SINGLE-USE PLASTIC:

SH-KEYSTONE

PURPOSE

• To inform the everyday person about issues with plastics and alternative - what is being done about them what should be done, and what you can do as a consumer.
• To persuade people to do what they can to reduce plastic, but understand some plastic use is unavoidable.

What is single-use plastic?

According to the National Resource Defense Council, “Single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily of fossil fuel based chemicals and meant to be disposed after use often in mere minutes”(Lindwall).

Why are single use plastics harmful?

The NRDC states, “Single use plastics are a glaring example of the problems with throwaway culture. Instead of investing in quality goods that will last, we often proioritize convenience over long term impacts” (Lindwall).

EXAMPLES OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC

• Plastic grocery bags
• Styrofoam/ plastic food containers
• Plastic bottles
• Plastic straws
• Plastic cups
• Plastic cutlery
• Plastic packaging

IMPACTS OF SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

• Styrofoam & Plastic bags can take up to 1,ooo years to decompose (Giacovelli).
• Marine litter harms over 600 marine species (Giacovelli).
• Styrofoam contains materials are toxic and carcinogenic (Giacovelli).
• The process of creating plastic produces a lot of carbon (Giacovelli).

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WHAT HAPPENS TO PLASTIC?

• Even when plastic is recycled it often is contaminated and has to be put into landfills. People often “wishcycle” by putting things they think can be recycled - but can’t - in recycling (Hagerty & Espinoza).

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• The United Nations Environment Programme reports, “According to recent estimates, 79% of the plastic waste ever produced now sits in landfills, dumps or in the environment, while about 12% has been incinerated and only 9% has been recycled” (Giacovelli).

IS BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC BETTER?

• How Stuff Works reported the findings from the University of Plymouth in England: “Soil and seawater didn’t lead to [biodegradable] bag degradation. Instead, three out of four types of biodegradable bags were still sturdy enough to hold up to 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms)” (Vermillion).

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• The UN Environment Programme remarks, “Often ‘biodegradable’ plastic items (including single-use plastic bags and containers) break down completely only if exposed to prolonged high temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F)” (Giacovelli).

CHALLENGES OF PLASTIC MANAGEMENT

• Plastic management is getting more difficult because it is getting more expensive to take care of recycling. No one wants to deal with the recycling that has already piled up. More plants are shutting down, and more countries are banning importing recycling from other countries.

WHAT IS BEING DONE ALREADY?

• Some countries/states/groups have placed bans or discouragements on certain plastics (mainly plastic shopping bags). There are various ways this is being done including: giving a discount if the customer brings a reusable bag and charging for plastic bags, or totally banning sale, use, production, import or export of single-use plastics.

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• Forbes reported, “China, one of the world’s largest consumers of plastics, just announced its plan to ban single use plastics across the country.” It has proposed a country wide ban by 2025; the proposal will ban things in phases (Nace).

Are the restricions effective?

WHY DOES SO MUCH PLASTIC END UP NOT BEING RECYCLED?

• Plastic not being recycled is in part due to lack of awareness and individual follow through and in larger part not enough infrastructure to manage it all (Lindwall).
• China was importing approximately 1/2 of the world’s plastic waste but, since 2018, China has enacted numerous policies which vastly limit the amount of plastic imported (Hagerty & Espinoza).

WHERE ARE THESE BANS HAPPENING?

• The continent with the largest amount of bans is Africa, where over half the countries have implemented a national ban (Giacovelli).
• North America has no nation bans, but some cities that have implemented some (Giacovelli).

WHAT ARE ALTERNATIVES TO USING PLASTIC? AND ARE THEY USABLE?

• There are many options that are reusable, such as reusable water bottles, reusable bags. or reusable cutlery (Charles-Donalson).
• Even though there are many alternatives, they often have higher drawbacks and require planning ahead of time.

PLASTIC STRAWS AND DISABILITY

• Plastic straws have been a “hot button” issue over the past few years, after a video of a turtle with a straw in its nose went viral (Kellgren-Fozard).
• Many people got mad about people using straws and think that stopping the use of them will save the environment. But in reality, plastic “straws are only 0.025% of that [plastic waste in the world]” (Kellgren-Fozard).

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• And because of that many places have put a ban on plastic straws but there are many people who need straws because of disabilities (Kellgren-Fozard).
• The prominent current bans are mostly about not giving everyone who comes into a restaurant a straw immediately. But they usually still will give them to you if requested.

ALTERNATIVES TO PLASTIC

• There are many alternatives to plastic straws but for some they are not a feasible option. Some of the reasons these can be a problem include: allergy risk, choking hazard, injury risk, not positionable, not hot liquid safe, dissolves after long use hard to sanitize (Kellgren-Fozard).
• They also can not be an option for some people because of price and where they can be purchased.

CONTINUED

• Alternatives such as paper straws are worse in some ways, like requiring more energy and resources to manufacture than plastic (Hugh).
• The Get Green Now Blog asserts, “The production of paper bags uses four times as much energy as the production of plastic ones” (Hugh).

EXCEPTION NEEDED TO PLASTIC BANS

• Countries considering plastic bans should consider exceptions for these important health-related items:
• Plastic straws
• Plastic medical gloves
• Sterile plastic packaging
• Surgical tools
• Medical containers

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WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

• Educate yourself about what you can do in your community to help.
• Reduce your use of plastic.
• DON’T police others’ use of plastic.
• Explore alternatives to plastic - figure out what works best for you.
• Hold governments/ companies accountable for their policies around plastic.

WORK CITED