Reducing plastics helps save the planet. Here’s how

In the 1967 film “The Graduate,” Dustin Hoffman’s character has graduated and at the celebration afterward a family friend pulls him aside and offers him this advice: “One word — plastics,” drawing laughter from the audience. Looking back on it now, however, from a financial point of view the advice was spot on, as the product that seemingly lasts forever swept over all aspects of American life. What could go wrong?

Alas, as with all milestone inventions such as the internet, there is a shadow side. Everywhere we look plastic permeates our lives, and too often it is in the form of one-use, throw away items — the plastic lid on our coffee, plastic packaging, etc. This has occurred because large plastic producing companies were able to provide manufacturers with material so inexpensive it would seem both rational and convenient for them to use in packaging products.

An insidious aspect of plastics is that the life cycle of the product is often obscured from the public eye. “Plastics are pitched as the product that comes from nowhere and goes to nowhere,” said Steven Feit, an attorney at the Center for International and Environmental Law. “It shows up on your shelf, and as long as you put it in a recycling bin, it gets taken care of somehow.”

However, in 2018, only about 9% of plastic disposed of in the U.S. was recycled, while 75% went to a landfill and 16% was incinerated. Worldwide, we’re going through more than 300 million tons of plastic each year, the vast majority thrown away. Plastic that ends up in the ocean breaks down into irretrievable bits of micro-particles.

It is hard to conceive that so much plastic has been dumped into the oceans that there are now floating plastic islands visible from space.

Also horrifying to consider is that 70% of the fish caught in the North Atlantic consume tiny, microscopic plastic particles incorporated into their flesh. The average person today who eats seafood consumes 11,000 plastic particles per year, and by the end of the century it will be 70 times higher. And in just 30 years, scientists predict there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. And as plastic production comes from fossil fuels, it is a significant contributor to the climate crisis.

Individual actions are important, but we can’t recycle our way out of this problem. Collective action is required to drive true transformation.

The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations have been a driving force behind many state, city, and county bans on plastic bags, straws, and other single-use products. The plan includes restricting plastic production, curbing single-use plastic items, and holding plastic manufacturers, such as the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestle, Danone, and Mondelez International, as well as their supply chain partners, accountable for waste, pollution, and harm to communities.

The federal government is one of the largest purchasers of consumer goods in America. The president has the power to immediately issue an order that the federal government no longer purchase any single-use disposable plastic products. The immediate impact would reduce demand and force manufacturers and consumer product companies to develop environmentally sustainable alternatives.

Another forward-thinking course of action would be taxing “virgin plastics” — new material from oil rather than recycled items. A group of House Democrats proposes to levy a tax on virgin plastics in single-use products and to invest proceeds into ocean conservation efforts.

I encourage all who are moved by this issue to contact your national representatives and encourage the advance of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 to help stop production of single-use plastics and require manufacturers to create packaging products that don’t destroy the planet.