The Problem With Plastic

So we all know plastic is a problem and many people think it’s enough to “recycle” their waste. This is dangerous nonsense. Research shows that only about 9% of global plastic production ever gets recycled. The rest goes in the sea, is burned or landfilled. But it gets worse. Before we throw it away it poisons our children: in 2018 plastic toys appeared in more than half the EU warnings about toxic chemicals in consumer products. But it gets worse. Food packaging is full of toxic chemicals. Why aren’t our governments doing anything ? The effects are still being studied while the plastics industry delays and denies so that it can continue business as usual. There is good evidence that these toxins are harmful but they are still being sold billions of times a day. Part of the problem is that scientists cannot find “control” populations that are unaffected by this chemical pollution because it is everywhere, in our drinking water, in the snow, in the rain in the air . Humans are estimated to eat and drink 74,000 microplastic particles a year, or 200 every day, which, as one article colourfully put it, means that the average person swallows a credit card a week. Plastics are now found in human faeces. But it gets worse. Humans are poisoning their food production with plastic. Plastics are proven to harm aquatic life. Meanwhile on land we are feeding plastics to farm animals, because it is legal in the EU and many other countries to have 0.15% plastic in processed animal feed. Many farmers also spread microplastics on arable land because commercial compost and manure is also legally permitted to contain plastic. But it gets worse. We now have evidence that earthworms are adversely affected by microplastics, and everybody knows that healthy earthworms are vital for healthy soils which are vital for food production.

So how did we get to this sorry state and what should be done ? Well, the causes are ignorance and greed. Ignorance, in that most regulators and consumers didn’t know much of this. Greed, in that once it started becoming clear there was a problem, all of the decision makers were too busy making money or receiving tax revenue or bribes from the plastics (petrochemical) industries to want to stop the growth of the problem. Meanwhile consumers were sold the myth of recycling so that they could be lulled in to a false sense of security about buying all that plastic. Consumers are now addicted to the ease and convenience of single use plastic. Make no mistake: Plastic is Poison. It will continue to harm people, wildlife and soil and will undermine our ability to feed the human population. The only effective policy solution is to ban all single use plastic and to treat multi-use plastic like any other toxic waste: it must be tracked, the manufacturer must be responsible for it and it and there must be safe, well-regulated disposal facilities. Many may think this is unrealistic but I say we have no choice if we are to stop the madness of spreading poison over the whole biosphere in ever increasing quantities just for money. Plastic is not a litter problem. It is a toxic waste problem. Plastic threatens human health on a global scale.