Moody Monday: the problem with plastics

[mellowtigger]

By now, everyone knows that plastic recycling for the past few decades was basically a myth. We can thank Trump for exposing this global lie. Trump touted plastic manufacturing in the USA for brownie points here. He also spent too much of his time in office annoying China, where most of the world was shipping its waste. Trump's trade war with China began in 2018 January, which is when they (coincidentally or not) "banned almost all imports" of plastic.

"The dispute over scrap comes amid increased concerns of a full-blown trade war between the United States and China."
reuters.com

The world had to find a new recipient to recycle its plastic, since countries weren't doing it within their own borders where they produced the waste. (Yes, snark.) That effort didn't turn out well, but we couldn't wait on that easy "solution" anyway. USA recycling started to cut back, and now we recycle only about 6% of plastic waste in the USA and about 9% globally. There is some good news to be found, though.

1. Portions of the USA started holding manufacturers responsible for the lifecycle of their products. This idea probably helped spur innovation, so that...
2. Chemical recycling moved forward, using heat or solvents to break down the material.
3. Enzyme recycling moved forward, using that bacterium found in Japan a few years ago that eats plastic.
4. Plastic alternatives moved forward (it's even edible!), simply abandoning the problematic material altogether. Some compostable material is good too.

Which is all good effort, but it's not fully implemented yet. The "soft" plastics are usually blamed for being problematic, but even hard plastics have their issues. Unfortunately, it's not just the recycling or the plastic tar in the ocean or the carbon footprint in the atmosphere that matters here. It's also the microplastics in our lungs, in our blood, in our breastmilk, in our placentas, in our newborns, in fish, in birds, and just everywhere really, even down to microscopic influence at the micraoalgae level. We still don't have an exhaustive list of the hormone disrupting influence these chemicals can have on us and on our biosphere.

We just need to stop with the plastics. I've resigned myself to paying more for glass containers (peanut butter, for example) or metal instead of the cheaper plastic products. When I buy potato powder, I no longer buy the single-serving plastic packages, instead I get the larger paper-boxed supplies. What we can do as individuals is limited, except where we can influence policy makers to change our global systems. Government has its place, since industry changes only when it is forced to do so. The magical promise of capitalist greed never created the change we need, because it was too profitable to continue with the polluting systems we had. Externalized costs are a wonderful thing to a capitalist focused on short-term gains. Intellect is more effective than greed, so lets work smart now as we establish the long-term requirements of a sustainable society.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

Thank you for putting this post together.

I am so grateful that I currently live in an area where I have access to a grocery co-op with an extensive bulk section. During the pandemic my mother saw the bulk section in her local grocery co-op shift over to no longer allowing any kind of reusable containers, which was a really depressing development. Thankfully our co-op was able to establish new pandemic protocols that allowed its awesome bulk section persist.

If only this were the norm. In living all over the USA, I've met so many people who have never experienced actual bulk shopping. Most Americans now think bulk shopping means Costco or the equivalent, where it really means you can buy exactly the amount of dish soap or cinnamon you need instead of having to buy an entire gallon in a disposable (usually plastic) container.

There are overall lifestyle aesthetics to consider, too.

[mellowtigger]

I didn't think to mention the bulk buying. I've used it before, when I lived near a co-op. Unfortunately, the only bulk options here in the warzone are for candy and similar extravagances. Yes, bring-your-own-container is the best environmental choice for shopping, but there is that pesky epidemiological tradeoff unfortunately. :( I think when we finally get good AI for robots, we'll be able to hand our containers to the robot, who then fills/measures/charges us the appropriate amount, then it sanitizes itself and the dispensing equipment. Best of all worlds, then. :)

[rebeccmeister]

Heh, at our co-op, there are volunteer people who go around and very regularly clean off all of the shared contact points: scoops and bin lids. It's amazing, really. And there are hand sanitizer and (yeah, yeah) plastic gloves available as well - the gloves were required at an earlier stage in the pandemic. One pair of plastic gloves is still far better than bags and boxes for every single bulk item!

This co-op has also been making efforts to help open additional co-op locations in the region, in underserved areas in particular. I can only hope for the same in other parts of the country and world, but sadly there are still so many warzones out there.