Day Three: Is Plastic the Devil?

Today's blog got kind of long so please cruise around to the topic that interests you...

Trash Tally

There's definitely a pattern I'm seeing so far... Lots of recycling and composting with very little in the landfill category except for the defunct shower curtain today and the kitty litter every day (which finally filled the bucket after three days and three pounds - go kitties, I think you are winning!). 

 

Yessssss!!!! Chek owt my victoree leep!

However, in any category besides composting, plastic is usually the most common material. 

 
Plastic as a Miracle
Plastic is awful for the environment and I'll focus on that below (because it's really important!) but I also want to recognize the amazingness of plastic. Yes, I made up a word to describe plastic. 

With what other material can you make so many incredibly useful and convenient things? :
•  plastic wrap, tubs and jugs, etc. (think of the food spoilage that would happen without this!)
•  PVC (plumbing, iPhones, computers anyone?)
•  Styrofoam, synthetic rubber, nylon, polyester, silicone - the list goes on...

And don't forget one of my favorite plastic miracles:

 

As you go about your day, how many times do you touch, use, or depend on something that has plastic in it? Imagine if everything we had could only be made from metal, wood, cotton, wool, or leather - the main materials in use just 60 years ago. But of course there's the another side to plastic...


Plastic as a Nightmare
While one of the great features of plastic is its durability, this is also part of its curse. Depending on which source you go by, plastic is estimated to persist in the environment for hundreds to thousands to millions of years.

One of the most sobering examples of plastic's persistence is the newly-famous Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This is a gyre of (mostly plastic) debris caught in the North Pacific Gyre in the Pacific Ocean. 

Some estimates say its the size of Texas. Others say it's bigger than the continental United States. It's a mobile, changeable mass that is impossible to see from satellite because most of the pieces are too small. Something that is known is that in this gyre, for every one zooplankton* there are six pieces of plastic. It's horrifying to think of the animals accidentally eating this trash - and perhaps equally horrifying to wonder how such an intelligent species could lose track of so much trash. So let's be more intelligent.

* zooplankton are tiny drifting sea organisms that, along with phytoplankton, provide the base of the oceanic food web


What Can We Do?

It's easy to feel helpless and immobilized by an issue so huge and pervasive in our world. But I agree with Margaret Mead:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
 
Start thinking small, just yourself and your household: how can I reduce, reuse, and recycle my plastic? How can I keep it from ending up in the ocean?

Let's start with some simple ideas:

• Buy in bulk whenever possible (this saves packaging and money!).
• Keep your reusable grocery bags in your car at all times and make yourself take a minute to go to get them if you forget - you'll be less likely to forget them again after that. And get some if you don't have them already!
• Use Tupperware, Pyrex, and reusable food sacs or wraps for lunches/portable eating.

One of my favorites are the Wrap-n-Mats - thanks Shannon! (www. wrapnmat.com)

• Reuse any plastic bags you acquire from the grocery store, phonebook/newspaper wrappings, etc. for buying in bulk, holding trash, etc. We haven't bought any kind of plastic bags in YEARS because we simply reuse what inevitably comes into our house over time.

Our handy plastic bag dryer makes it easy to reuse them over and over.

• Recycle as much of it as you possibly can, including e-waste like phones and computers. Gradually I am seeing more options for recycling more types of plastic, especially the stretchy film type used in food wrapping, bubble wrap, etc. I'll post soon about my visit to Far West Fibers to dispose of this kind of plastic.
• Donate plastic toys, gadgets, furniture, etc. to Goodwill for a second chance at life before condemning them to landfill! Didn't anyone see 'Toy Story 3'?
• If you must send it to the landfill, take some precautions. When disposing of empty plastic bags, tie them in a knot. This will make it harder for a good wind to whip them off the landfill and back into the environment/ocean.
• And if your city hasn't done it yet, push for a plastic bag ban in grocery/retail stores.

Keep hopeful. More than 20 cities have banned plastic bags in the last five years. This is just once great example of how change is happening and you can be part of it.

And please share any ideas or any methods you use to reduce your impact and use of plastic.



All images are my own unless specified below:
North Pacific Gyre from Wikimedia Commons::http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:North_Pacific_Gyre_World_Map.png

Contact Lens from Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Contact_Lens_Ayala.jpg