Reference no: EM133172274
Plastic Waste and what to do about it
Plastic is part of everyday life for just about everybody. Although plastic packaging is now grabbing attention, plastic is about much more than packaging. The commonest types of clothing are largely derived from plastic, in the form of polyester, lycra, or other synthetic fibers. Ordinary consumer products, from cars to televisions, contain high proportions of plastic. Then there is the packaging. Food in the developed economies is mostly packaged, as are consumer products from appliances to toys. Much clothing, too, comes packaged, having travelled in containers from Asian manufacturers. Plastic's great attraction has been that it is cheap, light, and disposable, making it ideal for things like takeaway food and drinks. Plastic became part of modern consumer lifestyles. It was bound up with the way people now live. Single-use plastic became universal. It is only since about 2015 that takeaway plastic cups and food containers started to alarm people.
Plastic derives from fossil fuels. It was developed in the nineteenth century but became widely used in consumer products during and after the Second World War. It had seemingly infinite uses and was more malleable than natural products such as cotton, glass, cardboard, or wood. The large oil and chemical companies oversaw the growth in the plastics industry. These petrochemical companies included Dupont, Dow Chemical, Mobil, Exxon, and Monsanto. They facilitated the explosive growth in the use of plastics, and are still the powerhouses in the industry. Consolidation has occurred: Mobil and Exxon merged; Dupont and Dow have merged, and Monsanto has been taken over by Bayer.
The boom in the plastics industry led to a growing problem over plastic waste. Already in the 1960s, concerns about the collection and disposal of waste were issues. The industry in the US successfully pursued a campaign of Keep America Beautiful, putting the onus on consumers to dispose of waste responsibly. Anti-litter campaigns directed at consumers were portrayed as the solution, when, in fact, the problems lay with the industrial establishment that was churning out pollutant plastics. The plastics industry promoted recycling from the early 1970s, but plastic has proved difficult to recycle, and, ultimately, it still finishes up in landfills or the ocean. The world produces over 300 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year. In the US, only 10% of plastic is recycled.
In the 1980s, the incineration of plastic waste was thought to be a solution, even though incinerators were expensive and also highly pollutant, emitting toxic ash, mercury, and dioxins. They continued to be used in the US, and many are still in use, rechristened as recycling processors. The chemical industry has encouraged 'plastic-to-fuel' recycling, whereby consumers bag up plastic waste for collection. The waste is then melted to produce fossil fuels to burn. Most of the world's largest plastics producers are the giant oil and gas companies. As long as they continue to extract fossil fuels, the plastics industry will thrive. A number of companies have come together to form the Plastic Waste Alliance, aimed at combatting plastic waste. Most of these are in fact large producers of plastic themselves. One of its members, Shell, is building a multi-billion dollar plant in Pennsylvania, that will use shale gas to produce 1.6 million tonnes of polyethylene a year. This is the commonest type of plastic. It is cheaper, lighter, and more versatile than substitutes. Exxon Mobil is building a similar plant in Texas. These projects are proceeding despite the incontrovertible evidence against plastics.
Scientific research showed in the 1990s that waste in the oceans was made up mostly of non-biodegradable plastic. Plastic waste was washing up on beaches, and the amount was growing. It was found that plastic waste was forming large heaps in calmer waters. Fish and birds were taking in particles of plastic. These alarming stories were gradually becoming known to a wider public. From the mid-2000s onwards, plastic started to be seen not just as litter, but as a dangerous pollutant. In 2010, scientists warned about microbeads, the tiny grains of plastic that are used pervasively in cosmetics, shower gel, and cleaning products. Tiny fibers of synthetic fabrics used in clothes are shed every time the item of clothing is washed. These particles, too, enter public drainage systems and have been found in fish. Plastic has become a pollution problem that is daunting to reverse, in ways similar to the challenges of climate change.
The US and other advanced economies have regularly shipped tonnes of plastic waste to other countries, often developing countries that are poorly equipped to receive it, causing widespread contamination and risks to health. Turning villages in poor countries into dumpsites have been one of the many tragic aspects of the explosion in plastic waste. A breakthrough UN convention aimed at stopping these shipments was agreed upon by 187 countries, meeting in Basel in Switzerland in 2019 (Holden, 2019). The US was not one of the signatories. In January 2019, China, which had been receiving cargos of plastic waste from the US, decided to stop such imports. As a result, the US increased shipments to poor developing countries. In addition, a number of American cities have increased the burning of waste. The challenge is not just disposal but reducing the use of plastic in the first place. However, reducing our dependence on plastic implies changing patterns of consumption towards more sustainable living. The anti-plastic agenda requires a commitment by businesses and governments, as well as consumers.
Case Study Question
- In what ways are the large oil and gas companies part of the problem, rather than part of the solution?