How our plastic consumption will affect our future
We all know that plastic isn’t good for the planet, but do we know quite how bad it is, how it will affect our future as humans, and what it’s doing to the animals we share the planet with?
From food packaging to plastic water bottles to plastic utensils, we are a throwaway society. But there really is no “away,” there’s only here, and plastics can live for a thousand years. Our capitalist society thrives on selling, and we need to get past that and begin to think about conserving instead. Before it really is too late.
Plastic or planet?
Part of the problem is that plastics aren’t just one material, and the different materials are often mixed with glues and flame retardants, so that separating them afterwards is quite difficult.
Recycled plastic is generally a lower grade product, and not much sought after.
Only a tiny fraction of the plastic that we use gets recycled, and then not all of that is actually used.
References:
Oil and Plastic are choking the planet: David Suzuki
We need plastics. But how do we avoid choking the planet with them?
A million bottles a minute: world’s plastic binge ‘as dangerous as climate change’
In Canada, the federal government is planning to ban single-use plastics, but not until 2021, nearly two years behind some parts of the United States. The states of Hawaii, California, New York, Oregon and others already have some legislation in place to ban single-use plastics.
Most legislation has disturbing loopholes.
Less than 10 % of plastic waste is recycled in Canada, with most of the remainder ending up in landfills.
References:
Government to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021 (Canada)
Is the planned plastic ban enough?
Plastic affects animals too
Animals on land and in the water are suffering from our plastic addiction too. They get tangled in it and either choke or starve to death. They eat it and it expands in their stomachs so that they starve to death. It gets in their nostrils so that they can’t breathe.
Projections say that at some point the plastic in the oceans will weigh more than all of the animals who live there.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a floating patch of garbage in the Pacific about the size of France. And it’s growing. What we didn’t know until recently was that nearly half of it is made up of plastic and garbage from fishing gear and fishing nets.
Ghostnets, a term coined to describe purposely discarded or accidentally lost netting, drift through the ocean, entangling whales, bird, seals, and turtles.
An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.
The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates, and baskets.
References:
Pregnant sperm whale found dead with 48 pounds of plastic in stomach
Dead whale found in Philippines with 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach
Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic
How to reduce your plastic consumption
- Buy items made from sustainable materials instead of plastic like bamboo toothbrushes
- Buy items that come without packaging like soap bars instead of plastic pump bottles
- Buy in bulk and use reusable containers. Check out some of our local vendors who have reusable container programs.
- Refuse to buy fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic, and speak to stores about this.
- Encourage others, and vote with our wallets.
- Join zero waste groups, and get involved in making change at a governmental level.
- Watch the film Plastic Oceans (see below), and share it with others.
- Learn to live differently, and the more people who take a pledge to reduce or eliminate their plastic, the better off we will all be.
Further Reading: