The Problem With Plastics: Our Dependence

We’ve come now to the last in our series of “The Problem With Plastics.” Here’s a boiled-down version of everything we’ve learned so far:

Plastics are made at an alarming rate from petroleum, a highly-polluting, non-renewable resource, and are critically damaging our most important ecosystem on our planet- Mother Ocean- and all the creatures who inhabit her. Plastic manufacturers want to keep plastics in our homes, as single-use items, to keep their wallets nice and plush- and as long as we keep buying plastics, we keep telling them we want them to make more. The Waste Hierarchy is not sustainable, does not work, and that we are backwards in our disposal of plastics, sending half our plastics to a landfill and only 5% to be downcycled into a less valuable, less usable product. Plastics should never have been deemed as “disposable,” as they were designed to last forever, and yet used today to throw away after only one use. When you use just one plastic bottle, or just one plastic bag, you’re contributing to an accumulation of pollution that takes 1,000 years to break down, and during that process, leaks chemicals into the soil we grow our food in and into the water we drink every single day.

Phew!

And now we’ve one more thing to learn about… This one might be a toughie…

Look around your home. How many things are made out of plastic? How much plastic do you touch everyday? What would you do if all that plastic went away?

The last problem, and maybe the most defining one, is that we are unbelievably dependent on plastics in our daily life. And the biggest problem is not that we consume so much, but that we never have to see our trash after it is consumed.

Here are some facts most of us have heard before, taken from ­­­Clean Air, Envirosax, Earth 911, and Green Living Tips:

827,000 to 1.3 million tons of plastic PET water bottles were produced in the U.S. in 2006, requiring the energy equivalent of 50 million barrels of oil. 76.5 % of these bottles ended up in landfills. According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006, that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.

Of the 2.25 million tons of electronics (TVs, cell phones, computers, etc) retired in 2007, 82 percent were discarded, mostly to landfills.

Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year.

Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags per year. Approximately 14 million trees are cut down every year for paper bag production.

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean.

Greenpeace says that at least 267 marine species are known to have suffered from getting entangled in or ingesting marine debris. Nearly 90% of that debris is plastic.

If the Chinese consume resources in 2031 at a level that Americans do now, grain consumption per person there would climb from around 600 pounds today to around 2000 pounds needed to sustain a typical western diet. This would equate to 1,352 million tons of grain, equal to two thirds of all the grain harvested in the world in 2004. The average American buys 53 times as many products as someone in China and one American's consumption of resources is equal valent to that of 35 Indians. Over a lifetime, the typical American will create 13 times as much environmental damage as the average Brazilian.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in November of 1958 were at 313.34 parts per million. In March 2009, levels were at 387.41 parts per million, an increase of over 20%.

  

We first started to refuse when we saw the plastic trash washed up on our favorite beach. Through research we learned how horrible a problem plastic is. Then we started trying to rid our lives of as much plastic as possible, while simultaneously realizing how incredibly difficult that task really is.

Look… It’s hard to ask you to do something, especially when it confronts our daily lifestyles. Refuse To Use is incredibly aware of the fact that this is a delicate subject. We, as an entire species of humans, have really mucked it all up, and now it’s time to make a change and do the right thing.

Refuse To Use has now laid before you a similar realization- through research and documentation of the pollution the world is encountering- and if you were moved as we were, we believe it’s time to make a decision. Is reducing our use of non-renewable resources important to you? Do you want to reduce pollution that harms both you and the living things of our Earth?

Refuse To Use has laid the groundwork about the problems with plastic, and now it’s your turn to do your part. Refuse the use of single-use plastics in your daily lives, and take the time to search out your daily items of purchase that come in different packaging.

When we first started this venture, we were overwhelmed. But have no fear! We want you to know- you’re not alone. Plastics have infiltrated our lives in a way we are hardly even aware of- that is, until you start noticing and trying to consume more responsibly.

This is where Refuse To Use wants to help you! 

We are here to help you make better choices! We have already written about refusing single-use plastic bags, coffee creamer bottles, and soda/water bottles- and how you can replace them in your daily lives easily, by just simply choosing another option that was already readily available for you.

We will continue to think of as many ways for you to replace your normal essentials that are made out of plastic with items that are not.

We hope you will continue to learn with us how we can refuse the use of plastics and be more responsible citizens of this beautiful planet. 

REFUSE: Number 1 PET Plastic Bottles

Plastic beverage bottles… Invented in the late ‘60’s/early 70’s by Nathaniel Wyeth, it is labeled by the Number 1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE). It is the safest plastic for food storage as it does not leak any chemicals (that we know of so far), and is 100% recyclable. Even so, only an average of 27% of PET plastic bottles are recycled every year, which logically means that 73% is either sitting in a landfill, sitting on land somewhere, or floating in the Ocean. It takes 17 million barrels of oil to manufacture the amount of bottles that Americans demand every year. 

When doing an internet search, we found hundred of instances of people asking, “Why can’t I recycle my plastic bottles?” and the answer is: money. Many states actually have to send collected plastic bottles to neighboring states because they don’t have any kind of facility to do the job. REFUSE is not ok with using more fossil fuels to recycle processed fossil fuels. And besides, at the rate we’re recycling, we could never keep up with the demand for more plastic.

The people, government officials, and even manufacturers often try to bring about an increase in the recycling rate of this particular type of plastic, but the fact remains that, because it is meant to be a disposable product, there exists no value in the bottle. Couple that with absolutely no accountability- not for the people, not for government officials, and not for manufacturers- and we are left with the sad fact that it is not a top priority to recycle PET plastics.

As always, REFUSE believes that Recycling is a good option, but REFUSING is a better one.

Sodas are bad for you! Did you know that? I’m sure you’ve heard that a million times, but we’re here to help you STOP using plastic bottles, and we believe the health of the body is just as important as the health of our Earth.

The ingredients in soda rack up to a whole-lotta good-for nothin’: sugar (bad for your teeth and heart; tends to lead to diabetes; no nutritional value; causes you to gain weight), carbonated water (bad for your teeth), artificial coloring (bad for your teeth and some organs), and caffeine on many occasions (bad for your heart, a diuretic and stimulant, addictive). In general, soda can lead to weight problems, heart problems, diabetes, rotting teeth, osteoporosis, hyper activity (especially in kids) which can lead to behavior problems, and a whole-lot-longer dirty laundry list.

Diet soda is actually worse for you, despite what we've been led to believe in the past. Author of The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, Carol Simontacchi, states, “One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit.” 

Basically, with diet soda, you’ve traded calories for cancer-causing chemicals.

Here’s a scary study: this year, 2011, The American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles presented findings on a study that followed 2,500 New Yorkers for 9+ years, who drank diet soda every day. They found a 61% higher risk of vascular events, including stroke and heart attack, than those who completely eschewed the diet drinks, according to the study.

If it weren’t for its deliciousness, people would be rallying to ban this foul substance.

Ok, stepping off the anti-soda soapbox. We know that more than just soda comes in plastic bottles- juices, water, teas, and other beverages also come to us packaged in PET plastic bottles.

What can you do to REFUSE the use of plastic bottles?

Despite all those nasty facts listed above, we know that most people will continue to drink sodas. A more environmentally responsible option than the plastic bottles is aluminum cans. It is a sustainable metal that can infinitely be recycled. Purchasing and recycling aluminum cans contributes to a 95% reduction in the energy used from raw ore deposits, and aluminum cans distinguish themselves as the most recycled and most recyclable beverage container in the world. 105,784 cans are recycled every minute nationwide, and can be returned for usage in just 60 days, which means you could very well be drinking from the “same” can 6 times a year!

Here are some more really astounding facts about recycling aluminum cans:

http://www.cancentral.com/funfacts.cfm

Another option is to stop drinking sodas altogether (your doctor will love you, especially your dentist) and drink more water. No, not bottled water. FILTERED water. An in-home filtration system can range anywhere from $20 to $2,000 depending on your needs. And get this: bottled water costs on average 0.79¢ per gallon, whereas water filtered in your home costs on average 0.02¢ per gallon. That’s a whopping 0.77¢ SAVINGS per gallon.

If that doesn’t convert ya, I don’t know what will!

If you're wondering how you can tote your awesome filtered water along with you, outside the doors of your home, we like Nalgene, who offeres a Number 7 plastic bottle made from recycled materials, as well as a metal bottle option. They even have ways to further filter your beautiful, clear agua. We've linked the word "Nalgene" with the page about environmental responsibility, which we really liked. 

There are lots of other companies out there concerned with the number of disposable plastic bottles we're using every year, who offer better alternatives. Remember, if you're going to go with a plastic reusable water bottle, check that is is BPA free. 

As a side note, here's a pretty cool video of someone Reusing plastic bottles to help less fortunate people see in their homes. We like helping others. 

Thanks for reading, and we hope you will REFUSE the use of PET plastic bottles with us!!!