I’ll admit it. I use plastic all the time. I can’t remember how many times I’ve forgotten to refill my water bottle only to purchase another at the corner store. We all know how difficult it is to avoid contributing to plastic waste. For years we’ve told ourselves a simple solution - if consumers just changed their habits, if we recycle, reduce, and reuse, we can turn the tide. Sadly, although this approach is essential, it will never be enough. Our plastic waste problem has grown out of control and it can only be stopped by addressing the source. It’s like the kitchen sink is overflowing with water and we’re scrambling for a sponge to clean up the mess. Meanwhile the sink is spilling onto the counter, onto the floor, into our food, and no one wants to turn off the faucet.
I get it. Plastic is everywhere. We use it for everything from packaging food and medical supplies to producing auto parts and electronics. We produce over 600 billion pounds of it each year - enough to provide every man, woman, and child on earth with over 100 pounds of plastic annually. Only a fraction of our plastic waste finds its way into landfills whereas a huge portion is never accounted for and is lost into our oceans.
Make no mistake about it. The plastic that finds its way into the ocean poses a planetary threat. It leeches harmful chemicals into the water and over time collects even more deadly toxins on its surface that creates a biohazard to wildlife.
But it doesn’t stop there. The plastic in the oceans also forecasts a grim future for how it will inevitably impact humans. The plastic breaks up into smaller pieces and is mistaken for plankton and then makes its way into the food chain. So the next time crab season comes along, your children will also eat the plastic glitter from inside its meat. Eventually, as fertility rates drop within ocean wildlife, so too will the world's fisheries and the income generated from them. Finding safe-to-eat tuna for your sushi dinners will become a distant memory of a bygone era.
Thankfully, there is hope. Social media has proven itself effective to persuade big corporations to change their business practices with hashtags like #isthisyours. Just recently, Trader Joe’s announced its plan to drastically cut down on plastic packaging. There are also amazing projects like Ocean Cleanup that aim to remove the plastic debris in the world's oceans within the next ten years. But there’s no silver bullet to this problem. Crucial to this movement is acknowledging that more needs to be done - addressing the source of it all. And here lies the challenge.
This isn’t a rallying cry for the affluent vegan moms that buy only organic produce because they’re the only ones who can afford it. This is a test for all of us. It’s a burden that must be shared by everyone across the world. And because of this, our government must work with the United Nations to take a stand to help control this environmental bane of our age.
Plastic production needs to be regulated. One option is changing its waste classification into the internationally recognized “hazardous waste”. It may sound harsh, but something must be done. A new classification like this will mandate a new framework requiring plastic manufacturers to process their waste within a closed-loop system. It will also set new standards that can limit overall plastic production to a specific amount. These lofty goals can be set in motion by pressuring our congressional representatives to pass a resolution approving the Amendment to the International Basel Convention with the United Nations Environmental Assembly. 30 years ago our world leaders used these same international organizations to ban chemicals that threatened to destroy the ozone layer. And we can do it again with plastic waste. This isn’t going to be easy. But it’s time we deal with this mess. It’s time to put down the sponge, walk over to the sink, and dare to turn off the faucet.
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