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. 

The Problem With Plastics: A Material Designed to Last Forever, Consumed For Disposability

What to do, what to do...

Psychologists like to do word association- we do, too.

So, what’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of plastic? “Bottle,” maybe? Perhaps “pollution?” How about, “oxymoron?” When I think of plastic, I think of the word oxymoron. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines the word as “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” An example would be “pretty ugly,” or “big baby,” or even “honest politician” (we particularly like this one).

The first plastics were called parkesine, and were patented by Alexander Parkes, In Birmingham, UK in 1856. Up until the 1950’s, plastics were used scarcely- mostly for electric and engine parts. Plastics started showing up in the 1930’s and 1940’s in the form of radios, telephones, clocks, and even billiard balls. Then the “Disposable Life” became popular, where plastics were meant to save the modern housewife from the drudgery of so much housework. Why wash your dishes when you can just THROW THEM AWAY!

Apparently, something is written in stone.

Sounds awesome. I know I hate doing dishes. But this is where we went very, very wrong- where the word oxymoron comes into play. Plastics, which are designed to last “forever,” are appropriated to throw away. 

Disposable Plastic- one of the saddest, scariest oxymorons of the 21^st century.

We have solid, scientific evidence that plastics take 1,000 years+ to break down on land- about half that time in water- and yet we aren’t concerned with this when we choose to use all those convenient single-use plastic items.

Think of it this way: that water bottle that you purchased, that you drank from for 5 minutes, will now take at least 500 years to go away.

And as we already discussed (a thousand times, it seems like), it doesn’t actually go away. Through photodegradation, plastics become brittle and break down into smaller and smaller particles. They leak toxic chemicals into our drinking water and soils. The plastic slurry in our bodies of water get eaten by fish and work its way up our food chain, right back into our own bodies.

All for a quick drink on the go.

Does that seem totally backwards to ANYBODY? It seems incredibly wrong to us.

Jumbo Shrimp??

We reject all single-use plastics, because plastics should NEVER have been disposable! We have latched onto a sick, twisted, and false idea of what is disposable. Things that can actually biodegrade, at a reasonable rate, and that don’t poison us- such as corn starch and other organic materials- should be allowable as disposable. Would you try and make a compost in your backyard out of any other material that took 1,000 years to break down? No way! You’d never have any soil- you’d only have a pile of trash.

And herein lies another aspect of the problem- once you take your 5-minute water break and throw that bottle into the waste bin (or the recycling bin, if you’re remotely responsible), or after you throw away that plastic bag you brought home from the grocery store, you never have to think about it ever again. If we could see how much trash we actually accumulate- if it was in our faces, in our very own yards- we might feel differently.

Most of us don’t have to see it and certainly never have to think about it again if we don’t want to. But we’re smarter and better than that! We are intelligent enough that we should stop fooling ourselves into thinking that plastics aren’t a problem. We have gotten stuck in this terrifying paradox, thinking plastics are ok to use without care.

It’s not ok, and it’s time to start making better choices. It’s not just the Earth we’re trying to salvage- it’s humanity as a whole, too.

Refuse the use of single-use, “disposable” plastics because they don’t ever go away.

Thanks for reading, and for REFUSING with us!

The Problem With Plastics: The Unsustainability Of The Waste Hierarchy

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, which we call the “Waste Hierarchy,” has been around since the end of World War 2 when materials (not plastics at the time) were in shortages. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted this Waste Hierarchy about a decade later, around the time when plastics were becoming popular. Adverts for “The Disposable Life!” made people run rampant with plastics. In 1970, the EPA passed the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act in 1972; and in 1990 the Pollution Prevention Act. The last one in particular was created in an effort to focus on “industry, government, and public attention on reducing the amount of pollution through cost-effective changes in production, operation, and raw materials use.”

Good intentions are never enough, however. The EPA has really seemed to drop the ball when it comes to preventing or regulating plastic pollution. You remember in our last blog we discussed the Lobbyists and plastic manufacturers, whom want plastic to stay abundant in our lives. As much as the politicians are making decisions that benefit those with the money, the EPA does as well. Everyone in the entire world knows how cheap plastic is to make and use (we’re back down to $$money$$ again- what a surprise), and so why would anyone in their right mind push to use more expensive materials?

Because it’s more environmentally responsible? Meh! Who cares about that!?

Every single country that employs a Waste Hierarchy agrees that Reduce is at the top of priorities- with Reuse and Recycle following- and that sending trash to a landfill is a last resort. And yet… 50% of all plastics created end up buried in a landfill, while only 5% are recycled.

You might notice a 45% missing for where all plastics created every year end up. That last bit is unaccounted for, meaning it has ended up polluting our forests, rivers, oceans, and other places where it doesn’t belong. You remember the all that trash floating in the 5 Gyres, right?

Our point is… As noble as reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics may seem, they are not sustainable options for plastics.

Reducing is the only option that is remotely practical (a watered-down version of Refusing, really). The best-case scenario for plastics would be to discontinue using disposable plastics (bottles, straws, shopping bags, toothbrushes, cell phones, wrappers, lighters, take-out containers- basically anything you use once and throw away), and only allow for plastics that are used for more permanent or necessary purposes, such as sterile medical supplies or other life-saving devices.

Reusing sounds great, but it still doesn’t do anything to promote reduction in consumption, or solve the problem of where it ends up. Eventually, plastics are not reusable any longer and must be disposed of. Will it be in the 50%, to a landfill? Or maybe the lucky 5% recycled? Even sadder, the possibility of the unaccounted-for 45%…

Recycling, lastly, is unsustainable, as well as misleading. Every time plastics are recycled, they are actually downcycled, which means they are turned into a less-valuable product. Long story short, even if we recycled 100% of our plastics (a LOOOONG shot from our pathetic 5%), they would eventually end up unusable and in need of a disposal solution.

Recycling is expensive in so many ways- equipment, MORE fossil fuels, labor, shipping to and from- and all for a product that is less useful and still toxic.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling sound like excellent solutions to our plastic problem, but the truth is that they are not. It’s not enough any longer.

We have come to a point in our level of plastic consumption where the Waste Hierarchy no longer works.

The EPA has come up with some potential plans for encouraging recycling, such as the Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) program, where you are charged for the amount of trash collectors have to pick up. The more you recycle, the less trash you will be throwing away, the less you have to pay (I hate giving anybody my money, but we generally aren't motivated unless it hits our wallets).

Sounds great- again- but I guess what we’re saying is that (again, again, again) we’re beyond recycling! We need to STOP using plastics, and STOP fooling ourselves that we can just recycle.

Refusing the use of plastics- ridding our lives of this toxic waste- is the best thing for us and our planet.

We hope you will put REFUSING at the top of your Waste Hierarchy. Continue reducing, reusing, and recycling for those items that are impossible to replace, but first REFUSE plastics.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for REFUSING!

One Day Of Plastic

Good morning, Refusers. My husband wrote this piece for me, after deciding to embark on the daunting task of logging every bit of contact he had with plastic in just one day. Thanks for reading, and thank you, Ernie, for your dedication to Refusing!

"As my Friday came to an end, I laid in bed discussing with my wife the events of our day. Our words during those last moments before I fall asleep are often what motivate me throughout the next day. Megan had spent her day working with the Refuse page to try and bring more awareness to the topic of plastics in our daily lives. As I fell asleep that night, I decided I would find out exactly how much plastic has infiltrated my daily life by keeping a log of everything plastic that I come into contact with. I would log only the items that I personally touched and write them down only once.

I awoke the next morning, and before I could even leave the bed, I realized I had on a watch with a plastic armband. *Sigh* Obviously I needed to immediately get started with my list. After some morning kisses from Megan I began my day and started my log. I quickly found myself touching several items multiple times, over and over it seemed like- such as the keyboard or mouse. Megan suggested I put a tick mark aside these items. It became clear to me that my day would be completely hindered by the constant need to write down items I had touched. 

By 9 a.m. I had already touched 51 different plastic items, many of them multiple times. I also became aware that a high percentage of the plastic items were found in the kitchen and amongst our food and drink items. 

My day ended with 124 items. As it was Saturday, we went out for dinner. When we arrived home I tried to think of all the plastic items I had touched during our outing, but I am sure there were many things I missed. I didn’t want to disturb our dinner guests with my list, nor was I involved with the production of our meals.

To be sure- I was not ready for this challenge and did not think it would consume as much time as it did. After months of clearing our home/work place of as much plastic as we can, I find that we have not even started. 

Should you embark on a similar challenge to find out your personal plastic footprint, I commend you and at the same time do not envy you. 

Good luck and Refuse."

The Problem With Plastics: Plastic-Pushers With Money And An Agenda

That beautiful First Amendment to the United States Constitution- protecting our precious right to freedom of speech, the same piece of law that permits lobbyists to attempt to influence government officials in their decision-making.

Lobbying has been around for ages- the very least in the United States since the beginning of our nation- and has helped many a group and individual see freedom-protecting legislation come to fruition. But there has always been an ethical and moral question lingering in the air surrounding certain lobbyists and their agendas- especially concerning the environment.

Those individuals and companies that make money off of plastic are fighting their hardest to make sure plastic keeps its stay in our everyday lives, despite the blatant, cold, hard facts that say we should be ridding ourselves of this toxic substance.

Here are some instances for you:

In California, plastic lobbyists have found their way into the textbooks of our young minds, in a section titled, “The Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags.” Quoted from this section: “Plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. They take less energy to manufacture than paper bags, cost less to transport, and can be reused.” Are these statements all true? Taken out of context, yes. Did the fact that plastic bags kill more than 100,000 marine animals every year; leech toxic chemicals; and take an estimated 1,000 years to decompose in landfills make it into that section as well?

Of course not. That wouldn’t play to the plastic manufacturers’ agendas.

  

In 2007, in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, citizens attempted to enact a bill to completely phase out the use of inorganic plastic bags, and to implement the use of reusable cloth bags and compostible bags over a two year span. Plastic lobbyists rallied together saying that consuming plastics isn’t the problem- the lack of recycling is the problem.

We have all learned by now (hopefully) that recycling is not a sustainable solution to our plastic problem. Recycling is a deceiving word when it comes to plastic, as it can truly only be downcycled. After only a few rounds in a recycling center (if it ever even makes it there once) plastics cannot be used any longer. And then where does it go? It doesn’t just disappear- it sits in our landfills, poisioning our land and water.

Besides, haven’t we already established that, of the 380 billion plastic bags produced in the United States every year (more than 1,200 bags per U.S. resident, per year), only 1% of the bags get recycled? And that there is virtually no market for recycled bags, as they are of little use after recycling because of the product being less durable? AND THAT THEY KILL WILDLIFE AND ARE MADE FROM A NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCE THAT TAKES 1,000 YEARS TO BREAK DOWN THAT LEAK CHEMICALS INTO OUR SOIL IN THE MEANTIME?

Oh, I forgot, those facts don’t serve their agenda.

What is the real issue here, exactly?

Abba knows the answer.

MONEY!

Maybe this seems too obvious to state, but we’ll do it anyways. The manufacturers need and want to make money. They make money when we buy a product they manufacture. When they get us hooked on a product, it raises the production and the demand, raising the number of figures on their paycheck. More money means more resources to fight to keep their products in our hands.

While it may seem like the lobbyists are in control, it’s actually the opposite. This is important:  you and I are in control because we are the consumers- we hold the dollar bill that keeps them in business. 

If the First Amendment every did anything for the lobbyists, it does the same thing for us. We have a right to say what we want and what we don’t want- with our voices and with our choices.

We hope you will choose to REFUSE the use of plastics with us and help us tell the lobbyists that we don’t want their toxic waste, or the blood of innocent creatures on our hands.

DOWN WITH PLASTICS, LOBBYMAN!

Thanks for taking the time to read, and as always, THANKS FOR REFUSING!

The Problem With Plastics: Non-Renewable Resources

According to Wikipedia, a non-renewable resource is a natural resource which cannot be produced, grown, generated, or used on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate. Once depleted there is no more available for future needs. They include coal, petroleum, natural gas, aquifers, and uranium. Timber and metals are considered a renewable resource because they can be grown and/or infinitely recycled, but we argue they are being consumed at a rate that exceeds its supply. 


But that's another story. 


All plastics start from the same source: petroleum. Petroleum is a non-renewable resource, which means eventually we will run out- not to mention the damage we are doing to the Earth through drilling and consuming this resource (we'll get to climate change later).


According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration: 


In 2006, about 331 million barrels of liquid petroleum gases (LPG) and natural gas liquids (NGL) were used to make plastic products in the plastic materials and resins industry in the United States, equal to about 4.6% of total U.S. petroleum consumption. Of the total, 329 million barrels were used as feedstock [for plastic production] and 2 million barrels were consumed as fuel.

In addition to petroleum, about 11 billion cubic feet of natural gas were used as feedstock [for plastic production] and 324 billion cubic feet were burned as fuel, equal to about 1.5% of total U.S. natural gas consumption in 2006. Electricity is also used to manufacture plastic materials and resins: in 2006, about 19.2 billion kilowatt-hours, less than 1% of total U.S. electricity consumption. Only about 1.4% of the total U.S. petroleum consumed in 2006 was used to generate electricity.

331 million barrels?!? That's a lot. More accurately, that's too much. To drive it home, 331 million barrels of petroleum can provide electricity to more than 55 million homes, or over 22 million cars. 

How wasteful is that?

Several companies have come up with machines to convert plastics back into petroleum, but the process is expensive and the machine is way costly. This guy, reported from Gizmag, found a way to process all types of plastic, which was until recently unheard of. The Japanese created a more affordable machine (still way expensive to own and operate and, not to mention, slooooowwwwwww) that could very well be a household product if you'd like, but it only processes Numbers 2, 3, and 4 type plastics. Here's a video about it:

Several companies have also tried coming up with new ways of creating plastics that will biodegrade. Pepsico announced earlier this year that the beginning of 2012 marks the start of a new bottle, the first totally plant based, petroleum- free, totally bio-degradable plastic bottle, made from switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. As you may have noted, those are all renewable resources. They are one of the first, and we hope more are to follow, but we can't help but point out that even these machines use energy, and that plastics are still produced and used by all those other companies out there today, thousands of them, and the petroleum just keeps getting used up.

What if petroleum was hard cash? 

(sometimes it seems to be close, but we know it's not) 

What if money were a non-renewable resource? What if you were given the amount of money you would have ever had at the beginning of your life? Would you go spend it all? Would you save it? Would you waste it, or spend it wisely? Would you use it on things you would just throw away, things that would later do damage to your very own property and body? 

We know we wouldn't, and we also know that if using non-renewable resources for disposable items- items that will never go away, that are harmful to you and the Earth- if that hurt our wallets, we'd have a different situation on our hands. 

But, again, that's another story.

The problem with non-renewable resources (aside from the obvious that it has a limit and will eventually run out) is that we have to use some of it, especially in our day and age. Is there a responsible amount to use? We believe so. And so far, we have far exceeded any sort of fair, mindful quantity. 

Refusing plastics and choosing glass and aluminum packaging, which are infinitely recyclable- unlike plastics- contributes to a 40% reduction in energy consumption. Besides, glass is recycled at a rate of 80% and aluminum at a rate of 58%. Plastics suck at 7% total (Pfffft).

We refuse the use of plastics because they are contributing to a depletion in a non-renewable resource, and we hope sharing our knowledge with you will help you make a similar choice. 

Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks for REFUSING!

The Problem With Plastics: Mother Ocean

A lot of people have noticed that Refuse's posts come from Honduras, a relatively undeveloped country, often considered a third-world country. My mom pointed out to me a few days ago that maybe people living in more developed countries don't believe plastics are a problem for them, or that their plastic consumption is responsible because they attempt to recycle or properly dispose of their trash, or maybe even that their trash is properly disposed of and therefore doesn't reach the Ocean like the trash of other less-developed countries.


Let me see if I can remember how it worked when I lived in the city and suburbs of the United States:


You drive to the grocery store (or whatever store), buy your items, tote them home, and store them (food goes in your refrigerators and pantries, obviously). You use your products one by one and either throw them in a trashcan or a recycling bin. One day a week (rarely two) someone in a garbage truck comes around and picks up the trash and/or recyclables you wheeled 20 steps out to the edge of your driveway or street. Sometimes you do other things like put your garbage down a shoot or drive your recyclables off to a recycling center. After this, you will never have to think about your trash ever again, and someone correctly deals with the trash. The Earth smiles at your responsible efforts. 


Down here in Honduras, living on the Ocean, we see something different. 


We collect our trash and put it at the end of the dock, where a few times a week some local individual loads the trash into their personal truck and take it to the trash dump. This is the most advanced form of trash gathering, as our vessel happens to be docked in a marina. Everyone else is responsible for their own trash. One garbage truck goes around once a week to designated trash dump areas. It is the responsibility of the individual to carry their trash to these designated areas. Because it can be quite a task (finding someone with a truck, etc.) they only carry their trash once a month. Even when the trash does make it to the dump, it does not ensure that it stays in the dump. If it happens to rain in the middle of a trash pile-up, tons of that trash gets washed out to sea. 


Where people in developed countries believe the journey of their trash has ended, we have become acutely aware that it is far from over (in fact, the journey of plastics last over 1,000 years, but that's another story).


After a heavy rain or wind (weekly events here), there is so much trash that washes to our shores from the mainland, it actually takes over entire coves and bights. Most of this trash is plastic, as plastic floats.


This plastic either washes up to shore in some other location (a small percentage), or it continues out to sea. The winds and currents guide it toward eddies or gyres, where plastic collects and builds up, trapped in the swirling currents. These gyres, five of them total, range from 270,000 square miles to more than 5,800,000 square miles in size. That's twice the size of the United States.


The plastic bakes in the sun and breaks down through photodegradation, leaching chemicals into the water and breaking the plastics into small pieces. In fact, for every square mile of Ocean, there are an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic litter. Once the pieces have become small enough, the fish and other creatures start to eat them. Sometimes the plastic kills the fish, but not always. Bigger fish eat smaller fish until the toxins from the plastic have worked their way up the food chain, all the way to your dinner plate and now into your body.


This is just one way plastic poisons the Ocean via humanity, and vice versa. Birds and other land creatures eat the small plastic pieces and die of digestion failure and chemical poisoning. Sea animals become entangled and drown. Every year over 100,000 sea creature deaths are from plastics that we, humans, have put in the Ocean through our carelessness.


We've explained this process before, but wanted to drive home that just because someone takes away your trash from your street doesn't mean the trash has somehow been saved from entering this journey to the Ocean. 80% of the trash floating in the gyres (90% of which is plastic) came from a landmass. 


What was once just one trash gyre (or a swirling mass of trash), has now developed into five gyers- two of which are directly off the coast of the United States. Here's a pictures of the Five Gyres below.

Notice the two most northerly gyres, off the East and West coasts of The United States,
one of which is named the North Pacific Gyre.

Captain Charles Moore, who first helped us become acquainted with the North Pacific Trash Gyre, estimates that the North Pacific Gyre alone contains 100 million tons of plastic. The South Pacific Gyre (located directly below the North Pacific Gyre) has grown to be slightly larger than the original North Pacific Gyre!


The United States has directly contributed to the two gyres off its East and West shores- with Asia's help, 80% of each gyre's mass, to be precise. That would be 80 million tons of trash, 72 million tons, or 90%, of which is plastic.


We need to stop believing that we are not the problem!


Your trash and plastics are not necessarily safely contained in a landfill! 


Your trash contributes to the problem, too! 


Until we admit to these facts and stop the denial, we will only continue contributing to more and more irreversible damage. 


Captain Charles Moore helps us understand this further. Watch this great video. He explains everything much better than us.

This is just one of many problems with plastic, albeit one of the largest problems. 


Thanks for taking the time to read about how plastics affect our big, beautiful Ocean. Be looking for our next update on The Problem With Plastics.


THANKS FOR REFUSING!