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The Plastic Problem: Year 1

A Young Activist's Year of Research and Solutions

Introduction

Experiment With Packaging

Analysis

When I Got Stuck, I Made A Comic

Persuasive Essay

Stopping the Plastic Problem with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Next Steps

Tip 1: Replace and Reduce

Introduction

My passion for climate change and plastic pollution was turned into a reality when I was given an assignment in 7th grade: Pick a topic, research it, dive in and have some end result that demonstrates what you learned.

Experiment With Packaging

In my research, I came across a company, Ecovative Design, that makes "plastic" out of the mycelium in mushrooms. Mycelium is found at the root of mushrooms, and they are using it to make a styrofoam-like material. This fascinated me, so I decided to reach out to Ecovative Design, and see what information I could get from them. I sent them an email, and they responded with some good resources like interviews with people in their company, articles about their company, and even a website where I could get my own mycelium delivered right to my doorstep.

When I got the mycelium, it looked like wood chips smushed together with glue, but it was durable and definitely looked like it could decompose. I then ordered some biodegradable packing peanuts (which are made from starch), and normal plastic styrofoam, and conducted an experiment. I tested the dissolving times of each of the materials, by putting each material in a different cup of water all the same temperature and size. I wanted to see what material could dissolve faster, the biodegradable packing peanuts, or the mycelium. (I knew the styrofoam packing peanut was not going to dissolve, but I used it as my control)

My data is in the below table:

Table Mycelium Experimemt

Analysis

As you can see, the biodegradable packing peanuts dissolved very quickly, and neither the mycelium or the styrofoam dissolved. My prediction is that the mycelium might take a while to biodegrade, and it would probably need more earthy conditions than just water.

As a result of the experiment, I learned that if a company wants to package its products but the packaging doesn't need to be water-resistant, and the company doesn't need its package to last for a long time, than they could use the biodegradable packing peanuts. If the company wanted their package to survive for longer than 3 minutes underwater, they would be smart to go with mycelium packaging.

I also looked at each material under a microscope, and the results were not unexpected, but they were quite interesting to look at.

Below:

Picture #1: Plastic styrofoam packing peanut

Picture #2: Mycelium square

Picture #2: Biodegradable packing peanut

When I Got Stuck, I Made A Comic

After doing the experiment, and looking at the products under a microscope, I was feeling a bit stuck. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do next. I had good information and results from my experiment, but I was wondering what to do from that point on. I talked to some of my teachers who had some ideas for me, but I wasn't really feeling it. I wanted to do something that others could relate with. I wanted to do something that would make a difference. It was upon reading a comic about COVID-19 that I had an idea.

The comic was about one day in the author's life when they tried to wash their hands, not touch their face, and follow all of the CDC's regulations (before the stay-at-home order). It gave me an idea: I could make my own comic about one day spent trying not to use plastic!

In my household, we are trying to clear our house of all single-use plastics. At first, I thought it would be easy, but I was wrong. Plastic is everywhere. It is insane how much single-use plastic a person uses in a day! It took me a while to make, but here is my version of "I Spent a Day In Coronavirus Awareness Mode" instead, it is: "I Spent a Day in Plastic Awareness Mode"

Persuasive Essay

I finished the comic at around the same time my school closed and I had to start online distance learning. That also happened to be when my persuasive writing unit was in Language Arts class. Since I had already done a good amount of research around the plastic problem, I decided to do something similar for my persuasive essay on the topic of why companies should take responsibility for their plastic waste.

Stopping the Plastic Problem with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

By Maya Faulstich

Do you ever think about the impact of all the plastic you buy? All the plastic you throw away? Where do you think that plastic goes? Who do you think pays for its disposal? If you knew that the average American produces around 2,072 pounds of trash per year, and most of that trash simply gets thrown into landfills and oceans, killing over 1 million marine animals every year, contaminating water for communities, and WE are the ones paying for all of that plastic, would you finally consider the impact of what you buy and what it’s wrapped in? We keep producing more and more plastic, but plastic doesn’t decompose like most other things. It stays the way it is for billions of years only breaking down into smaller pieces, ultimately becoming microplastics, which animals eat. Once in their digestive systems, it sickens them, and can kill them. Plastic has toxic chemicals that leak out and, with enough exposure to these chemicals, people can get cancer, loss of immunity, and other health issues. The most harmful plastics are single-use plastics, which are used once and then disposed of. Some examples are candy wrappers, plastic bottles, and plastic sandwich bags. Single-use plastics are harmful because we use them once, and then we throw them away.

People may find this information overwhelming, but there is a solution. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy that requires businesses to pay for the plastic waste they make, and to take care of it instead of leaving the cost for the general public. Requiring producers to take responsibility for their plastic waste increases the chances that they will use less plastic or use alternative packaging. EPR will reduce the amount plastic clogging our landfills, companies can save money in the process, and consumers won’t have to pay for the plastic packaging that companies waste.

EPR’s environmental benefits include reduced plastic in our landfills and ocean, resulting in a cleaner environment. Of all the plastic produced, most of that is made for packaging. On average, about six months after a piece of single-use plastic is made, it gets thrown away. According to waste4change.com, in 1960, the amount of waste packaging was about 27 million tons, and in 2015, it was up to 78 million tons, which is about 185% more. I calculated that if this slope continues, by 2050 the amount of waste packaging will be around 110 million tons! If companies don’t take responsibility for their plastic waste, this will be an endless line of production and disposal that never cycles back. If they do, they can use the plastic they already have, creating a new cycle, and then plastic won’t be clogging our landfills. When I go on walks outside, I see plastic litter all over the ground. Candy wrappers, plastic bottles, shopping bags, etc. I can’t remember going on a walk in this town recently without seeing any litter, and currently there is no state in the USA with an EPR law in place. Waste4change discusses programs that ask people to come and give back their packaging and used items to be reused, so they don’t get put into landfills and oceans. These programs have great environmental benefits, so clearly this type of method is working. If companies were to take responsibility for their plastic, there would be even less plastic waste, making the environment a cleaner place to live.

If companies take responsibility for their plastic waste, they can save money in the process by reusing or reducing their plastic. According to consumerreports.org, “Manufacturers spend more than $150 billion a year on product packaging, or roughly 7 to 10 cents of every dollar that goes into a product.” If companies take responsibility and find a new way to do their packaging system without plastic, new less-expensive ideas will be presented, potentially saving companies billions of dollars. In fact, some companies are already trying out new alternatives for plastic. For example, Ecovative Design is making plastic packaging out of mycelium, which is part of the roots in mushrooms, to replace plastic styrofoam. Other companies are making biodegradable packing peanuts out of corn and potato starch. Evow are, oo ho, and Alexander Goldberg from Tel Aviv University are making plastic out of seaweed, another popular new alternative. This option can be more expensive in the short term, but as more businesses buy more alternative products, they could eventually become cheaper. According to research done by Nielsen, two-thirds of all global consumers will choose buying from a company with eco-friendly packaging over a company without, which will give the company good business. Also, the disposal of plastic can cost anywhere from $70 to over $200 per ton. Because the alternatives biodegrade, the disposal costs will drop. If we use alternatives, we won’t need to pay for the disposal of our trash that lives forever, and we won’t need to pay for the cost of recycling. EPR will move the price of disposal to the producers, giving them additional financial reason to use alternatives for plastic.

If companies take responsibility for their plastic waste, we, the general public, won’t have to pay for it. 26% of all plastic is used for packaging and 95% of plastic packaging is single-use plastic. All of this plastic that is being produced is costing $80 - $120 billion per year. Who’s paying all that money? We are, the citizens of our community, our country, and our world. The cost is in our taxes. It doesn’t make sense to keep producing something that is not only outrageously harmful for the environment, but also outrageously harmful to our economy. To add on to that, not only do tax payers pay for the cost of disposal, we also pay the cost of cleaning up public spaces. According to waste4change.com, EPR can save around $370.20 just from litter like gum wrappers in public spaces. If companies took responsibility for their plastic waste, the costs for maintenance and cleaning wouldn’t be so high.

One may ask, Well, why not we just recycle our plastic? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t as simple as recycling. Recycling happens in a factory, which emits greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, which adds a great deal to air pollution. Sadly, only two out of seven categories of recyclable plastic actually gets recycled. Furthermore, only 14% of company’s plastic packaging is getting recycled. Recycling costs a lot of money for hauling and managing, and the exact amount differs depending on the program, but it is usually around $50 to $150 per ton. That may not seem like a lot, but 20 million tons of our recycling (⅓ of America’s total recycling) was getting exported to China, until 2018, when they decided they weren’t going to take our plastic recycling anymore. No other countries are willing to take it either, so now we have an overload of plastic waste costing lots of money, and more than half of it isn’t even getting recycled. Is it worth that much money to have only a tiny fraction of our trash being reused?

Plastic is a dangerous product that we have pushed beyond the limits and out of control. We have turned it into a monster that litters the earth, wastes our money, and kills millions of animals every year. Given all of the information and statistics about how harmful it is, we still continue to produce it and dispose of it, produce it and dispose of it every day. It is time we start to change. If companies finally start to take responsibility for their plastic waste, we can begin to destroy the monster we’ve made.

Next Steps

Since writing the essay, I've had a few times where I've felt hopeless, and felt like there was nothing I could do to help the environment, because it's already gotten so out of control.

There are things we can do, though. If you are inspired, and want to do your own small things to help out with the environment, I have some suggestions for you.

Tip 1: Replace and Reduce

As we all know, reduce reduce reduce! Don't buy plastic! This is really hard, I know, so my easier suggestion is to replace what you can't reduce. Replace anything plastic you can with bamboo, glass, metal, and other reusable things. Here's a website that has some really good bamboo suggestions if you were looking for them: plasticphobia.com/eco-friendly-alternatives-list/. Buy from companies that use alternative packaging. This is easier said than done, and even I’m not fully there yet, so I suggest the first thing you do is replace snacks.

First of all, simple things like granola bars have a lot of plastic waste! Instead of buying snacks in plastic wrap, we can make our own snacks, or buy snacks from places that don’t use plastic packaging, like local markets that wrap your goods in paper. This not only is better for the environment, but gives you a chance to open up to something new.

Currently, to keep people safe from COVID-19, supermarkets are requiring that you use plastic bags instead of reusable bags. It is frustrating to know that we were so close to switching to reusable bags, and this feels like a step backward. Although it may be frustrating, many people have had creative ideas as to how to safely shop without plastic. When you check out, simply put your goods directly in your shopping cart without any bags at all, and unload the goods into reusable bags in your car. This way, it keeps the supermarket safe and you don't have to use plastic!

Tip 2: Refill

Second, there are places like GoGo Refill that will take back your containers, and refill them, so you don't have to buy new plastic bottles with your product inside, like shampoo, or laundry detergent.

Tip 3: Reuse

Do you have all this extra plastic waste that you are going to throw away? DON'T! Reuse it for something else! Turn a milk jug into a boat bailer! Turn a plastic bag into a skirt! Turn a plastic bottle into flower vase! Get creative and have fun! Or you could just use a plastic bottle or bag lots of times, and turn it into a reusable!

Tip 4: Write

Yes, I know, Write doesn't start with the prefix "re", but it is still just as important, sometimes even more important! Even though it's crucial to do all the "re" words, no matter how much we take care of our own plastic, factories will keep producing plastic, selling it to big companies that sell it to stores, which then sell it to us. This problem needs to stop at its source, or somewhere near the source. Write to your local grocery store, write to a company you like to buy from, tell them that you don't like the fact that they use plastic packaging. The world needs to hear our voices because stores listen to consumers. Big companies listen to stores, and factories listen to big companies. I recently attended an online webinar about plastic, hosted by Jennifer Congdon from Beyond Plastics, and they provided a sample letter to write to companies, which is linked here on their website: https://beyondplastics.org/article/stop-selling-things-packaged-in-single-use-plastic

Presentation

If you want to see my presentation showing what I learned from this year, you can find that here!

Conclusion

I know that was a lot of information, but within it, I hope you learned at least one thing that inspired you to help make a difference. Whether it's rethinking what you buy, writing to a local grocery store about plastic packaging, or simply spreading the word to everyone else around you, working together is the only way we can solve the plastic problem.

If you have any questions, comments, or want to get involved, fill out this form to contact me. Or follow me on Twitter! I would love to hear from you!

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