Plastic percentages
Plastic seems to have an outsized impact on our ecological consciousness. We can see plastic trash on the street and floating in the ocean, and we see news stories about wildlife harmed by plastic pollution. It’s the aspect of the ecological crisis that seems closest to hand, something individuals can actually influence, and yet we seem unable to slow our plastic use.
Only 4–8% of the global total of fuel stocks goes toward the production of plastics, but the bigger picture is that plastics make possible a carbon-intensive economy and lifestyle. Plastics allow manufacturers to produce individual goods cheaply, and package them for shipping, which in turn allows consumers to purchase more low-cost, disposable items, often manufactured in coal powered factories overseas and then shipped across the globe via container ships burning CO2 intensive bunker fuel. Shipping contributes approximately 3% of global annual carbon emissions.
As much as 40% of plastic produced is used for single use packaging. Many of the plastic packaging items we use every day, including plastic clamshells for produce, the small tubes and caps of cosmetics and bottled foods, cannot be recycled because small items clog up the works in municipal recycling plants.
Once the consumption part of a plastic item’s life-cycle is over, it might be able to be recycled depending on municipal programs and the type of plastic, and whether a buyer can be found for the recycled stock. Since fossil fuel prices are low, “virgin” plastic is often cheaper for manufacturers to purchase than recycled material. Less than 10% of all plastic produced is recycled. What isn’t recycled is landfilled or incinerated, both of which release more CO2. The recycling process for plastic is also carbon (and water) intensive.
According to the Center for International Environmental Law, plastics production contributes 850 million tons of greenhouse gases per year. The estimated total for all human activities is 45 billion tons of CO2 per year, putting plastics production (which does not count shipping, waste management, and recycling) at less than 2% of the global total of carbon emissions per year.
If the production percentage and the shipping percentage are included, the global total of carbon emissions per year in order for us all to continue using straws, water bottles, and tiny tubes of skin cream is a mere 5%. While 5% might not seem significant, the CIEL has some dire warnings. According to the Plastics & Climate report plastic pollution is harming ocean plankton, which reduces their ability to absorb CO2 in the ocean. We also use more and more plastic each year, and markets are growing as countries industrialize across the globe. If we continue this trajectory, it’s projected that plastic production will eat up 15–20% of the global carbon budget by 2050, which is significant.
Clearly, we can’t plastic-bag-ban our way out of this mess, and industries have little reason to change. A serious restriction on ubiquitous single use plastic will completely reconfigure the way we live, from shampoo to salad bar. Are we prepared to contemplate a plastic-free, less convenient future?
Last month, I did an experiment in which I attempted to document every piece of disposable plastic I used during the day. The parameters of the experiment were:
- Any disposable plastic I touched had to be documented with a photo of each individual item.
- This included plastic packaging such as toothpaste tubes and cosmetic jars, as well as single use plastic like cellophane wrapping or individual yogurt cups.
- Durable plastic goods, such as components of my bike, car, refrigerator, or microwave, were not included.
I took over 50 pictures each day of the experiment (I’ll admit I cheated a few times). I woke up, walked to the bathroom sink and took a picture of the toothpaste tube, the floss container, and my toothbrush. In the shower I took a picture of the face wash bottle, the shampoo bottle, the conditioner bottle. Then I took pictures of the three (!) different moisturizers I use and multiple cosmetics containers. In the kitchen, I documented the plastic cap on the milk carton, the yogurt tub, the wrapping on the bread. It was still only 9am.
My relationship to consumer goods changed because I inserted a monkey wrench of inconvenience into the works — in the form of the smart phone photo. Solid bar shampoo, bulk goods in reusable containers, and bringing my own containers to the carry-out Thai place suddenly seemed slightly less of an embarrassing inconvenience when the alternative was having to take a picture of every single piece of future trash I handled. Using less, avoiding convenience products, planning ahead to reduce my consumption started to seem easier. I began to think of this process as training for having a reduced carbon lifestyle — or alternately a preview of the post-consumer, post-convenience lifestyle we may be living after a few waves of major climate catastrophes.
