Mary McDavid
Plastic is seemingly everywhere. It’s in our packaging; it’s wrapped around our food; it’s used for containers; it’s in toys, utensils, technology; the list is endless. However, for a substance that we use so much of in our daily lives, how much do we really know about plastic, and how much do we know about its impacts both on us as humans, but also, its greater impact on the environment?
What is plastic? Plastic is a man-made, synthetic or partially synthetic material that is often times made from fossil fuels such as petroleum or coal (National overview: Facts and figures on materials, wastes and recycling 2021). Plastic’s highly durable and multi-faceted properties allow it to be extremely convenient to utilize in a plethora of different contexts; thus, our lives have become surrounded by plastics. According to the EPA, it is estimated that Americans use just over 35.5 million tons of plastic yearly.
However, what happens when we are done using the plastic? Plastic makes up approximately 12.2% of our total municipal solid waste (also more simply known as trash) (What are plastics). Once Americans are done using plastic, they have the options of repurposing it, recycling it, or throwing it away. If thrown away, the plastic will most likely end up in a U.S. landfill where it can take hundreds of years to decompose (National overview: Facts and figures on materials, wastes and recycling 2021). The EPA estimates that approximately 27 million tons of plastic ended up in landfills in 2018. An additional 5.6 million tons of plastic was combusted which allowed for a small production of energy recovery. The final 3 million tons of plastic waste was estimated to be recycled. This makes up a very sad recycling rate of only 8.7% for the plastic waste being generated.
The U.S. is a significant leader in plastic production but even more so plastic waste. The other major competitor with plastic waste production is China, which according to Our World in Data, is estimated to produce about 59 tons of plastic per year (Ritchie & Roser, 2018). China is also a leader in plastic production as well. In comparison, European countries range from a couple hundred thousand tons a year, for example Sweden is estimated to waste approximately 165,000 tons of plastic per year, to tens of millions of tons, such as Germany who is estimated to produce approximately 14.5 million tons of plastic waste per year (Ritchie & Roser, 2018). This range, however, is still significantly lower than the U.S. and China.
Although recycling plastic is a struggle for the U.S, an increase in recycling rate would be highly beneficial in the minimization of the greenhouse gases that are emitted from plastic when it is thrown away. When plastic sits in landfills and is hit by sunlight, it emits a variety of different greenhouse gases such as methane and ethylene (Plastic waste releases greenhouse gases 2020). Additionally, the creation of new plastic continues to waste precious fossil fuels and depletes other finite resources as well. Thus, recycling plastic would not only help cut down on the fossil fuels being used but would also help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Both aspects are highly influential on the overall impact that plastics have on the environment and human health in general.
Unfortunately, however, the recycling rate of plastic waste in the U.S. is rather low. The first issue with recycling plastic waste is attempting to have citizens actually recycle their plastic waste. Recycling often times requires citizens to constantly be sorting their waste which seems inconvenient to many. Although some areas remove this sorting requirement in attempts to promote recycling in communities, recycling is still a struggle for individuals to actually partake in. Additionally, although technology to properly recycle and then eventually repurpose the plastic waste exists, the infrastructure to support this technology is lacking (Plastic waste releases greenhouse gases 2020). In order to provide solutions for some of these problems, education, infrastructure, and community engagement must be enacted so that plastic waste can be recycled more fully.
References:
National overview: Facts and figures on materials, wastes and recycling. (2021, January 28). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20plastic%20products%20generation,to%2012.2%20percent%20in%202018.
Plastic waste releases greenhouse gases. (2020, March 02). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2018/08/plastic-waste-releases-greenhouse-gases/?gclid=CjwKCAjw9MuCBhBUEiwAbDZ-7i0Hf3nP8Uy_YSwpz_KE6UuzddAPjA0-AWOoJRdHuiq1sjmARBaBDhoCxlcQAvD_BwE
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2018, September 01). Plastic pollution. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
What are plastics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.plasticseurope.org/en/about-plastics/what-are-plastics