Reducing Our Reliance on Plastics to Save the Planet

Presented by Anu Vermu, Accelerate Climate Solutions, Naperville. (Summary by Bonnie Gahris)

On October 25 at our program meeting, Anu Vermu presented an interesting look at the history of plastic use and the dilemma we now face. She said we have been such a large presence on this small planet. In the United States of 200 years ago, we lived mostly on farms, while now we’re mostly urban. Our ecological footprint has grown. We are now using enough resources for five planets. Interestingly, only five percent of families now cook from scratch, which means more trash and waste.

The Anthropocene* markers are nuclear, agriculture, marine pollution, chicken bones, and plastic pollution. On the other hand, there’s no waste in nature. But nearly everything we do creates trash, and plastic is a big part of it. Where do we intervene as consumers? Plastic is moldable and light but breaks easily into very small pieces. Nine billion tons of plastic have been produced to date, including:

• 100 billion plastic bags per year in U.S. alone
• 280 billion beverage containers per year, of which 78 billion are bottled water products
• 56.1 billion individual plastic utensils
• 9.7 billion cigarette butts
• 120-130 billion plastic cups

Recycling is challenging. Aluminum is highly recyclable, but there are many kinds of plastics, #1 to #7, as shown below. Naperville alone uses 55 million bags per year.

There is no producer responsibility. Recycling is a commodity market. Producers promote recycling because it makes us feel better. We’re not recycling, we’re collecting!! Recyclability doesn’t mean anything. Consider that one percent of disposal problem compares to 99% of production/consumption problem.

In short, recycling is a broken system because:

• Low oil prices keep price of virgin plastic very low.
• Countries in Asia don’t take our dirty bales of plastic any more.
• Low weight and low-price packaging are not profitable for recycling.

A DANGEROUS GAME

The idea of a circular economy with plastics is not feasible. Recycling is necessary, but not necessarily ideal. The following illustration shows how waste prevention is best for the environment.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• We need repair shops to fix broken products. Ask your city to open a repair shop.
• Check out Illinois Environmental Council for bills on recycling.  See https://ilenviro.org/waste-reduction/
• We need to revise our concept of reuse.
• Illinois is a pre-emptive state, where you can’t put a ban on a ban. There are ways everyday you can refuse plastic. Think about how we use plastic. Start by doing an audit in your own home of your practices.

 CONCLUSION

Anu made it clear that consumerism is at the heart of the problem. Let’s start by saying “we have enough.”

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*Period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.