Plastic is made from polymerizing the gases produced from superheated fossil fuels. The result is a durable, cheap, and lightweight material with abundant product potential. Since the 1950s, when plastic manufactures pivoted to making consumer products instead of gadgets for war, plastic production boomed and the industry continues to grow exponentially.

Most likely, even those plastic particles produced from the 1950s remain among us today like inert ghosts, coming back to haunt humanity for their negligence. The fatal flaw of plastic is its resistance to biological degradation. Physical weathering seems to be the only mechanism that our world has for degrading plastic, breaking it into tiny particles known as microplastics. Without a means to repurpose it, plastic waste continues to escape from landfills to pollute natural ecosystems globally.

Evidence of the world’s plastic pollution problem is evident via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mass of mainland garbage, and the countless microplastic particles which threaten to outnumber fish in the ocean. Read on for more details on the impact of plastic pollution.

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How Much Plastic is out there?

Data collected from Our World In Data shows that plastic production closely follows economic productivity, rising during times of prosperity and dropping during an economic crisis. While global plastic production keeps increasing exponentially each year, as of 2015, the production rate was about 381 million tonnes per year. Humans have produced about 8 billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s.

Packaging materials (146 million tonnes) make up the vast majority of plastics produced per year, outnumbering the mass of plastic made for construction (65 million tonnes) and textiles (59 million tonnes) combined. Discarded equipment like nets, lines, and traps make up 20% of marine sourced plastic pollution. The remaining 80% comes from mainland sources like inland streams and mismanaged landfills.

Landfills in high-income countries are generally the most regulated, judicially mitigating the risk of environmental pollution, however; landfills are not as well-regulated around the world. For example, ocean-borne plastic pollution is more common around the South African peninsula and Southeast Asia.

How Long Does Plastic Last in the Environment?

Plastic is an organic, carbon-based, compound made of long and stable polymer chains. While studies like this one have observed some level of biodegradability from about 20 genres of bacteria, the mechanisms that drive their metabolism are unclear. For example, HDPE experienced an 18% – 60% degradation after heat treatment and exposure to the bacteria strain, Klebsiella pneumonia, in this study by Awasthi et al. Furthermore, fungal communities and even mealworms have displayed some ability to degrade polyethylene chains without dying, using the polyethylene as a primary source of carbon in a controlled laboratory setting. Still, the enzymatic mechanisms driving these results are not fully understood, nor are the long-term consequences of field application.

Outside the laboratory, plastics are regularly consumed by humans, land animals, birds, and fish. Plastics do not biodegrade by any meaningful measure in the wild. Researchers find undigested plastic items in the stomachs of dead organisms who mistake bits of brightly colored material for food all the time. In the ocean, plastic particles also absorb chemical toxins from the surrounding water like a magnet, concentrating their toxic load for the next consumer up the food chain. The EPA refers to such toxins as PBT’s (Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and toxic substances).

In my opinion, the world’s plastic pollution problem is bigger than what microbial communities can practically consume. While, biodegradation research is important, halting the rate that plastic enters natural ecosystems is equally if not more pressing. At the rate that plastics are produced and mismanaged, it is better to treat plastic waste as if it might never decompose in the wild. In a real-world setting, the most immediate means of degradation that plastics experience is physical weathering, pulverizing existing plastics into smaller particles, a.k.a. microplastics.

How Is Plastic Related to the Climate Crisis?

Essentially, there can be no thermoplastic without fossil fuels and fossil fuel emissions. Most thermoplastics are the products of superheated ethylene gas derived from petroleum and are closely tied to carbon emissions. This relationship with fossil fuel distributors is what helped propel the commercial petrochemical industry into the superpower it is today. Despite the compelling amounts of evidence that mismanaged plastics negatively impact natural ecosystems, globally north economies like those in North America have little to no plans to slow down plastic production. Today, the USA generates more plastic per person than any other nation.

Thermoplastic products live very carbon-intense lives from production, to consumption, to disposal. In nearly every step of plastic’s lifecycle, there are carbon emissions involved. Researchers Sangwon Suh and Jiajia Zheng estimate that global plastic production emissions measured nearly 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2. Emissions from the plastic industry will undoubtedly increase as long governments continue to invest there, pushing nations further away from their climate actions goals.

Are There Laws Against Plastic Pollution?

Absolutely. The USA’s Clean Water Act of 1972 provides federally regulated water quality standards to protect navigable waters from physical and chemical pollution. Administered by the EPA, this stands as the nation’s first and most inspirational environmental law. Not to be outdone, the EU’s Environmental Action Plan followed suit in 1973 as a general framework for environmental policy development. Furthermore, India’s Prevention and Control of Pollution Act debuted in 1974 to face rising industrial and domestic pollution concerns.

judgement scale and gavel in judge office

Kenya currently has the strictest plastic bag legislation in the world. Outside of rubbish bin liners, plastic bags are banned from manufacturing and civilian use. Carrying a plastic bag in Kenya is punishable by a hefty fine and even jail time up to 4 years! Other countries that have active bans on plastic bags include Rwanda, New Zealand, South Korea, and about 56 other countries.

Some nations even incorporate the social cost of plastic through the taxation on plastic bags. For example, Ireland introduced a plastic bag tax in 2010 and reported a 95% drop in plastic bag-related pollution. Countries like Britain and France are also encouraging supermarkets to completely phase out single-use plastics by 2025, which means no more plastic bags, cups, packaging, or takeaway boxes.

Conclusion

There will always be a demand for plastic as long as there are companies to supply it and leaders to fund it. The utility, strength, and flexibility of plastics are unmatched by most materials, but globally, humanity must reconsider the extent that we use fossil fuels to effectively fight climate change. This means giving up some of the luxuries provided by highly disposable, single-use plastic products. Those should definitely be the first things to go.

Contextually, plastics have only been around for the past 70 years, so they are far from essential to human experience, though breaking our modern addiction to plastics is much easier said than done. In addition to urging your political leaders to take action on plastic pollution, consider developing creative ways to mitigate your dependence on plastic. Include your friends and family in the conversation too, and embrace a plastic-free culture in preparation for future legislation against plastic waste.