Plastic, Plastic, Plastic Everywhere..

What do we do about plastic?

Like oil, plastic has changed and shaped almost every aspect of our daily lives. Anyone will be hard pressed to not touch or be influenced in some way by plastic products. Our addiction to plastic products leads to about “8 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans each year” (Purdue University. 2019, February 06). Everyone in this course is very aware of the plastic products we use every day and their impact on becoming a more sustainable society. What annoys me about this fact is that we all still forget to bring a reusable mug or shopping bag and end up doing what we know is wrong. This got me thinking why. Why do we have to force consumers to shift behavior so much to stop consuming the way we want to consume. This reminded me of the concept of “convenience” we recently discussed in class. It also reminded me of the Cradle to Cradle concept, which led me to ask and research on what we are doing to change the product rather than the habit.

Here are two really good videos on exactly this idea.

Inside the Lab That Could Solve the World’s Plastics Problem (Unsolvable: Episode 1)

Chemical Conversion of Plastic Waste into Fuel

Both videos hit an important topic. Specifically, we have the means to make these changes but aren’t yet willing to implement them due to costs and economies of scale. I think that a solution to these issues similar to early EV cars is for the government to give companies rebates for using plastics that can be reused. This could extend to the government also helping to fund and speed up research and implementation of the needed infrastructure.

Currently, we can recycle a lot of our plastics, however, that plastic is rarely used for the same thing it was recycled from.For example, a water bottle will leave the water bottle lifecycle, be used for carpet or something before becoming landfill waste. We need to avoid this idea of recycling because we’re instead prolonging the time it takes plastic to get to the landfill, rather than actually solving the issue. What do you think society collectively should do? Will manufacturers truly start thinking about the end of life use of their product, rather than putting it in a recyclable container that is not easily recycled?

References:

Purdue University. (2019, February 06). Millions of tons of plastic waste could be turned into clean fuels, other products. Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190206131956.htm

(2019, February 07). Retrieved March 09, 2019, from https://youtu.be/ZqRbc_0SaVs

Cotroneo. (2019, February 21). This ingenious technique could turn plastic waste into clean fuel. Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/plastic-waste-converted-gas-fuel