Rethink plastics

I really like plastic. It is durable, light material that can be molded in almost any kind of shape. You can have it in every color, transparent, thick or thin. The applications are numerous. And it's cheap! Plastic is everywhere! Inside the refrigerator, within the refrigerator itself. Clothes, eye-glasses, in our car, most packaging, wires, cables, TV, phone, toys, shoes... We can't think about hospitals and medical care without plastic!

 

The first synthetic polymer was invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt  and the first fully synthetic plastic, Bakelite was inveted in 1907 by Leo Baekeland. For anyone interested more about these guys and the history of plastics, please visit Chemical Heritage Foundation. Plastic has been with us for long time. So, would it be just too good to be true, that we would have this fantastic material without the downside of it? Yes, it unfortunately would. Just because of the very same qualities the plastic is wonderful, it becomes a problem, when it is misplaced and dumped after usage. Because it's cheap, it encourages people to use it - and loose it. The usage time of the most common plastic products, like plastic bags and bottles is very short, just few minutes, and then they become useless, and people like to dump them.

 

The problems of plastics are very much related to the dumping. There are differencies between countries, how the plastic-as-waste is handled. In Finland for example, we have very efficient way of recycling glass and plastic bottles and aluminium cans. Some countries have organized separate bins to collect and recycle plastic waste. There are also waste-to-energy plants, where plastic is burned to energy with other waste. But still for many countries, dumping to sea is the usual way of getting rid of the plastic waste. It's fast and cheap. Europe also uses China as the waste management for a large part of the plastic waste. And who knows, what happens then for this waste...

I have noticed that the plastic-as-a-waste -problem is getting more and more attention in different media, TV-news, newspapers and of course, social media. Media's role is very important in bringing this problem to the attention of people and decision makers and in discussion about the solutions to the problems. I think the plastic usage as a material needs a proper re-thinking, from the industry's and consumer's perspectives. There are plenty of applications where plastic is really fantastic. I see plastic as a good basic material in heavy constructions for objects that require continuous transportation, like airplanes, ships, trucks, passenger cars and all kind of vehicles, where lighter weight of the object, reduces the amount of energy required to move the object. This way, plastic can actually help in reducing the fuel emissions and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Another good example for plastic applications is construction industry, where plastic can offer a long lasting, durable solution for piping, cabling and insulation. Long lasting purpose for high-quality plastics, where the usage life is years or decades, offers an interesting source as a carbon sink that stores hydrocarbons for long time and reduces the amount of carbon to be emitted to the atmosphere.

Fossil hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas and coal has been and still is the dominant raw material for plastic production. Renewable raw-materials are an inetersting and viable solution in the battle to reduce carbon emissions. Using renewable sources, like forestry and waste in plastic production of high-quality, long lifetime plastics would serve as an efficient carbon sink to reduce carbon emissions.

But what about the biodegrabale plastics then? The development of these plastics is still taking it's very first baby steps. It is definitely a welcome perspective to solve the plastic dilemma, but I see that this can bring only partial solution. Thorough reserach is required to carefully evaluate the life-cycle impact of biodegrable plastics. Is it possible that biodegrable plastics would continue encouraging people to use-and-loose plastics in purposes, that are not necessary, like plastic straws, cosmetics, plastic bags? What is the decomposition time of biodegradable plastic in oceans? Are these substancies truly less harmful as waste?

Do we really need all the items that we are currently using as plastics? Are there alternatives? I can drink my glass of soda without the plastic straw. With a just a little preparation, I can slip a light aluminium water bottle in my bag, when going out. Plastic bag is easily replacable with a re-usable fabric bag (such as cotton). I'd like to buy my cosmetics without any plastics. Is it really necessary to have plastic pearls in our shower gel? What purpose does that serve anyway? The cosmetics issue can only be solved by the cosmetics industry. As a consumer, it is impossble to recognize, if the cosmetic product contains plastics or not. It is hard even for a chemical engineer. As a consumer, we can of course look for environmental labels, choose vegetable cosmetic brands and reduce the amount of cosmetics we use.

We should also re-think the polymer fabrics in our clothing. A consumer can make some choices here, like choosing clothes made from natural fabrics (cotton, wool, bambu, viscose). But this is not so easy anymore, as majority of the clothing fabrics offered in normal shops are made from polymer fibres, like acrylic, polyester and nylon - with lower cost. Here we need a change of consumer behaviour from use and throw away, to choose quality and use with care. And the clothing industry should provide clothes available in shops made from natural fabrics.

All and all, we need to re-think the whole life-cycle of plastics. What items to produce from plastics and what not. Find and use sustainable alternatives, abandon fully some plastic items, develop new, high-quality, non-toxic, long life-time plastics. Perhaps the most critical is to urgently find efficient solutions for plastic waste handling and disposal. This requires the development of efficient plastic recycling, microplastic treatment in waste waters and use non-recyclable plastics as a source of energy in waste-to-energy plants.

What are your suggestions to solve the plastic waste dilemma?

For those interested, here are links for sources that address the plastic topic:

Sailor Ellen McArthur is warning that there will be more waste plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. The Guardian published an article in their blog.

Orb-Media research 'Invisibles - the plastics inside us' discussing about microplastics in global tap water, published also in Kalevan uutiset.

The European bioplastics and their carbon footprint.