Plastics - Waste Is the Design Flaw of Surroundings

‘If Plastics are everywhere, it means plastic pollution is also’

As I have mentioned in the title of my article, waste is a design flaw of our surroundings. It’s pretty clear that our society is at a point where the importance of extracting oil from the ground, shipping it to a refinery, molding it into a plastic, shaping it properly, trucking it to a store, buying it and bringing it home, is now considered to take less of our power than what it takes in just washing a spoon when you’re done with it.

Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution includes the pestilence of plastic products in the environment that ultimately affects the wildlife, wildlife habitat and humans in all the negative ways possible. Plastics as pollutants are generalized into micro, miso or macro debris based on size. Plastic pollution can undoubtedly affect lands, waterways, oceans, living organisms and marine animals can also adversely affect through direct ingestion of plastic waste.

Plastic is among the few new chemical materials which cause environmental problems. Polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene are largely used in the manufacturing of plastics. Synthetic polymers are easily turned into complex shapes, having high chemical resistance, and are more or less elastic. Some can be converted into fibers or thin transparent films. These characteristics have made them popular in many durable or disposable goods and for packaging materials.

Turn off the Tap

The problem is that as a whole population we have continued to invent and create new ways to use plastic more and more —to the point that we are dependent on plastic for basic needs in our everyday lives. Of all the plastic ever made till date, half was made in the past 15 years. But we don’t have any idea what to do with all this plastic once we’re finished with it.

Today science tells us that, “the majority of plastic waste ending up in oceans is coming from land, specifically due to limited or non-existent waste management,”.You can make something 100% recyclable, but if you don’t have a proper recycling facility technique, it just ends up as trash.

When we come across our oceans, I think the first and foremost response that everyone gives after seeing plastic waste is that it doesn’t belong there, so let’s just get rid of it. But while cleaning up the oceans is critical, as it’s not the first step. When the sink is flooding, you don’t start with the mop; you start by turning off the tap.

Stopping the usage of plastic means fixing a broken and fragmented system. We come across many opportunities at every point in the plastic life cycle: We can remake plastic from renewable resources, can manufacture goods that are recyclable and may require less plastic, consume less, and make sure plastic is recycled as much as possible. We also need to emphasize on solutions that don’t impact the environment negatively in other ways. Everybody plays a key role here, let it be companies, the waste management industries, governments, or consumers.

At my own personal level, I think, everybody should be going through the checkout line after we get our groceries and the line they actually ask is,

‘ Paper or Plastic'?

Instead of choosing between the two, we should be saying, ‘neither one'. We should have our own cloth bags.

Stop Branded Garbage

Companies have held over how they package products, how they source raw materials for their products, pack them for delivery—and they can even shift consumer behavior too. But today, companies aren’t prepared with a road map of how to fix this broken system. In that case, some companies should actively engage with other sectors, including waste management that includes new developing techniques to recycle materials we never thought could be recycled, like diapers

The scale is definitely key. One company’s efforts are great, but then think about how 100 of the world’s biggest companies together could prevent roughly 10 million metric tons of plastic waste, isn’t it amazing already? And if they try and get their sectors and supply chains fully engaged in this, that number could even increase by triple or more.

Beyond Bans

One key point that governments can do is to poke sectors that might be dragging their feet. It may not be as challenging as banning straws, but passing new rules around waste disposal can have an enormous effect. Governments can also help by modernizing and standardizing the recycling rules. In turn, consumers need to participate in the solution too.

Learn more: The impact of plastic waste on our environment

The Bottom line

It's high time that we should take action against pollution and put down a ban on the consumption of these different carcinogenic compounds such as polymers. No matter how efficient they are. Think about it yourself and just let your mind wonder how much and what numerous ways you actually contribute to pollution; as there is not just one person, group or a government to blame upon, but all of us!

Written By - Ifrah Amin

Edited By - Pavas Shrigyan