It's a Plastic World

North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

BACKGROUND

Take a look around your home and try counting the things made of plastic. It could take you all day -- plastic is used in practically everything we buy. Plastic is a miracle material, but it has serious environmental drawbacks: It's made of nonrenewable fossil fuels; manufacturing it creates pollution and toxic waste; and it's not biodegradable. On top of that, we throw most of it away.

Clearly, we need to cut down on "disposable" plastic. But we also need to change the way plastic is made, and the materials it's made from. That's why people are working on bioplastic, which is biodegradable, compostable, made from renewable and sustainably harvested materials...and works as well as "normal" plastic.

DID YOU KNOW

• "Bioplastic" -- plastic made from plants instead of fossil fuels -- isn't a new concept. The very first synthesized plastic, created in 1845, was a cotton-derived material called celluloid. By the 1870s, it was used widely for dental plates, combs, and toothbrushes.
• Today, manufacturers make an estimated 200 million tons of plastic a year. Less than 3.5% is recycled...which means that every year, we add 193 million tons of plastic to the world -- permanently. About 25% of our landfill space is taken up by plastics.
• Not all of the plastic winds up in landfills. In a part of the Pacific Ocean known informally as the Pacific Garbage Vortex, there's a bigger mass of plastic than there is of plankton.
• Consumer alert: Bioplastic isn't automatically good for the environment just because it's made from plants. Some bioplastic is made from genetically engineered crops, some doesn't biodegrade, and some has toxic additives; some interferes with recycling and some contains engineered nanoparticles, particles so small they can pass in and out of our cells. It takes some research to tell the difference.


WHAT YOU CAN DO

Your Partner: The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has been "working to strengthen communities through the smart utilization of local resources" since 1974. One current focus: creating sustainable bioplastics.

Your Goal: Cut down on disposable plastics and help make sustainable bioplastics a viable alternative.

START SIMPLE

• "Choose durability over single-use disposable plastics," says Brenda Platt of ILSR. "Can you use a travel mug instead of a polystyrene cup, reusable shopping bags instead of plastic or paper? After we reduce consumption, we can move on to choosing better materials."

• So...pick a few disposable plastic items you use, and dispose of them—permanently. For suggestions: 50simplethings.com/plastic

STEPS FOR SUCCESS

Step 1.
Become a plastics expert. Read about the different polymers in the Plastics Guide you'll find at 50simplethings.com/plastic. And read about bioplastics at ILSR's sustainableplastics.org

Step 2.
Spread the word. Let's assume the world isn't going to quit using disposable plastic items overnight. One way to get the word out is to substitute new bioplastics for the worst of the fossil-fuelbased stuff. Get your PTA or congregation to switch to potato- or corn-based compostable forks, spoons, and cups to replace polystyrene.

Step 3.
Lobby businesses and institutions to switch their takeout containers and utensils to compostable natural fibers. Start with sympathetic people: natural food stores, green restaurants, coffee shops. Then target local schools, public events, and festivals.

Step 4.
Start composting. Compostable plastics don't make sense unless they're composted. When they're landfilled, they give off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.


Step 5.
For the ambitious: Get the most harmful and wasteful plastics banned locally. Oakland, San Francisco, and two dozen other cities are already banning polystyrene takeout containers and encouraging the use of alternatives. Push your local government to do the same.

From 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. Copyright (c) 2008 by John Javna, Sophia Javna, Jesse Javna. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins.