Life Without Plastic - Day Five
I am reading "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. It's a fascinating book that imagines what would happen to the physical remnants of our civilization if all humans suddenly disappeared, and how long it would take, using the latest science. This morning's chapter was "Polymers Are Forever" and focused on plastics in our oceans. Key quotes:
"Except for a small amount that's bee incinerated, every bit of plastic manufactured in the world for the last 50 years or so still remains. It's somewhere in the environment."
Although plastic may photodegrade if exposed to sun on the land, it takes much longer to photodegrade in water, and it biodegrades "at such a slow rate that it is of little practical consequence". "Even though a ghost fishnet made from photodegradable plastic might disintegrate before it drowns any dolphins, its chemical nature will not change for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years".
Plastic pieces do break down to smaller and smaller pieces, and experiments have shown that bottom feeders such as barnacles and sand fleas will eat them. "When they get as small as powder, even zooplankton will swallow them".
There is a really depressing description of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). In 1998, researchers found six times as much plastic by weight as plankton on the ocean's surface. Here's a link to some pictures from this patch (one of at least six in the world): http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1.
Cleaning it up will be nearly impossible, at least until microbes evolve so they have the enzymes to handle it.
So what do we do it avoid those un-biodegradable plastics? Biodegradable plastics have been developed, but "since the idea of packaging is to protect food made from bacteria, wrapping leftovers in plastic that encourages microbes to eat it may not be the smartest thing to do". However, we could certainly go back to the days of selling non-food (and maybe even some food) items without plastic packaging - it will mean changes to how we manage inventories and prevent shoplifting. It might mean hiring more employees, or rethinking how we attach bar codes. I think it's worth considering.
Just thinking about this has reminded me to use my ceramic bowl to heat my lunch. It's not yet a habit, but looking at all those pictures of plastic trash are a wonderful reminder of why I want to reduce my plastic consumption (or maybe skip lunch altogether!)
"Except for a small amount that's bee incinerated, every bit of plastic manufactured in the world for the last 50 years or so still remains. It's somewhere in the environment."
Although plastic may photodegrade if exposed to sun on the land, it takes much longer to photodegrade in water, and it biodegrades "at such a slow rate that it is of little practical consequence". "Even though a ghost fishnet made from photodegradable plastic might disintegrate before it drowns any dolphins, its chemical nature will not change for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years".
Plastic pieces do break down to smaller and smaller pieces, and experiments have shown that bottom feeders such as barnacles and sand fleas will eat them. "When they get as small as powder, even zooplankton will swallow them".
There is a really depressing description of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). In 1998, researchers found six times as much plastic by weight as plankton on the ocean's surface. Here's a link to some pictures from this patch (one of at least six in the world): http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1.
Cleaning it up will be nearly impossible, at least until microbes evolve so they have the enzymes to handle it.
So what do we do it avoid those un-biodegradable plastics? Biodegradable plastics have been developed, but "since the idea of packaging is to protect food made from bacteria, wrapping leftovers in plastic that encourages microbes to eat it may not be the smartest thing to do". However, we could certainly go back to the days of selling non-food (and maybe even some food) items without plastic packaging - it will mean changes to how we manage inventories and prevent shoplifting. It might mean hiring more employees, or rethinking how we attach bar codes. I think it's worth considering.
Just thinking about this has reminded me to use my ceramic bowl to heat my lunch. It's not yet a habit, but looking at all those pictures of plastic trash are a wonderful reminder of why I want to reduce my plastic consumption (or maybe skip lunch altogether!)