and regions that implemented them.
DIY Plastic Recycling & Creating
Precious Plastic "The alternative plastic recycling system run by (brilliant) people around the planet."
Organizations
International
The Bottle Bill Resource Guide "is an ongoing project of the Container Recycling Institute, dedicated to providing comprehensive information about beverage container deposit laws across the US and around the world."