plastics

Humans are always looking for materials to create tools. Soil to make plates, fur to protect from cold winter, metal, glass… We are amazing creatures to come up with ideas and create things that never existed before. The beauty of those designs and colors makes them very dignified. I love them. The process of making ceramics is my favorite. I am putting my energy and love into making them. 

But there is one material I cannot put my heart into: plastic. It took only 100 years to surpass everything and take over the world. Nowadays these non-biodegradable materials exist not only on land and deep under water, but also inside animals' bodies including ourselves. Before you begin reading, please look around to see plastics around you. Your shoes, clothing, backpack, furniture, water bottles, juice packages, pencil cases, binders… It's everyplace.

Plastic's history began in the 19th century.

In 1863, a New York billiards company offered $10,000 to come up with a substitute material for the ivory in billiard balls due to the ivory shortage. And in 1869 an American inventor named John Wesley Hyatt discovered the process for making celluloid to make celluloid billiard balls - which was considered the first semi-synthetic plastic. 

In 1907 Leo Baekeland invented the first fully-synthetic plastic, Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride known as Bakelite. The word is longer than antidisestablishmentarianism or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! 

When the world was moving towards mass-production of goods by machine - which caused shortage of natural resources for the materials - inventors competed to create practical uses for these artificial materials.

The biggest moment in plastic's history was World War II. WWII gave the plastic industry a major boost. Tough, lightweight and well insulated, plastics were used for the army's protective gear, fuel tanks, weapons and so much more. 

After the war, military demand for plastic was declining so plastic manufacturers started to search for alternate uses of the plastics in household materials. 

Before long plastic manufacturers had switched their target to the consumer products market. In 1950, oil and natural gas industries in the US were huge. As you know, plastics are produced from natural gas. The US started to use plastic for everything. If you are interested in design you also know that 1950’s designs are very curvy and colorful. Plastic tupperware and plastic countertops, plastic toys and so much more. 

Since then, the plastic evolution basically never stopped. People developed precision engineered plastics for heat resistance and improved strength. And for the medical sector, plastics also became important for many reasons. Even artificial organs are made of plastic!

Clearly plastics are helping to save lives in the world of medicine, improving safety in the world of engineering, and more. I cannot deny everything positive about plastics. But the problem is that plastics cannot decompose. Plastics we have created so far never disappear in the world. If you burn them, they release toxic gasses. If you bury them, they never disappear.

From 1950 to 2015 more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced. 12% was incinerated (burned) and 79% went to landfills, dumps or the natural environment. Also every year 8 million tons of plastic end up in the world's oceans. Yet sadly only 9% of plastic worldwide is ever recycled. 

Throwing disposable plastics into plastic bins is not helping much. We really should stop using them. 

If we stop using plastic containers and packaging, that would be a big step in the right direction. Because over 40% of total plastic usage worldwide comes from containers and packaging! If you order something online, ask the seller to use paper instead of plastic. I personally recommend using plastic-free companies' websites, because they DO care about our health and Earth. Also bring non-synthetic eco-bags when you go shopping. If you have a farmers market nearby, try to get fresh produce from there.

We humans have created this problem and it's irresponsible. Couldn’t people have realized earlier that plastics are cheap to make but impossible to dissolve on Earth? Couldn't people have predicted this worldwide environmental issue? People chose profits over nature. We should have made a strict law about plastics when it started to be mass-produced. I know that nowadays without plastics a lot of companies will have a hard time running their businesses. But if we, individuals change - the companies will have no choice but to do so too. At the same time world leaders have to really understand the urgency and take action. Environmental issues are worldwide, so making individual rules by state doesn’t help much. California has created a rule that restaurants will no longer automatically serve straws. But if a customer asks, they’ll still be able to get one. Meanwhile fast-food joints, coffee shops and delis are exempt from the new straw restrictions! What do you think of that? 

If I were the lawmaker I would say “Let’s add crazy amounts of tax to the plastics for the packaging and containers" because big supply-chain companies tend to use lots of plastics but at the same time, making substantial profits. Support small businesses which share your environmental concern. Do you have any ideas? 

My sister and I have a routine of walking around and picking up trash in the neighborhood and coming back with a bag full of plastic trash. And that makes us wonder if these were non-plastic materials such as glass bottles, tin plates, would people throw away trash on the street like this? 

The plastics you throw away will stay somewhere on Earth at least 450 years and some take up to 1000 years to decompose. Please stop using plastics as much as possible. 

Changing old habits is not easy for people because people are always looking for convenience and more and more companies are selling more and more items to satisfy our desire for convenience. But I don't think convenience equates to happiness. If my parents pick plastic plates, plastic table cloths, plastic cups and utensils for my birthday party, because they can throw it away afterwards and it is very convenient to them - it doesn’t make me happy. School cafeterias provide food wrapped with over-wrapped plastics and plastic utensils in plastic wrap too. Because it’s sanitary? But it’s not sanitary to our Earth, it’s toxic. If you think a little more, imagine the future. Then maybe you will see what is the right thing to do. 

Lastly, resources have limits and Earth is facing the limit of how much plastic waste it can handle. We took enough advantage of Earth. It’s our time to step backwards. Do we still need so much stuff? Does that really mean happiness? Could we still be happy with less stuff? Let’s be kind to the Earth because our bodies are part of the Earth.