Going plastic-free
My housemate Claire and I challenged ourselves to buy no plastic at all during the month of May 2021. I’ve been posting on our social media pages about WHAT we successfully swapped out: one plastic-free swap for each day of the month. But now I’m (finally) going to delve a bit more into the WHY.
Researching this issue has taken me on a massive internet journey through documentary films, oceanographic research and nanoscience papers, to actually reading national health survey data and international climate reports. I might not be cut out for blogging, as it’s taken me over 2 months to write this! But I now have a pretty full understanding of the drivers of global plastic pollution, and just how broad and far-reaching this issue is. It actually hits all 7 drivers of planetary health… but I can’t cover them all at once.
Sooo… it’s now a three-part series. This post looks at the evironmental and health risks of plastic accumulation, and the urgent need to switch to alternative materials where possible. Win-win#5 runs through the short but dramatic history of how we got into this plastic mess, and the waste management and recycling we need to clean it up. Finally win-win#6 will endeavour not to be too controversial, as I explore the intersection of plastic pollution and other threats to the ocean, and why protecting it is a pretty good idea.
In my lifetime: ‘Garbage Island’
When I was 19 (c. 2003) and in nursing school, a documentary in the local film festival piqued my interest. The story involved a couple of student film-makers making an epic mission across the Pacific Ocean to find out if this mythical “Garbage Island” we’d all heard rumours about, was a real thing. They finally reached the place where it was supposed to be and… there was no island! Was it all a hoax?! One of them scooped up a cup of sea water and held it up in the sunlight. It looked like plastic soup, full of tiny glinting particles. I didn’t understand the significance of this at the time (I hadn’t heard of microplastic), but it was the first insight I had that plastic pollution could get complicated.
The Great Pacific and the 5 gyres
I’m not sure when it was that the myth of “Garbage Island” solidified as the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ (GPGP). But American boat captain Charles Moore began documenting and drawing attention to it, after sailing through the patch in 1997.
In 2018, The Ocean Cleanup published the results of extensive surveys of the GPGP in the journal Nature – the patch was 4-16 times as large as previously thought. The Eastern area alone (between Hawaii and California) covers an estimated area of 1.6 million km2, contains more than 80,000 tonnes of debris, and can be seen from space in the right weather.
We now know the Great Pacific as the largest of five exponentially growing garbage patches in the major ocean gyres. Ocean currents swirl and collect debris in the gyres, the vast majority of which is… you guessed it, plastic. Single-use plastic items, microbeads from bathroom products, and fishing nets are some of the biggest culprits.
Precise data and directly comparable estimates are as difficult to pin down as a swirling ocean (I have done my best in the map below). However, I hope we can agree that the rate at which these garbage patches are growing is pretty alarming.
Today’s plastic ocean
So currently we produce and discard around 280 million tonnes of plastic each year, 8 million tonnes of which enters the oceans. Plastic waste escapes from collection facilities on the wind, washes down drains and river systems, and falls off container and fishing vessels. Discarded fishing nets can entangle, injure and drown marine animals as they drift. Turtles, fish, whales and seabirds mistake plastic bags and smaller pieces for food. Plastics can clog their digestive systems and result in malnourishment or starvation. In 1960, less than 5% of seabirds had consumed plastic; today it is 90%. This kills a million birds each year, including one in three albatross chicks. Whales and whale-sharks are also highly susceptible. They feed by taking big mouthfuls of what is hopefully plankton, krill and small fish… but unfortunately these days, often isn’t.
Plastic waste also washes up on what were previously idyllic beaches, or makes it’s way into the gyres, where the sun and ocean currents slowly degrade it into trillions of tiny pieces. Pieces smaller than 5mm are classified as microplastic (those <1μm are nanoplastic – see Win-win#6 for more on this). Microplastics are similar in size to phytoplankton; the tiny floating light-dependent organisms at the base of all marine ecosystems. Due to the buoyancy of microplastic particles, they also collect near the ocean surface, where they outnumber phytoplankton.
So zooplankton eat the microplastic. Small fish and crustaceans eat the zooplankton (and microplastics), and… well you can see how it works it’s way up the food chain and potentially onto your plate.
Plastic and health: BPA
Most people don’t like the thought of consuming plastic, but… how toxic is it really? Well you probably know of the infamous BPA (Bisphenol A), found in polycarbonate plastics (water bottles, food containers) and epoxy resins (lining some metal food and beverage cans). BPA leaches from these plastics, especially when exposed to heat or sunlight. Because BPA contains a phenol group very similar to that of natural estrogen, in the body it can trigger (or inhibit) estrogen activity, potentially interfering with development and reproductive health. It can also mimic thyroid hormones, alter glucose and lipid metabolism, and mess with dopamine pathways in the developing brain.
There is ongoing debate as to whether BPA presents a health risk at current exposure levels. Although it degrades quickly, BPA can produce biological effects at very low doses, and is widely used. The CDC reports that 93% of Americans have detectable levels of BPA in urine samples. Perhaps more concerningly, in 2016 BPA levels in US children aged 3-5 were more than twice as high as those of older children and adults.
Due to well-known concerns around BPA, you will see many products touting their “BPA free” status. Don’t buy it: this is just marketing. BPA is simply the most well-researched of many plastic chemicals. The alternative bisphenols (BPS, BPF) may in fact be more harmful. And estrogenic chemicals leach from a wide range of BPA-free plastic products, including those intended for babies.
Plastic and health: the rest
Another issue is that plastic is adsorptive. In other words, it takes up other chemicals on the surface, which you will know if you have ever stored anything containing turmeric in a plastic container. This has several implications. Firstly, plastics end up with a plethora of non-intentional additives in production. Secondly, plastic waste continues to adsorb hazardous chemicals in waste management systems, waterways, and the ocean as it fragments. This makes its environmental and health impacts unpredictable and difficult to measure.
In 2019, scientists attempted to compile a database of all chemicals associated with plastic packaging. Among the 906 chemicals likely found in packaging, 88 are classed as hazardous to human health (toxic, carcinogenic, or estrogenic). There are 74 known to bioaccumulate and cause environmental hazards. The database project was also challenged by lack of access to commercial data on chemical use, and levels and hazard-testing of chemicals in finished products.
The upshot of this is that it’s very difficult to know which chemicals are in the products you’re using, how safe they are, and how the effects of multiple toxins might combine.
Plastic and climate
In case the environmental and health risks weren’t enough, there is a third dimension to the plastic crisis. Over 99% of all plastics began as fossil fuels, and greenhouse gases are emitted at each stage of the plastic “lifecycle” (which is neither a life, nor a cycle, but that’s what they call it!). A CIEL Report in 2019 estimated the production and incineration of plastic that year produced 850 million tonnes of CO2e: the same emissions as 189 (500MW) coal plants at full capacity.
The bad news is, at current production growth rates, this is set to triple by 2050. Cumulative emissions from plastic would reach 56 gigatons: 10-13% of the remaining carbon budget to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C. This doesn’t include greenhouse gases released as plastic breaks down, or the effects of ocean microplastic on plankton… which could impair the function of the ocean as our largest natural carbon sink.
The authors conclude: Plastic proliferation threatens the climate on a global scale.
Actions for plastic-freedom
1. Turn off the tap on plastic production
I saw this clever image on Instagram (full credit @4ecosystem). Imagine your house was flooding, yet the bath tap was still on. Although mopping up and drying out the carpets is going to be important, turning the tap off would probably top your priority list.
We urgently need to turn off the tap of plastic production, and deal with this problem now.
But how?
- STOP buying new and “disposable” plastic wherever possible. Start by swapping out single use items for plastic-free reuseables, and ditching anything with microbeads. Take reusable bags, cultery, cups, containers etc. Then keep going. Shop at markets and bulk food stores. Ask your favourite retailers and producers for more plastic-free choices.
- Buy recycled (not recyclable!) plastic products. This raises demand for recycled plastic, and displaces virgin plastic from the market.
- Buy alternatives. Support companies producing plastic alternatives, wherever possible. This can also decrease your exposure to plastic toxins.
- Get political. Write to MPs, sign petitions to get single-use plastics and plastic microbeads banned in your region.
2. Be safe
- Minimise your storage of food and drinks in plastic.
- If you do use plastic containers, try to keep them cool. Plastics exposed to heat or sunlight are more likely to leach estrogenic chemicals and other toxins into your food and drinks.
3. Inform
I hope we can all start to understand and face the magnitude of the situation we find ourselves in. If we know, and decide to care about this, there are better options on the table.
- Talk to your friends and family. Share this post, and your plastic-free choices in your communities and networks.
- If you want more info, explore the resources linked below, or check out my other posts on plastic pollution.
- Talk to me! I’m so clued up on this right now, that if I don’t know something, I’ll know where to find out 🙂
Resources
Films
A Plastic Ocean (2016). If you watch one film about plastic, make it this one. I’ve seen it several times – the facts are on point, and the coverage broad.
Bag It (2015). A lighthearted look at the plastic that permeates our everyday lives. Unfortunately, it’s not on Netflix, but you can “rent” it on Vimeo.
Albatross. Photographer and artist Chris Jordan explores the effects of plastic on the albatross of Midway Island with his camera and poetic lens. Offered free as a gift to the world 🤍 (Warning – this film is confronting).
Websites
Petitions
Come on Australia – the Kiwis are ahead with their petition! 😉
