by Bruce Dunlavy
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In the United States, almost 50 million tons of plastic becomes trash every year. Worldwide, the figure approaches ten times that much, and over ninety percent of it ends up in landfills and incinerators or is discarded along roadsides and in waterways. That figure jumps to around 95 percent in the USA. Somewhere around five centuries later, some of it begins to decompose.

Before decomposition, these plastics fragment into tiny particles known as microplastics. They can be found in the air, land, and water everywhere, and they make their way into the bodies of humans and other animals. Individual humans are estimated to breathe, eat, or otherwise consume as much as five eighths of a pound of microplastics a year, and a measurable amount can be found in all parts of the body.

Almost all of this has come about since 1950, when less than two million tons of plastic was produced. That total passed 100 million tons in the late 1980s and is now somewhere between 340 and 450 million tons annually. Current estimates predict that in 30 years plastics production will be over a billion tons per year.

How did this happen so quickly? Plastic was unknown until the mid-1800s and was not a commercial success until 1907. That year, Leo Baekeland invented the first fully synthetic plastic, which he proudly named Bakelite. Bakelite is considered the first “true plastic” because it was created wholly from chemical processes. Since then, the development of new plastics has raged unabated.

Where do plastics come from? And how have they become such a huge part of our everyday lives? Put simply, nearly all modern plastics are made from chemicals derived from fossil fuels, primarily petroleum. They are constructed of masses of various kinds and forms of polymers – very large organic molecules – that are easy to shape, mold, extrude, etc., and are easily replicated, lightweight, and versatile.

What made petrochemical plastic appear everywhere on the planet stems from a marketing idea that gained traction in the 1950s. Originally, plastics were used to make durable goods that would last for decades. Bakelite, for example, found its first use in the manufacturing of exterior casings for radios, a then-recent invention that was destined to hold a significant place in homes for over half a century. Glass and ceramics, which had been the reusable containers for food and other products for millennia, were replaced by polyethylene, which could be similarly reused indefinitely, but with little chance of breakage and the advantage of being lighter in weight.

The watershed moment was when plastic production and distribution got out of the hands of the chemists and into the hands of the businessmen and marketers. Plastic bottles, bags, and similar items were easy to produce cheaply, so the idea came about that cheapness and flimsiness could be virtues if the products were intended to be used only once. One-time use meant a continuous need for replacements. In 1956, Lloyd Stouffer, the editor of Modern Packaging magazine, summarized the idea with this prescient sentence: “The future of plastic is in the trash can.”

The business model for the petrochemical plastics industry became making objects  intended to be discarded as soon as possible. By the 1970s, plastic waste littered the environment and overwhelmed collection and disposal facilities. Public dissatisfaction grew, and the industry cleverly responded by turning the demand for waste reduction back onto the public.

In the 1970s, the idea of recycling plastics was in its infancy, and the petrochemical industry investigated whether it could be used to justify continued production of profitable single-use products. The Container Corporation of America, a manufacturer of cardboard boxes made from recyclable paper, had staged a contest in 1970 seeking a logo to promote recycling. The winner was a design by Gary Anderson – the now famous “chasing arrows” symbol made up of three arrows in the shape of a triangular Möbius strip.

Manufacturers of plastics seized the idea for a public relations effort. Although they had been advised by their own scientific study in 1973 that plastics recycling is neither practical nor economically feasible, they found promoting the idea could help deflect blame for plastic pollution from them to consumers.

The petrochemical industry went all-out to portray those who purchased disposable plastics as the ones responsible for preventing the creation of plastic trash. They spread the false notion that collecting and recycling plastic waste is not difficult, and popularized the misleading slogan, “people start pollution; people can stop it.” The industry trade group co-opted the chasing arrows symbol and used it to promote the idea of recycled plastic by including it on products, with a number in the center identifying the type of plastic used.

Since the chasing arrows logo was never trademarked, it is in the public domain. Anyone can use it, and it bears no legal significance. It does not mean that the object it is found on is recyclable or made from recycled material. It may, however, give consumers some sense of satisfaction from having acted responsibly if they separate their “recyclables” and dispose of them in specially marked bins. This has the bonus of distracting consumers so that they point the finger not at the industry but at other consumers.

A prime example of this deception is the attention given to eliminating the use of plastic drinking straws. We’ve all seen the picture of the pathetic sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, telling us that we individuals are the cause of the plastic waste in the world’s oceans. The massive accumulation of plastic known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) has gained worldwide notoriety. What we are not told is that 75 to 85 percent of the GPGP consists not of consumer waste, but of lost or discarded commercial fishing tackle.

Meanwhile, many of us are separating our disposable plastics for recycling. We look at the numbered chasing arrows and assume it means they will be recycled indefinitely if we put them in the right bin. However, only a tiny fraction of “properly discarded” recyclables get recycled, and almost all of those will only be recycled once before being landfilled or incinerated.

The symbol does not tell you that the object will – or even can – be recycled. What it tells you is the kind of plastic it is made from. There are seven numbers, usually accompanied by an acronym for the chemical composition:

  • 1 – PETE  (polyethylene terephthalate)
  • 2 – HDPE  (high-density polyethylene)
  • 3 – PVC/V (polyvinyl chloride)
  • 4 – LDPE   (low-density polyethylene)
  • 5 – PP   (polypropylene)
  • 6 – PS   (polystyrene)
  • 7 – Other  (miscellaneous)

Of those seven, 1 and 2 are normally collected at curbside and can be relatively easily recycled. The remaining five are either not accepted by curbside recycling programs (3, 4, and 7) or sometimes collected but never actually recycled (5 and 6).

Even when placed in recycling bins, 1 and 2 are often not recycled. If the collection bin includes recyclable products contaminated by something such as motor oil or old pizza, the whole lot may be thrown out because it is too labor-intensive and costly to separate.  The same company that collects and disposes of garbage usually collects recyclables, so they don’t mind such mixing because they get paid either way. In fact, they can likely charge a higher rate for collecting recyclables even if they don’t recycle them. At apartment complexes and commercial properties, regular garbage put into a designated recycling bin can make the contents of a large dumpster unrecyclable.

What about the plastic waste that does get recycled? Will it be given a new life multiple times? Almost certainly not. Plastic breaks down with use, so items are recycled into lower-grade products such as garbage bags or the holders for deodorant cakes in urinals. That results in what’s known as “linear recycling,” where the original product’s trip to the landfill is merely delayed briefly. Only one percent of plastic is recycled more than once. What didn’t get landfilled as a soda bottle in February is landfilled as a urine-soaked toilet doily in April.

Can we make recycling easy and cheap enough to be practical? Probably not with the technology we have now. Our best choice is to try to slow the demand for plastic, and that is not likely with the business system we have. We can continue to work at the individual level to make incremental differences and to agitate for improvements in commercial and industrial plastics pollution. Remember the adage “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Recycling is the last option. The first is to reduce our use of plastic items, and the second is to reuse/repurpose those we do consume. Recycling should be our last option, used when the others are not possible