The Plastic Problem

The Plastic Problem (2019)

• 120 million plastic bottles used everyday 

• Easter Island Microplastic problem coming from the South Pacific garbage patch 

• If current habits continue, it is predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastics in our ocean than fish 

• Every piece of plastic ever produced is likely still here in some form 

• Plastic in a lake can be more dangerous than in an ocean because it is smaller and leaves less room to dilute it

  • While about 1 in 4 fish in the ocean has plastic in their stomach, every single fish in Lake Ontario has at least one piece of microplastic in their stomachs

• More than 9 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since 1950, which weighs more than 27,000 Empire State buildings or more than a billion elephants 

• Plastic = convenient, durable, limitless, cheap, useful 

  • Disposable needles

  • Prosthetic limbs 

  • Phones 

  • Packaging 

• Annual production of plastic is 200 times greater than in 1950

• Recycling was at its best in the US during the Great Depression and WWII 

• Keep America Beautiful Ad = funded by packaging manufacturers 

• The global recycling rate is estimated to be 9 percent 

• Recycling is part of the problem 

  • You can’t cycle materials through a system forever — it needs to be disposed eventually 

  • Only solution = make less plastic 

• Americans create 4.5 pounds of trash per person per day 

• There are 7 types of plastic, and not every type can be reused 

• Plastics from the US were sent to China until March of 2018 when they refused to buy anymore and be “the world’s dumping ground”

  • Malaysia became the world’s greatest importer of plastic waste until they banned imports in 2018

    • This pushed smugglers to collect and burn plastic in illegal grounds farther into the jungle 

• 40 percent of all plastic is single use packaging 

• Bans of single use plastic in Dominica, Scotland, Rwanda, etc.

• Only 25% of Americans fully support a national ban on single use plastic 

• Preemption bans keep local government from making plastic bans 

• The vast majority of small items such as straws fall through the machinery and are unable to be recycled 

• “Put on your big boy pants and get used to it” — Bob Donegan, owner of Ivar’s restaurant in Seattle (in reference to his restaurant’s use of compostable straws)

• Vendors at Seattle Mariners stadium are required to use compostable products 

• Canadians are more likely to pay more to reduce waste compared to Americans 

• Reusing and recycling will not be the solution, especially when 91 percent of the world’s plastic goes unrecycled 

• Coca Cola sells over 120 billion plastic bottles a year 

  • Laid end to end, those bottles could wrap around the earth 700 times 

• British company MacREBUR makes recycled plastic pellets into asphalt to create longer lasting and cheaper roads

• The only large scale total elimination process for plastic is incineration, but that can release toxic chemicals into the air 

• Plastic eating bacteria?

  • Right now, they are too slow for our use 

  • Early stages 

• Brewery waste used to make wrapping that is transparent, compostable, and edible