1 April 2019

Stopping Senseless Pollution with

Incremental Change

THE SINGLE USE

PLASTIC CRISIS

McCormick, Olivia K
CAS 138
THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

The Crisis:

Only 9% of the worlds 9 billion tons of plastic has been recycled.1 Although it may seem
like plastic does not affect our daily lives, this false sense of security is dangerous for the next
generation and the very near future. As citizens of Pennsylvania, there are many policy changes
as well as changes in behavior that we can push for, especially in regard to state legislation, to
change this crisis. Right now, however, almost nothing truly effective is being done. Single use
plastics like plastic bags, straws, and water bottles, by definition, are only used one time before
they are thrown away. The fact that so little of the plastic we produce in the United States is
recycled combined with how frivolously plastic is used is not helping the frightening problem on
our hands.

In 1982, Safeway and Kroger started to use the plastic bag. Traditionally, plastic was
made to save recourses as well as make production faster and cheaper during the Second
World War. The intentions can still be seen today through statistics that have remained the
same since the 1950s. The EPA reported in 2015 that plastic bags require 70% less energy to
produce as well as 96% less water than paper bags.2 However, plastic production has tripled
since the 1990s. Plastic manufacturing has become so out of hand that there is a garbage pile
the size of France floating around the ocean.3 This crisis did not occur without foreshadowing.
Just 15 years after the invention of plastic, Charles Moore discovered its potential harms,
including its deadly effect on marine life. Regardless of the problems Charles Moore brought to
light, companies stuck to their cheaper and faster methods and Americans were already used to
the false idea of environmentally friendly single use plastics.

Oceans

By 2050, ocean plastic will weigh more than the fish in the sea.4 Plastic pollution directly
kills at least 600 species, including endangered animals, like some types of sea turtles and
seals.5 The ocean is responsible for 70% of the oxygen people breath as well as 97% of the
worlds water supply.6 As one of the most vast and important parts of the earth that humans
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

rely on, it is treated by far the worst with tons of chemicals and plastics leaching into it every
minute.

Plastic bags, bottles, straws,

and utensils are the most
frequently found items
polluting the ocean.7 The
collection of this plastic is
mainly found in the five gyres
of the ocean. All of these items
found in the gyres are
unnecessary and could easily
be scaled back.

Human Health

Single use plastic is one of

the worst problems concerning the health of humans and the environment today. Containers
made of plastic and Styrofoam contain microplastics and benzene.8 Benzene can cause bone
marrow to slow its production of red blood cells leading to anemia, damage the immune
system by causing a loss of white blood cells, and at very high levels even cause death.9
Microplastics on the other hand are a bit more complex. Microplastics are fragments between
100 nm and 5 mm in size. Because they are so small, it is easy to find them everywhere,
including in cosmetics, homes, soil, and even in the air.10 Although the health side effects on
humans are not yet fully known, scientists theorize that if the plastic waste crisis continues at
its current rate, the problems with micro plastics will become clear. However, microplastics are
still a problem for the environment. Large pieces of microplastics can cause physical obstruction
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

in animals’ guts. It is also known that nanoplastics, even smaller versions of microplastics, are
widely consumed by scallops and other sea creatures, which humans eat.

The effects of plastic don’t stop at human food consumption. The single use plastic crisis
extends to the very air we breathe. As of 2015, the United States has incinerated 12% of its
plastic waste.11 In addition, 56% of worldwide imports of waste went to China for recycling.12 In
the case of the United States, almost 4,000 shipping containers full of plastic recyclables a day
had been shipped to Chinese recycling plants.13

China Putting Pressure on a Fragile Problem

Recently, on July 18th, 2017, China reported its plans to ban many types of imported
waste.14 This has left the US faced with its unsustainable production and management of
plastic. China enacted this policy in January of 2018. Not to the surprise of many, it has had
devastating effects. Many local communities have stopped recycling all together like Douglas
County, Oregon and Hancock County, Maine.15 The effects on Pennsylvania are just as harsh
with recycling plants majorly scaling back what recyclables they will accept. WITF reported, “To
deal with this change, some counties, such as Lancaster County, are cutting down on items that
can be recycled to decrease contamination. Lancaster County Solid Waste Management
Authority is now only accepting the "Big 4:" corrugated cardboard, plastic bottles and jugs with
necks, metal food and drink cans, and glass bottles and jars. Penn Waste has also cut down on
what can be put in recycling bins, taking a "Back to Basics" approach.”16

What We Are Doing:

Now that China is no longer recycling the United States’ plastic, some difficult questions
are being posed. The main question is: What we are doing about this problem? In short,
measures are being taken to clean up the mess that single use plastic has created through
things like beach clean-up programs. Still, these efforts are not enough. It is more expensive to
clean up a problem then it is to prevent it from happening in the first place. The UN estimates
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

that in Europe, beach clean-up programs will cost about 630 million euros per year.17 The same
idea applies to recycling and incineration.

Some governments have tried to implement biodegradable plastics. This name, however,
is misleading. Biodegradable plastics must be incinerated in order to decompose.18 Incineration
is not a good solution to the waste being produced because it is costly and toxic. An expert on
the subject and environmental chemist at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY states that,
“simply by burning household trash we make the most toxic substances that we have ever been
able to make in a chemical laboratory: polyhalogenated dibenzo para dioxins and furans (PCDDs,
PCDFs, PBDDs, PBDFs etc.) called “dioxins” for short.”19
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The dioxins released by incineration can affect human health in a number of ways. First,
the dioxins created by incinerating plastic waste causes soil and plant pollution. This is called
entering into the food chain. The soil and plant pollution that occurs from incineration is
objectively very minimal, however the gastrointestinal absorption of dioxins in humans and
animals ranges from 60% to 90%.20 In other words, a very small amount of pollution from
incinerators is not being filtered, but almost all of that very small number of dioxins is
completely absorbed by humans and animals. Even though this does not seem relevant, with
pollution levels rising exponentially and the current situation with China, it can be expected
that incineration rates will rise, ultimately increasing the number of unfiltered dioxins being
absorbed by humans and animals.

Real Solutions:

Real problems require real solutions. The things being done to fix the single use plastic
crisis are only trying to fix the problem by cleaning instead of dealing with the root of the
problem. David Katz in his recent Ted Talk gave the example of turning off a faucet first to stop
flooding instead of trying to get rid of the water. There are five different approaches to deal
with the root of the single use plastic problem that can all be implemented in Pennsylvania.

Capitol Based Incentives

In Michigan, a company known as APBA, a plastic bag manufacturer, made it impossible

for the government to ban plastic bags.21 Legislation like this in addition to the more than 6
million dollars APBA has spent on campaigns and lobbying to fight plastic bag bans suffocates
people into using plastic bags. Because plastic manufacturing companies have the money to
spend fighting environmentalists, capitol-based incentives are a great way to reduce frivolous
plastic use. In Pennsylvania, grocery stores give plastic bags away for free. If stores like Giant or
Wise charged even five cents for plastic bags, people would bring their own reusable bags. In
Ireland, capitol incentives for single use plastics has reduced overall consumption by as much as
90%.22
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Banning Some Single Use Plastic

Another way Pennsylvania can implement better practices to reduce the over consumption and
production of plastics is to ban some unnecessary single use plastics all together where it is safe
to do so. For example, some plastic packaging on fruits and vegetables is not necessary. Making
grocery stores friendlier towards people bringing their own containers, banning plastic straws,
and removing unnecessary packaging from fruits and vegetables could cut down on
unnecessary single use plastics. New York State lawmakers agreed this week to implement a
ban on plastic bags.23 The disadvantages to this would be a loss of jobs in the plastic
manufacturing companies. However, from an economic standpoint, the disadvantages are few
and far between. If the United States sacrificed improvement for people to keep their jobs, we
would never have accessible internet or computers. Even though these advancements cut some
jobs, they make new jobs in their place.
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Plastic Neutrality

Plastic neutrality refers to a term used by David Katz in his Ted Talk on recycling. It is
defined as investing in recycling where it does not already exist in order to more efficiently
recycle plastics.24 This could be used not only as a way to get more plastic recycled and out of
the ocean, but also as a way to help the poor.25 By reforming recycling, the 9% of waste that is
effectively recycled now could raise significantly.

The problem with trying to reform recycling is that now, after China decided not to
recycle the plastic from the United States, recycling centers are struggling with an overload of
waste and nowhere to put it. Recycling centers are already scaling back as opposed to
reforming. Although investments could help with this, it could be difficult to implement in a
first world country.

Individual Solutions

People use about 400 million tons of single use plastic per year designed for immediate
disposal.26 Even though capitol-based incentives combined with selective bans and plastic
neutrality could cut down on the most significant problems of the single use plastic crisis in
Pennsylvania, individual choices consumers make could reduce this 400 million tons even
further. For example, normalizing reusable products like shampoo bars instead of shampoo
bottles, beeswax wraps instead of plastic wraps, or even just utilizing the environmentally
friendly practices within a community.

Citizens of Pennsylvania are also able to contribute to real solutions by voting, lobbying,
and advocating for the environment so that other solutions like capitol-based incentives have
the opportunity to work. Informing others and being educated about environmental issues can
go a long way. For example, there is a city in Dubai that aims to be completely sustainable.27
They describe themselves as, “a modern application of social, economic and environmental
sustainability in the built environment achieved through innovative design, stakeholder
engagement, and future monitoring to sustain itself. As the first operational Net Zero Energy
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

city in Dubai, The Sustainable City is modelled to become an international showcase for
sustainable living, work, education, and recreation.”28 The sustainable city was created with the
mindset that it is possible to achieve an incredible amount of sustainability. If this mindset were
established in Pennsylvania, there would be significantly less waste.

Local Solutions

There are often many local environmentally friendly practices that people can
participate in in Pennsylvania, especially on college campuses or in cities. At Penn State
University, instead of using Styrofoam containers that poison people and the environment,
students can use a Green2Go container. Green2Go containers are reusable containers that
restaurants use as a sustainable alternative. There are also incentives for bringing a reusable
mug instead of taking single use plastic. At Penn State, the Eco Representatives come up with
numerous creative solutions all the time to try to make the campus more environmentally
friendly. For example, Eco Coin is a system in place that gives people a coin to donate to a
charity if they refuse a plastic bag.
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

The problem with local solutions is that they are only on college campuses or in larger
cities. The rest of Pennsylvania is left in the dark when it comes to eco-friendly alternatives. This
is why education for smaller towns is so important. If small towns were introduced to
alternatives, they would be able to fight for better laws themselves instead of living in the
world of plastic that society is now used to.

Current Pennsylvania Laws:

Narberth Pennsylvania is the first to introduce legislation to ban single use plastic straws
and bags in 2018.29 The law passed states that businesses cannot offer plastic straws or bags by
default.30 Even though this law will have a significant impact on both the mindset of people in
Pennsylvania and the environment, many people are concerned. Sharon Pennock in Havertown
Pennsylvania addressed the problem of offering straws to people with disabilities who need
them.31 Even though the current law does not ban straws all together, but rather only allows
straws by request, there is concern that businesses will have no incentive to purchase plastic
straws. Today, there are already many alternatives to plastic straws for both people who like
straws and people with disabilities that need them. Reusable straws are cheap and easy to put
in a purse, or even in a pocket. Most towns in Pennsylvania currently have no laws restricting
the poor production and consumption habits established.

What happens if these steps are not taken?

If none of these steps are taken in Pennsylvania in the near future, more money will be
spent trying to indefinitely clean up a mess that is growing faster than it can be cleaned. The
children of the next generation will not experience a garbage free beach, and public health will
rapidly decrease. People will not be able to eat any sea food, let alone be able to swim in the
ocean or even be able to breath as well as we can today. The irresponsible throw away culture
and corporate greed will continue to manifest and daily life will become significantly more
difficult in the near future.
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Conclusion

Plastic has become ingrained in society so intensely that people are harming
themselves, the environment, and their communities without knowing it. Because China has
recently put pressure on the state of the environment by refusing to recycle the worlds plastic,
it is important now more than ever to implement real solutions like capitol-based incentives,
plastic bans, plastic neutrality, and local and individual solutions. Because Pennsylvania
currently has very few of these laws and practices in place, it is imperative that people act now
to preserve human health and the environment.
 THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS

References

1 Claudia Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,” International
Environmental Technology Centre (2018): 7, available at
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25496/singleUsePlastic_sustainabilit
y.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
2 United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Advancing Sustainable Materials

Management: 2014 Tables and Figures,” (2015), 10, available at

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-
11/documents/2014_smm_tablesfigures_508.pdf.
3 Joe McCarthy, “That Massive Ocean Garbage Patch Is About to Be Cleaned Up,” (2018),

available at https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/cleaning-up-the-great-pacific-garbage-
patch/. (last accessed March 2019)
4 “A Global Tragedy for Our Oceans and Sea Life,” Center for Biological Diversity, available at

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/. (last accessed March 2019)

5 Ibid.
6 Andrew Dilevics, “How Ocean Pollution Affects Humans,” Planet Aid (2016), available at

https://www.planetaid.org/blog/how-ocean-pollution-affects-humans. (last accessed March

2019)
7 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”
8 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”.
9 “Facts About Benzene,” National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (2018),

available at https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp (last accessed March

2019)
10 Alex Scott, “The Pervasiveness of Microplastics,” 97 (5) (2019), available at

https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/pervasiveness-microplastics/97/i5 (last accessed

March 2019)

11 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”

12 Ibid.
13 David Carrig, “The US Used to Ship 4,000 Recyclable Containers a Day to China. Where Will

the Banned Trash Go Now?,” USA Today (2018), available at

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/21/china-ban-plastic-waste-
recycling/721879002/. (last accessed March 2019)
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14 “China’s Import Ban on Solid Waste Queried at Import Licensing Meeting,” World Trade
Organization (2017), available at
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news17_e/impl_03oct17_e.htm (last accessed March
2019)
15 Cheryl Katz, “Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling,”

(2019), available at https://e360.yale.edu/features/piling-up-how-chinas-ban-on-importing-

waste-has-stalled-global-recycling. (Last accessed March 2019)

16 Avery Van Etten, “China Forces Change in PA Recycling,” WITF (2018), available at
http://www.witf.org/smart-talk/2018/07/china-causes-changes-in-pa-recycling.php. (last
accessed March 2019)
17 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”
18 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”
19 Paul Connett, “Why Incineration Is a Very Bad Idea in the Twenty First Century,” GAIA,

available at http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-
century/. (last accessed March 2019)
20 French Institute of Health and Medical Research, “Dioxins in the Environment: What are the

Health Risks?,” Inserm Collective Expert Reports (2000), available at

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7128/. (last accessed March 2019)
21 Jason Daley, “Why Michigan Banned Banning Plastic Bags,” 2017, available at

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-michigan-banned-banning-plastic-bags-
180961630/. (last accessed March 2019)
22 “Where are Plastic Bags Banned Around the World?,” Priceonomics Data Studio (2018),

available at https://priceonomics.com/where-are-plastic-bags-banned-around-the-world/. (last

accessed March 2019)
23 Jesse McKinley, “Plastic Bags to Be Banned in New York; Second Statewide Ban, After

California,” New York Times (2019), available at

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/nyregion/plastic-bag-ban-.html. (last accessed March
2019)
24 David Katz, “The Surprising Solution to Ocean Plastic,” (2017), available at

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_katz_the_surprising_solution_to_ocean_plastic?language=e
n. (last accessed March 2019)
25 Ibid.
26 Giacovelli, et al., “Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability,”
27 “The Sustainable City,” available at https://www.thesustainablecity.ae/developer/. (last

accessed March 2019)

28 Ibid.
29 “Narberth, PA. Passes Law Restricting Plastic Bags and Straws,” ABC Action News (2018),

available at https://6abc.com/narberth-passes-law-restricting-plastic-bags-and-
straws/4518227/. (last accessed March 2019)
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30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.

Photo Citations

1. How Much Plastic Is There Infographic - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-

42264788 - Plastic graphics

2. Ocean Plastic Whirlpools Info Graphic - https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-

42264788 - Plastic graphics

3.Global Plastic Production Info Graphic - https://sustainablecoastlines.org/about/impact/

4. Beach Clean-Up Cost Pie Chart Info Graphic -https://lbpost.com/news/report-shows-long-

beach-spending-nearly-13m-annually-on-litter-abatement/

5. Where are Plastic Bags Banned or Taxed Info Graphic - https://priceonomics.com/where-are-

plastic-bags-banned-around-the-world/

6. Polluted by Plastic Image -https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/welcome-ground-zero-ocean-

plastic-pollution-crisis/
THE SINGLE USE PLASTIC CRISIS