The Impossible Task of Cutting Plastic Out of Your Life
August 5, 2008 · Print This Article
Image via Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Plastic is a cancer on the environment and yet we just can’t get enough of it. Just try to get through one day without plastic – it’s impossible. Your shampoo is in a plastic bottle. Your car has plastic all over the interior. Open your fridge door – plastic. Turn on a light – plastic. Brush your teeth, have safe sex, wear a Hawaiian shirt – plastic, plastic and more plastic.
Though I was always aware of plastic being problematic for the environment, I never considered trying to dramatically reduce my use of it until I had a wake-up call a few months back. After discovering that I had several health problems related to high levels of estrogen, a female hormone, I started doing some research and learned about the connection between hormones like estrogen and compounds found in plastic, such as Bisphenol A (BPA). Tests have shown BPA to be an endocrine disrupter, and it’s linked to health issues like breast cancer, prostate cancer, infertility, early onset of puberty and insulin resistance. BPA is found in plastic water bottles, reusable food containers, baby bottles and canned food liners, among many other items.
That led me to examine how much plastic I’ve really been using on a daily basis. Once you start thinking about how much plastic is in your life, it can be overwhelming. It’s everywhere, and health effects are far from the only dangers of the petroleum-based material. From the raw materials used to create it to where it ends up when we no longer want it, plastic has an incredibly large, negative footprint on the earth. Cradle to Cradle it’s not.
Plastic begins its life as petroleum, which is drilled and transported to refineries. Then the crude oil and natural gas is refined into ethane, propane and thousands of other petrochemical products. Ethane and propane are “cracked” into ethylene and propylene using high-temperature furnaces, and then a catalyst is combined with them in a reactor, resulting in what’s called ‘fluff’ – powdered polymers. The fluff is combined with additives in a blender, fed into an extruder where it’s melted, allowed to cool and then fed to a pelletizer that cuts it into small pellets. The pellets are shipped to manufacturers who then process it into various products (Source: ReachOutMichigan.org).
As you can see, the production of plastic is yet another way in which we’re dependent on foreign oil, and oil drilling is hard on the environment. Plastic also clogs our landfills. It can take 200 to 400 years to degrade, and only 3% of plastic waste is currently recycled, partially due to the fact that facilities to recycle most types of plastic simply don’t exist in most cities (Source: Learner.org). Consumers have little choice but to throw their plastic waste in the trash.
Ocean Gyres: The Pacific Gyre is top center. Image via Wikimedia Commons
As if that weren’t bad enough, then there’s the plastic that ends up in our oceans. The swirling vortex of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is a prime example of how our love affair with plastic is damaging the environment. The trash gyre takes up an astonishingly large area of the Pacific Ocean – twice the surface area of the continental United States. It’s essentially the world’s largest garbage dump, and it’s held in place by swirling underwater currents. It stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, across the northern Pacific nearly as far as Japan. Researchers have called it ‘plastic soup’, and includes everything from footballs and kayaks to children’s toys and shopping bags.
Plastic is believed to account for 90% of the trash in oceans, and it’s been known to kill marine life. The UN Environment Program estimates that plastic debris causes the death of more than 1 million seabirds each year, along with 100,000 marine mammals. Entanglement or ingestion of plastics have been known to cause death or suffering to at least 267 different species including turtles, seabirds, seals, sea lions, whales and fish.
Motivated by all of this knowledge, I set out to reduce the amount of plastic that I used in my daily life as much as possible. It didn’t take long to discover that cutting plastic out of your life in this day and age is virtually impossible. You’d have to totally change practically every facet of your life in order to avoid it. I began my quest to reduce my plastic use mainly concerned with plastics that come into contact with my food and drinks, as well as the products I apply directly to my skin, like lotion. It wasn’t too hard to replace my food containers and cups with all glass and ceramic, but then I started thinking about all of the plastic that surrounds me every day and how hard it would be to totally avoid it.
One thing I realized early on is that attempting to avoid plastic can either be really cheap or really expensive. If you go the cheap route, you’re bound to be living a pretty primitive existence, because finding alternatives to plastic for everyday items isn’t always possible. If you try to replace everything you own that’s made with plastic, you’re going to get frustrated fast because often, alternatives just aren’t out there.
You can get wooden or cloth kids toys instead of plastic, replace your toothbrush with a wooden one, buy staples in bulk (and use glass containers to house the items), only wear natural fabrics and replace cheap fixtures around your house with vintage glass or ceramic. But, you’ll have to forgo sunglasses, electronics and those little plastic pumps on your liquid hand soap. Forget medical or dental work - plastic abounds. Want to paint your house? The paint cans are plastic. Switching to tap water instead of bottled? You’ll have to drink it straight from the faucet, because filters are encased in plastic. Better switch to an entirely whole foods diet, because one stroll through the grocery store will show you that most items are encased in plastic bottles, bags, wrap or mesh.
Christine Jeavans with some of her plastic purchases – Image via BBC News
One woman in the UK is attempting to go without plastic for the entire month of August, and will be documenting her journey on the BBC News website. Christine Jeavans has resolved not to purchase anything that contains plastic or is packaged in plastic, and in preparation for this, she has kept all of the plastic she used in the previous month – totaling 603 items. Included in that total were 67 food packaging bags and films, 13 yogurt cups, 10 milk bottles and 120 disposable diapers. Once faced with all of this plastic, Chris was more resolved than ever to change her lifestyle. She’ll be updating her blog with her progress throughout the month.
I’m still sorting through my own attempts to reduce the amount of plastic I use, with mixed results – but hoping to do better going forward. While I can’t yet replace all of the plastic items in my home with longer-lasting, safer alternatives, I will definitely be far more conscious of what I purchase in the future. I’m already avoiding food with unnecessary packaging and thinking about where each item I purchase will end up when I’m done with it.
Luckily, the world at large is beginning to wake up from our decades-long plastic nightmare. Many new companies are offering plant-based packaging that breaks down when composted. Biodegradable packaging can be seen on everything from take-out containers to personal care products, and biodegradable options are available for items like trash bags and packaging tape.
There’s no doubt that plastic has revolutionized the way we live, and greatly sped up the advancement of modern civilization. But, times are once again a-changin’ – and we’ve got to find a better way. We’re a long way away from completely cutting plastic out of our lives – and it may never happen. But with the green revolution fueling sustainable technology like never before, we’re sure to see more ways that we can cut back.
Perhaps more companies will soon discover the merits of the Cradle to Cradle design philosophy, and we’ll soon have a wealth of materials that are even better than plastic that don’t harm the earth. And perhaps we can all be a little more conscious about the life cycle of every item we purchase – especially plastic – for our health and for the earth.
Related Posts:
The Pacific Ocean Gyre: A Huge Swirling Mass of Sadness (and Plastic)Activists Take Junk Journey Through ‘Plastic Soup’ in Pacific Ocean
It’s Mind Blowing Time: VBS.TV Visits the Garbage Filled Pacific Ocean Gyre
Many Face Scrubs Contain Tiny Water-Polluting Beads of Plastic
The Secrets of Trash on Nuclear Aircraft Carriers
Nice post–good explanation of what the issues with plastic are. But I’m surprised you don’t seem to have heard of Fake Plastic Fish! She’s been trying to eliminate plastic from her life as much as possible since June 2007. Her blog is great.
Excellent post. Because of this i’ve just been researching the big plastic junk yard you mention. I had absolutely no idea about this. That’s outright and downright terrifying. How do we let this happen. Or, more worringly, how do we fix this?
I really wish you the best of luck in your attempt to reduce the amount of plastic in your life. It is a very great objective, and if it proves to improve your health that will be a great boost to the cause.
Yes we need to get off plastics and I have been trying myself for now 4 months, but finding alternatives has been very difficult to do… some alternatives like ones at http://worldcentric.org/biocompostables are great but need some infrastructure or facilities to compost them… and this type of alternative still is on the model of disposing… a model which I’m not a huge fan of. Other alternatives have issues of their own… like I was trying to replace plastic garden equipment (hoses, caps, and etc) but the alternatives have lead in them… It seems as if every product has environmental and health issues… I do not want any plastics at all in my home and I do not want any other harmful products… I would like a resource that shows alternatives that are not harmful for health and environment.
It’s so hard to cut out plastic when you think of it even being part of your fridge door. One thing that is hard for me being in the organic clothing industry is that clothes generally are sent to me wrapped in plastic to avoid getting weathered or ruined during shipment. This always makes me feel bad, because i go to great lengths not to use much plastic (like bring my own bags etc) - and I wish there was a better alternative then shipping apparel to retailers in plastic.
Leslie, that is definitely tough… could the retailers not wrap the clothing in waxed recycled paper, or something like that?
[...] the life cycle of every item we purchase – especially plastic – for our health and for the eartread more | digg [...]
Plastic was never the problem so much as no one bothered to develop a way to get rid of it efficiently during the last 40 years
I would like to understand your reason for trying to remove it from your life.
1. The BPA issue is highly debatable, and even so, would only be commonly seen in polycarbonate which aren’t as popular as most others and could easily be cut out except maybe your eyeglass lenses.
2. How many of those seabirds are dying from eating it rather than getting choked by the plastic rings from 6pack holders.
3. The paint on your house is a plastic, not just the can….look at the functionality… do you actually want to remove it from your life?
4. Mostly all of your lotions and shampoos and conditioners all contain plastics. They are the polymers that make your skin silky smooth and your hair smooth and soft.
Please look at all of the positives in plastics rather than the negatives. Honestly, if there were currently better alternatives, you could buy them. Also, the biodegradable plastics are very expensive and not very good quality. Most large companies are trying very hard to make these bio-degradable plastics a reality.
[...] read more | digg story [...]
Jon, your reasoning for needing plastic isn’t as clear-cut as you think.
1) Yes, studies showing just how much of a role BPA plays in various health problems are still being done right now, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe. And, BPA is just one problem - who knows how many more substances like BPA are out there? Look at the issue with pthalates in plastic kids’ toys - nobody knew how harmful they were, Exxon (who manufactures phtalates) spent a lot of money to prevent the truth from coming out, and only now are we beginning to see the need to ban these toxic substances. The truth is, we don’t know what exactly is in our plastic items - it could be years before we find out that X, Y and Z substances in plastic cause all sorts of issues.
2) Indeed, seabirds are dying from eating it - I never said they’re just dying from getting stuck in plastic rings. But, hello, the fact that there’s so much plastic litter out there that birds are dying from mistaking it for food just goes to show how big the problem is!
3) “Look at the functionality” - there are many alternatives to paints made with polymers! Out there, readily available, right now. I’m sure that we’ll soon have paint cans made of materials other than plastic. Companies are becoming more aware.
4) None of my products contain that stuff. I use only pure, basic, simple products and I check every single ingredient to make sure I know exactly what I’m putting on my body. There ARE easy ways around many of these issues. You just have to be willing to put forth the effort.
The Impossible Task of Cutting Plastic Out of Your Life…
Plastic is a cancer on the environment and yet we just can’t get enough of it. Just try to get through one day without plastic – it’s impossible. Your shampoo is in a plastic bottle. Your car has plastic all over the interior. Open your fridge do…
Just thought I’d point out—in the spirit of the article—that even that wooden toothbrush you suggested has nylon (plastic) bristles. It amazes me how difficult it is to avoid plastic in our society. Even printed circuit boards are accomplices in this case.
It is amazing to me that something so obviously terrible as the fact that we throw away billions of pounds of plastics a day should be controversial. To anyone who understands what sustainability means our current behaviors appear totally insane. If we ever make it to a sustainable future, it will be illegal to sell products in plastics that can’t be recycled and it will be illegal not to recycle. This isn’t a matter of violating our personal liberties or big government intervention, it is common sense. We live in an unstable system now where manufacturers can put their products in any packaging they want with no regard for the full lifecycle of the packaging or the products or the toxic byproducts that go into making them and are released when they degrade. In a sustainable future these things will as seem as bizarre and wrong-headed to our decedents as doctors prescribing heroin children for coughs does to us (yes that was common 100 years ago).
People concerned about the environment too often fall into the trap of demanding that everyone give up everything they have to save the world. While we seriously need to curb our unbridled consumptive habits, we have reached a point in our technological development that we can build a sustainable world and give everyone a better standard of living and a higher quality of life.
The problem is not that we use plastic - plastic is great for so many things - that’s why there is so much of it. The problem is that the plastic we use is toxic and gets thrown out instead of recycled when we are done with it.
In a sustainable future, plastics will be non-toxic we will all have desktop fabricators to make the parts we need to repair the things we own by recycling the plastic we use ourselves. This may seem far-fetched now, but 10 years ago I don’t think most people would have believed you could get a phone that would show you the location of all your friends, in realtime, on a satellite map of your neighborhood (yes the iPhone does that). The way these things become real is for people to demand that they become real. We need to have the vision and see a better future and then we need to educate our friends, tell everyone we know and demand that the people with power make rational decisions based on sound science.
Just kinda curious, recycle?
[...] August 7, 2008 by infiniteworld There is a great article over at earthfirst.com about how hard it is to reduce the amount of plastic in our lives (link). [...]
pulling out uses plastic?
@Kevin: recycling could be an option if more facilities existed. Right now, most of the plastic we consume can’t be recycled even if there is a recycle symbol on it. Most local recycling facilities only process limited types of plastic. The rest of it goes to landfills (or out to the ocean…) It would be great if waste management companies could jump on a more efficient way to turn all this plastic crap into something useful.
@brock - good luck with that
it’s notoriously unreliable.
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Great write-up and something that I’ve been increasingly aware of in my own life. Hopefully once we get the oil crisis solved in general we can start focusing on plastic alternatives.
I did have one correction for you: while some plastics are produced by imported oil, the majority of plastics come from domestic natural gas. This other blogger did a bit of background research: http://happyinvestor.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/oil-and-plastics/
oh my god very great ideas!
“Right now, most of the plastic we consume can’t be recycled even if there is a recycle symbol on it.”
I just wanted to point out that the recycling symbol on products has nothing to do with their ability to be recycled. The symbol merely indicates the type of plastic, the recycling symbol isn’t meant to indicate that it can be recycled just that this is the type of plastic in reference to recycling. Some of the numbers that accompany that symbol cannot be recycled by most facilities ( I won’t say all because I honestly have no idea). So please don’t let that symbol lead you to believe that you’ll be able to recycle the item, check your local recycling companies policy.
I once kept all of my plastic bags in a corner in my room. Once the pile grew to a mountain, I decided to put them all into one bag and not bring in any more. I carry a messenger bag most times I shop so that I can avoid plastic bags.
This was a great article because it brings light to all of the little plastic items that are often overlooked. It’s tough to avoid, but in some ways it’s not the job of the customer. If only more companies could make the switch to packaging that only lasts the lifetime of the product instead of outliving the person that buys it.
Time for the biodegradable type of plastic which can be made easily available in all products to come to the fore!
Huh, alright. I didnt see any mention in the article so maybe i had read over it.
[...] The Impossible Task of Cutting Plastic Out of Your Life - Plastic is ubiquitous. There are even swirling masses of garbage in the ocean. It is nearly impossible to stop consuming plastic. [...]
On the topic of high estrogen,
I see a lot of people with high estrogen, but it turns out most of the time it is from eating too much soy based food (tofu, soy chips, etc) which contain isoflavones which act as phytoestrogens in humans, which means there is too much of a good thing regarding soy.
Greg - that can be true, and part of the problem, but it’s not the only reason for it. (I personally don’t eat much soy).
This post and the comments are really informative. Thanks for all the great info!
I work in healthcare and I am constantly dismayed by the new plastic thing they introduce to replace the old metal thing. It is all in the name of patient/provider safety or convenience. There are new plastic safety devices on every needle (though no decrease in needle sticks, studies show), plastic coated disposable gowns and masks (replacing cloth), and even plastic duckbills for vaginal exams (replacing the horridly cold metal, I know, but not necessary!) And that is just the beginning. Someone is literally making millions coming up with the new plastic devices that will be adopted by hospitals across the country to reduce disease transmission (but are really not making a dent.) Here’s an idea - lets just make the whole hospital plastic and we will tear it down every 2 weeks and put up another one with no bacteria in it - brand spanking new.
PS This is not the only thing not green about health care. Besides not recycling and using too much styrofoam and paper, they actually have cloth towels and metal instruments that are “one use” and then we have to throw it away! Disposable metal instruments? Fortunately, I know an underground community of people who sterilize it, throw it in their messenger bags and carry it off to Africa or Central America where they DESPERATELY need it. Disposable cloth towels? I did know one doctor who thought they were the best thing for spit shining his sports car. Not the best example, but it works.
Plastic is our legacy to the future. 10,000 years from now .. our ancestors will ponder what kind of civilization needed, plastic Emo cup holders and millions of Ziploc bags filled with decaying Hamburger Helper.
Come on .. it is the only thing that will survive .. well that and our nuclear waste