Plastic — can you imagine a day without it? It has come to be a component of nearly everything we buy and use, it seems. On the one hand, plastic has made things possible that might not have been possible. On the other hand, there are a few major problems (at least) with its widespread use:
It lasts longer than we can adequately comprehend.
It causes harm to countless animals and fish that try to consume it or get entangled in it.
With such a ubiquitous material, there are also a ton of interesting, useful, and perhaps even horrifying facts related to it. Someone recently shared a stunning and thorough infographic on plastic with me that I thought Green Living Ideas readers would enjoy. Aside from the facts about plastic's tremendous volume, the huge plastic garbage patches in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, plastic bag mountains on land, and the problems all of these things create, though, I love that this infographic is proactive and tells us how we can considerably cut our use of plastic. Before sharing the infographic, I'll just pull those out so that you are sure not to miss them:
Don't use single-use plastic packaging (buy in bulk when you can).
Leave the sandwich bags on the shelf and use reusable sandwich boxes instead.
Go the classy route and use silverware, not plastic-ware.
Let the '90s go — go digital… no more CDs, plastic CD cases, and so on.
Use a refillable dispenser for your soap and cleaning supplies.
Use a nice "to-go" mug instead of cups made of plastic or styrofoam (don't even want to go into that issue).
Try to buy products that don't contain hard-to-recycle plastics (when you need to buy something, that is).
Better yet, find products not made of plastic at all (again, when you absolutely have to buy something).
Great tips. Don't think I could have come up with a better list.
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lastic — can you imagine a day without it? It has come to be a component of nearly everything we buy and use, it seems. On the one hand, plastic has made things possible that might not have been possible. On the other hand, there are a few major problems (at least) with its widespread use:
It lasts longer than we can adequately comprehend.
It causes harm to countless animals and fish that try to consume it or get entangled in it.
With such a ubiquitous material, there are also a ton of interesting, useful, and perhaps even horrifying facts related to it. Someone recently shared a stunning and thorough infographic on plastic with me that I thought Green Living Ideas readers would enjoy. Aside from the facts about plastic's tremendous volume, the huge plastic garbage patches in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, plastic bag mountains on land, and the problems all of these things create, though, I love that this infographic is proactive and tells us how we can considerably cut our use of plastic. Before sharing the infographic, I'll just pull those out so that you are sure not to miss them:
tic — can you imagine a day without it? It has come to be a component of nearly everything we buy and use, it seems. On the one hand, plastic has made things possible that might not have been possible. On the other hand, there are a few major problems (at least) with its widespread use:
It lasts longer than we can adequately comprehend.
It causes harm to countless animals and fish that try to consume it or get entangled in it.
With such a ubiquitous material, there are also a ton of interesting, useful, and perhaps even horrifying facts related to it. Someone recently shared a stunning and thorough infographic on plastic with me that I thought Green Living Ideas readers would enjoy. Aside from the facts about plastic's tremendous volume, the huge plastic garbage patches in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, plastic bag mountains on land, and the problems all of these things create, though, I love that this infographic is proactive and tells us how we can considerably cut our use of plastic. Before sharing the infographic, I'll just pull those out so that you are sure not to miss them:
Comment by: PT (David Alexander) (Aug-4-2011) Web site
I think the easiest solution for the plastics problem is development of new materials that are just like plastics but are compostable. "Compostable" is one step better than biodegradable -- under most definitions (some of them very precise) it means the material breaks down in a reasonable time period, under reasonable conditions, into naturally occurring (non-toxic) materials that are compatible with soil.
There are compostable garbage bags, but currently they tear a little too easily. Hopefully they can be perfected pretty soon. I have used compostable plastic cups (made primarily of corn), and they were indistinguishable from plastic (but burned with a nice smell)!
A distinct goal is to reduce consumption overall, and so it is still best to carry re-usable cups or mugs, and other similar considerations that get away from our "disposable society".
Of course there are so many kinds of plastic, and their functional behaviors are so useful, that it could take a long time to find replacements. I am not in a position to know the details, other than the fact that work is going on to find replacements. If anyone has more detailed information, please comment about it here (or write an article on PlanetThoughts.org!)
Comment by: City Worker (Aug-3-2011)
It had never occurred to me that CDs are made of plastic. Not that I use that many, but it’s something to keep in mind. Also, I’ve seen “to go” mugs in Dunkin Donuts, where you get free refills if you return with the mug you bought from them, but I wonder if you can bring your own mug there or elsewhere, when no free refills are involved.
And yes, plastics have nice characteristics that we sometimes don’t even realize. A little while ago, my gum was slightly irritated. I found that paper cups would stick to my gum and were irritating. It hit me that disposable plastic cups wouldn’t cause that problem. But then, it also hit me that that non-disposable glass cups would also work. It got me to change to non-disposable glasses.
The other day, I was watching the news. Someone has designed this very attractive scaffolding. It doesn’t look like scaffolding at all. It looks like something you’d find in a garden, to train ivy or something. They said that they plan on using this type of scaffolding all over instead of the wooden scaffolding eyesores we currently see everywhere. At first, it sounded great, but then they mentioned that the top of the scaffolding, which you can see through, is made of polymers. I’m wondering: are they talking about plastics?.... some other material bad for the environment? I can’t imagine that a change to this kind of scaffolding would be good for the environment. Once we start using plastic for something we like, we find it hard to turn back. Maybe the scaffolding change won’t fly as well as they think it will.
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Fossil Fuel
PT (David Alexander)
