The Plastic Continent

The Plastic Continent, republished with permission from The Live Better Site

They’re calling it the “plastic continent” — a collection of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is more than twice the size of Texas.  And just how big does that make it?  Texas is more than 280,000 square miles.  The garbage dump in the ocean is more than half a million square miles. Even if you’re one of those very odd individuals who doesn’t believe that human beings are causing climate change, a pile of garbage twice the size of Texas — which by the way is almost all plastic — is undeniably BAD.

But plastic is so ubiquitous.  Some of it the conscientious recycle, but still only 5% of plastic gets recycled globally.  It’s quite clear that we will need a critical mass of people on a global scale who care enough about the problem of plastic and the growing plastic continents before something really happens.

Yet as we know, this “critical mass”, however, must start individually, with each of us.  So here are some tips on reducing the plastic you are adding to our environment:

1.  Obviously, the first thing you must do is commit yourself to recycling plastic. Be brutally honest:  how often do you REALLY recycle that water bottle?  Half the time?  Two-thirds of the time?  Nine-tenths of the time?

In most places, recycling is easy, but there are still places where recycling ISN’T easy.  There are buildings, towns, and city blocks where there is no place to drop your plastic water bottle in and feel like you’ve “done your bit”.  In those cases, it can be extremely tempting to say “oh well” and just pitch it.

Be committed to recycling plastic (and everything else).  Every time you’re tempted to just pitch it in the garbage, remember the plastic continent, and let your conscience be your guide.

And don’t forget there’s more you can recycle than water bottles.  Practically everything plastic should be recycled.  While most city recycling facilities only process the recycling that’s marked with the “1″ or the “2″, there are other places where you can recycle those “3″s, “4″s, “5″s, and “6″s.  Get to know your plastics, and avoid buying the ones you can’t recycle.  Which brings us to the next point:

2.  Reduce the amount of plastic you are buying. “Recycle” is only one of the three “r”s:  Don’t forget about reducing and reusing, too.  We can reduce the amount of plastic we’re putting into the environment by reducing the amount of plastic we’re using.

Reduce the plastic bags you buy by using paper, using the plastic bags you get from the store instead of a Ziploc, or finding a different way altogether to store the things you put into Ziploc and sandwich bags.  Come on — we lived without them for most of human history; can’t we live without them again?

But if you insist upon using Ziploc bags, then at least wash them out and reuse them.  It’s not hard to wash them:  a few drops of dish soap, some hot water, zip it up, swirl it around, and set it upside down on a bottle or faucet to dry.

Recycle the Tupperware and Ziploc / Glad plastic containers in your home and use glass jars, instead.  Glass jars are a great alternative to your average plastic container, and they don’t leak nasty chemicals into your food.

3.  Stop buying those plastic water bottles. Although this tip could have been fit into the previous category, plastic water bottles have become such a problem that they deserve a category unto themselves.  Why avoid bottled water?

• It’s not actually much better for you than the water out of the tap. At least tap water is regulated by the EPA; by contrast, 70% of bottled water in America is outside the reach completely of the FDA, who is supposed to regulate it.
• It costs more than filtered water. According to the Sierra Club, bottled water costs about $1.27 per gallon; filtered water.
  costs only $0.13 per gallon.  Tap water is even less at $0.0015 per gallon!
• The plastic used in water bottles is made using oil. Anyone trying to live greener wants to reduce their carbon footprint, and usually to do this we focus on trading in the ol’ SUV for a hybrid, or turning down our thermostat a few degrees in the winter.  But plastic water bottles (and the other enemy of green shoppers — the plastic shopping bag) use oil in their manufacturing process.
• Plastic water bottles might be dangerous to your health. Scientists in Germany have been studying PET, the main component in the plastic used in most drinking bottles.  PET was previously believed to be safe, which is why it was used in plastic water bottles.  But the German studies have revealed that PET might interfere with reproductive chemicals such as estrogen.

4.  Get a reusable shopping bag. Like plastic water bottles, plastic shopping bags are a big enemy of the environment, and a major part of that plastic continent in the Pacific.

You might think that the solution is to choose paper instead of plastic.  However, paper bags also have their environmental disadvantages.  Paper bags mean killing trees, and it requires a lot of energy to make a paper bag compared to a plastic shopping bag.  As a matter of fact, when all facts are taken into consideration, paper bags are actually worse for the environment than plastic bags.  (Don’t believe me?  Take a look at the Wikipedia article on paper bags vs. plastic bags.)

But that doesn’t mean that plastic bags are good for the environment.  Even if you reuse them as a bin liner, eventually you still throw them in the garbage, unless you are very diligent about recycling them.  The best solution is to get a reusable bag, and then — ahem — actually REMEMBER to bring it with you when you go shopping!

If you follow the tips above, then you can at least feel confident that you are not adding as much as you once were to that plastic continent.  Get your friends and family in on the act, and together you can become a part of the “critical mass” we must hit for things to really change.

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