In an open article Isabel Hilton, CEO and Editor of chinadialogue, explains that if we valued plastic differently, we would recover its embedded energy and greatly reduce pollution both in the oceans and on land...
Since the 1950s, more than nine billion tonnes of plastics have been manufactured. 90% of it has been discarded, threatening ocean life, filling, tens of thousands of landfill sites worldwide and damaging human health. The chemicals that leach from plastics have been found in the blood and tissue of people all over the world and have been linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity and endocrine disruption.
According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, 17 million barrels of oil a year are used to make new plastic, most of it thrown away after just one use. Once discarded, plastic becomes a cost to the public: collecting it, managing it, moving it and disposing of it is an expensive burden; failure to manage it has created a serious hazard.
Given the damage plastic is doing, why is so little recycled? One problem is that plastic is cheap to produce, and recycling businesses, so far, struggle to make a profit. But, as two industry experts explained to chinadialogue, if we valued plastic differently, we would recover its embedded energy and greatly reduce pollution.
Nina Goodrich, an industry insider who is now director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, insists that plastic is not an enemy. “The reason we use plastics,” she told chinadialogue, “is that they are environmentally efficient in food preservation. Massive energy and resources go into producing food, so the job we hire plastic to do is really important. Without it, the environmental burden of feeding nine billion people would be significantly higher.”
