One of the members of the Design Innovation in Plastics committee, Alicia Chrysostomou, has just published a new book, Plastics: Just A Load Of Rubbish?, which questions some of the myths and inaccuracies surrounding plastics and whether they are the enemy in our quest to find sustainable solutions for our planet.
Chrysostomou, a lecturer in polymers, grew increasingly frustrated at the bad press surrounding plastics and questioned whether it was being given a fair hearing. This is an excerpt from the book:
Plastic fantastic or just a load of rubbish? Plastic demands our attention in a way few other materials can manage. It has risen and fallen in our estimation to a spectacular extent in the last few decades. Our sentiments towards plastic now have probably hit rock bottom. But why?
Just before the pandemic encircled the globe, I found myself in a lecture theater surrounded by a hundred or so very excited 9-year-olds as they watched a chemistry professor demonstrate the properties of gases. There were exploding balloons, thick clouds of dry ice and gushing foams. The children were enthralled. The professor explained that helium was now a valuable gas and in consequence some retail outlets offered children promotional balloons on the end of sticks rather than the traditional floating gas-filled alternatives. He leaned forward and urged the children not to take these bobbing gifts. The sticks are made of plastic, he told them. Then added, "And what happens to the plastic?" The children chanted back as one, as if reciting a well-rehearsed mantra, "It ends up in the sea."
I question the wisdom of telling children that plastic, as a matter of course, ends up in the sea. Plastic only ends up in the sea if it's put there. It doesn't sprout legs and head straight to the ocean the moment its usefulness expires. Or are there lines of children standing on clifftops flinging their unwanted plastics into the sea? Of course not.
Plastics waste is a major cause of concern, yet for the most part this waste is correctly disposed of and much is recovered and recycled. There is no denying that this is not always the case, particularly if we look globally, and this needs addressing. But even where the best intentions are meant, confusion still arises.
Another misleading credential associated with plastics, and now seen with increasing abundance, relates to bioplastic. If you automatically heave a sigh of relief when you see this stamped on a product and think, "Well that's all right then," all may not be as it seems. The "bio" here most often does not mean biodegradable: It just refers to the biological origins of the plastic. In so many cases when a plant is converted into a plastic, it is just that: a plastic just like its oil-derived cousin with all the inherent pros and cons of that material. This is a whole other area of confusion that only serves to alienate the public yet further from the attributes of plastic and will be looked at in this book.
The key underlying question to ask is whether this material is as bad as it has been painted. Based on my professional experience as a polymer scientist and engineer, I would argue it is not.
So for those of you who automatically consider plastics as being the scourge of modern society, I'm afraid this might not be the book you thought it was. I'm giving fair warning, this is not a plastics-bashing book. I know I'm going against the norm but here's the challenge: Can you give the other side a fair hearing? The result might be surprising.
I'm certainly not intending to utterly exonerate all uses of this valuable material. Serious problems undoubtedly exist, but I would like to redress the balance and ask if it's right to heap the ills of the planet on this one class of material. Worse, by fixating on plastics are we actually taking our eye off the ball and not seeing other areas worthy of equal or greater concern? Might we even consider the possibility that we may be able to rectify at least some of our problems with the assistance of plastic? The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example, with vast quantities of equipment used against this virus — from PPE to test-kit components, from breathing tubes to ventilator parts — all being made from plastic, moreover that bane of society, single-use plastic.
Many column inches have gone to declaim the depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels — especially oil — in the manufacture of plastics. Hang on a minute though: Just how much oil is actually being depleted in the name of plastics? The answer may surprise. Globally, just 4% to 6% of oil produced goes into the manufacture of plastics. So what happens to the rest? Largely it's incinerated. The vast majority of extracted oil is burnt for fuel; there is no going back on this finite resource. By converting it into plastic, it becomes something tangible, useful and recyclable.
It is interesting to note that concerns over plastics use are not by any means new or unique to the current age. Previous generations saw that limits were needed on environmental grounds. A textbook written by the highly respected academic and plastics expert Dr. John Bryson throws an interesting light on early concerns. The following excerpt, taken from a passage in its introduction, comes from a revised 1977 edition:
"Another problem confronting the plastics industry, and in fact civilisation as a whole, which came to the foreground in the 1970s, was the concern for the environment. There has been increasing awareness of the need for conservation of resources, and of the evils of pollution and of the fact that it is the quality of life rather than material possessions which is the criterion by which civilisation should be judged."
It is interesting to note that these concerns have been around for nearly fifty years and continue to be expressed. Might it be that our desire for material possessions hinders our actions when it comes rectifying harm done to the environment? We do however need to acknowledge the benefits of plastics to our quality of life. Somewhere a balance needs to be made.
Plastics have been instrumental in giving us healthy, fuller and more socially inclusive lives. We can do things we never would have imagined just a couple of generations ago. Our lives have improved in so many ways; we have choices in how we live, what we wear, what we eat and even what leisure activities are open to us. Now to ask the important question, how much of this do we want to give up, how much should we give up and what would be the consequences to the planet if all plastics were banished? And come to that, why do we have such strong opinions about plastics in the first place? I will try to address these issues and others in the pages that follow.
Let's start with the question, why have we formed such strong opinions about plastics?
Why are we so set against plastic? The influence of the media
There have been some fantastic programs on the television these last few years. We have been entertained and enlightened on a terrific range of subjects. Some of them have become seminal and have impacted society in ways not imagined. One such was the excellent BBC offering The Blue Planet. It became a global sensation, and the episode in its second season focusing on plastics spawned international debate, kick-starting a multitude of campaign groups, calls for action and even influenced governmental policy. It has helped shape the thinking of a whole generation.
The phenomenal success of this program led to a plethora of others, all determined to pick up the environmental mantle and in doing so, increasingly demonize plastics. After all, this is what the public wanted to hear. Plastics are the root of all evil. They are clogging the sewers and abound in the oceans, congregating in sprawling islands of waste. The media, in its bid for ever more sensationalist headlines, ramp up their efforts to further highlight the scourge that is plastics.
Before having a look at specific myths about plastic, we need to figure out why plastic took such a foothold in the first place. Why is it so omnipresent? Do we need to be so totally dependent on this material and is it being used to its best effect? And probably the biggest question, what on earth, and I use that word advisedly, is such vast quantities of the stuff doing in the seas and oceans? Once we figure that out we can consider the need (or otherwise) to contain its use and whether we really do need an outright ban on all things plastic.
It will help if we go back to the beginning, look at the origins of this material and discover how it gained such dominance in just a few decades. This potted history might show how essential these materials were, even right at the start, in conserving the natural environment. It will also show how much came about accidentally with many breakthroughs resulting from spills, mishaps and even, on one occasion, a clumsy cat prowling a lab.