Since the industrial revolution, the human race has come forward in leaps and bounds, even putting a man on the moon, but these advancements did not come without repercussions. One of the biggest repercussions can be seen in our oceans. According to the National Health Association, between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. Only a trivial 8 percent of all plastic ever gets recycled, even though most plastics are perpetually recyclable. So why is this, and who needs to fix it?
To answer this question, we need to look at why we started using plastic in the first place. Plastic was introduced early in the mid-1900s as a miracle material that could be soft or hard, clear or opaque, both flexible and strong in thin sheets, easily extruded or molded into any shape imaginable, and best of all, cheap. Today, we rely on plastic to keep food fresh, keep airplanes light, and keep computers (relatively) cheap. So who do we turn to now that plastic has started to have detrimental effects on our environment?
First, we should look at the consumer. According to the EPA, the average American throws away about 216 pounds of plastic every year. So why don’t people just buy less plastic? Well, that isn’t exactly easy, as companies wrap just about everything with plastic, from your water to your twinkies to your new doll.
The private sector has been using plastic to decrease cost and production time, at the same time as increase shelf-life of perishable items for decades. So why can’t companies just make their packaging from something else? Well, glass and metal were the primary packaging materials before plastic came into vogue, and let’s just say there is a reason they are no longer used. On top of being extremely heavy and expensive when compared to plastic, they are also much less moldable, and can’t be used to cost-effectively vacuum pack products. “But what about bioplastics?” you might ask, “I’ve heard that they have all the properties of plastics, but are bio which means they are... better?” Let’s set aside for the moment the difference between bio-plastics and bio-degradable plastics, and assume that we are just talking about the latter, a polymer made from anything from corn to e. Coli that completely decomposes in nature in a relatively short amount of time (maybe a couple of years). The simple fact is that they are too underdeveloped and overpriced. While it is a good thought, there as simply not been enough time and money put into researching cost-effective ways to manufacture bioplastics on a large scale, and that makes it impossible for a company to financially justify a switch away from good old petroleum products.
This is where you need to turn to the government. Presently, our government has massive subsidies on petroleum, making it exceedingly inexpensive to use it in all of your products, but a vanishingly small amount of money has been put into research and subsidies of bioplastics. But then you have to consider the fact that it is the job of our elected officials in our government to represent the views of the individuals they represent... the consumers. SO, if the consumers express more interest in the further research and subsidization of bioplastic and similar research, it is more likely for the government to put pressure through sanctions and subsidies on the private sector, which then can justify a switch to the now competitive bio-plastics, which gives the consumer more choices than just petroleum products holding their water. The consumers’ purchase choices then influence how much of the new bioplastic product is stocked, influencing how much money the companies put into research and development of their own. This change of focus in the private sector then invariably leads to a change of focus in politics... and so it goes. The circle of economics!
To answer this question, we need to look at why we started using plastic in the first place. Plastic was introduced early in the mid-1900s as a miracle material that could be soft or hard, clear or opaque, both flexible and strong in thin sheets, easily extruded or molded into any shape imaginable, and best of all, cheap. Today, we rely on plastic to keep food fresh, keep airplanes light, and keep computers (relatively) cheap. So who do we turn to now that plastic has started to have detrimental effects on our environment?
First, we should look at the consumer. According to the EPA, the average American throws away about 216 pounds of plastic every year. So why don’t people just buy less plastic? Well, that isn’t exactly easy, as companies wrap just about everything with plastic, from your water to your twinkies to your new doll.
The private sector has been using plastic to decrease cost and production time, at the same time as increase shelf-life of perishable items for decades. So why can’t companies just make their packaging from something else? Well, glass and metal were the primary packaging materials before plastic came into vogue, and let’s just say there is a reason they are no longer used. On top of being extremely heavy and expensive when compared to plastic, they are also much less moldable, and can’t be used to cost-effectively vacuum pack products. “But what about bioplastics?” you might ask, “I’ve heard that they have all the properties of plastics, but are bio which means they are... better?” Let’s set aside for the moment the difference between bio-plastics and bio-degradable plastics, and assume that we are just talking about the latter, a polymer made from anything from corn to e. Coli that completely decomposes in nature in a relatively short amount of time (maybe a couple of years). The simple fact is that they are too underdeveloped and overpriced. While it is a good thought, there as simply not been enough time and money put into researching cost-effective ways to manufacture bioplastics on a large scale, and that makes it impossible for a company to financially justify a switch away from good old petroleum products.
This is where you need to turn to the government. Presently, our government has massive subsidies on petroleum, making it exceedingly inexpensive to use it in all of your products, but a vanishingly small amount of money has been put into research and subsidies of bioplastics. But then you have to consider the fact that it is the job of our elected officials in our government to represent the views of the individuals they represent... the consumers. SO, if the consumers express more interest in the further research and subsidization of bioplastic and similar research, it is more likely for the government to put pressure through sanctions and subsidies on the private sector, which then can justify a switch to the now competitive bio-plastics, which gives the consumer more choices than just petroleum products holding their water. The consumers’ purchase choices then influence how much of the new bioplastic product is stocked, influencing how much money the companies put into research and development of their own. This change of focus in the private sector then invariably leads to a change of focus in politics... and so it goes. The circle of economics!