Plastic non fantastic

Wherever you look – there it is. In the housing of the screen on which you are reading this blog. In the form of hundreds of objects in our homes. In the water, in the air, in our bodies. Plastic.

Wherever you look – there it is. In the housing of the screen on which you are reading this blog. In the form of hundreds of objects in our homes. In the water, in the air, in our bodies. Plastic.

It has a surface area five times the size of Poland and floats in the ocean between Hawaii and California. It is a huge drifting garbage dump and mostly consists of plastics. It is estimated that the waste that makes up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch weighs between 50,000 and 130,000 tons.

The spot was first noticed in 1997. Most of the waste that makes it up comes from Japan and China. The oceanic dump is growing all the time despite attempts to clean it up. This is not easy – the waste does not form a compact mass, it drifts and varies in size.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has already created its ecosystem – it is inhabited by microorganisms such as bacteria, diatoms and granivores. And only they benefit from it. For other organisms, trash is a deadly trap – animals get entangled in it or eat it, mistaking it for food. Every year about one million animals lose their lives due to plastic pollution in the seas and oceans, WWF reports. At the same time, 8 million tons of plastic enter the seas and oceans each year. 80 percent of this plastic comes from land.

Polycarbonate, polyethylene, polyesters

We say plastics, but what we really mean is a large and diverse group of materials derived mainly from petroleum. They are formed by polymerization, that is, the joining of lightweight chemical compounds (monomers) into long chains (polymers). Plastics include, for example:

• polyethylene (PE) – flexible and thermoplastic, which is used to make films, packaging, PET bottle caps, sails, fishing lines or canisters;
• polypropylene (PP) – tougher than PE, but also thermoplastic, used in the manufacture of toys, household goods, automotive parts, electrical appliance housings and their parts (such as a computer), medical equipment, syringes, drug packaging, some furniture or synthetic fibers;
• polycarbonate (PC) – transparent, hard and durable, it is used to make, for example, CDs and shatterproof glass;
• polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – strong and rigid, used to make beverage bottles or some fabrics (such as fleece);
• polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – durable and fire-resistant, it is used to make window frames and carpets, pipes, medical devices (drains, probes, catheters);
• polyesters used to make fabrics: easy to dye, stain and crease resistant, but also not very breathable;
• polylactide (PLA) – thermoplastic and biodegradable, used for disposable dishes, food packaging or implants, but also used in 3D printing;
• polyamides – used to make fibers (nylon) or plastics with increased mechanical resistance (e.g., gears);
• polyurethanes (PUR) – easily recyclable and having lower mechanical resistance, they are used to make sponges – both for washing dishes and for mattresses, elastic fibers (lycra, elastane), insulation materials, among others.

These are the plastics from which we have built the modern world. Thanks to them, the production of many items has become cheaper, simpler and in general possible. Plastics accompany us everywhere and sometimes it’s hard to imagine what the world was like without them.

Although their history is more than a century old, compared to wood or metal they are still new materials. The oldest is celluloid, invented in 1869, which got its name from the material from which it was made – cellulose. Today it is mainly associated with old film stock, but it was once also used to make toys or articles of daily use. Because it is flammable, it is rarely used today.

The first plastic produced from synthetic ingredients was bakelite, named after its creator, Leo Baekeland (he invented it in 1907). Research into new materials continued all the time, even before World War II polystyrene and polyethylene were produced, but it was the war that provided a huge boost to the development of plastics. The 1950s and 1960s saw their heyday. The world shook off post-war poverty and began to consume. And appreciated the modern shapes, the fever of colors, the lightness and the attractive price of plastic objects.

Back in 1950, the world produced 2 million tons of plastic. In 2019 – already nearly 460 million tons. The industry that generates the greatest demand for plastic is the packaging industry (in the EU it accounts for 63 percent of its use, 2008 data – in Polish).

An ocean of plastic

Only that the increase in production has begun to be accompanied by a growing waste problem. Since the 1950s, we have already produced 9.2 billion tons of plastic, of which 600 million tons have been recycled. 6.9 billion tons of plastic ended up in landfills. And they will outlive those who made and used them there – plastic products take up to several hundred years to decompose. The exact time of their decomposition depends on the ingredients and environmental conditions, but it is assumed that for a PET bottle or beverage cup it is 450 years, for a straw it is 200 years, a plastic bag – 20 years. A baby’s diaper and a coffee maker capsule take 500 years to disappear.

There is no longer a place in the world that is free of plastic trash. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch mentioned above is just one example of how we have polluted our planet. And how big a problem we have with it.

Scientists warn that plastic pollution affects 90 percent of animal species living in the seas and oceans. Fish mistake microplastics for plankton, turtles mistake bags for jellyfish, birds mistake caps for their food. Animals end their lives entangled in bags or remnants of fishing nets. Bottom-covering synthetic trash takes away light and oxygen from corals and sea sponges.

Birds build nests out of plastic waste. Leftover products that were in discarded packaging seep into waters and soils, polluting them.

Only 9 percent of plastic trash is recycled.

Microplastics – a big problem

If we think that we are not affected by plastic pollution – after all, we don’t confuse it with food – we are mistaken. We literally carry plastic inside us, absorbing it with air, drinks or food.

Microplastics, as they are specifically referred to, are particles smaller than 5 mm in diameter. We also talk about nanoplastic, the size of a few micrometers (a micrometer is one thousandth of a millimeter).

Microplastic is both in the rain and in breast milk. Where does it even come from?

Some is created in the process of manufacturing plastics and items made from them. Part – in the process of their slow disintegration. It is released when synthetic fabrics are worn and washed. It is formed during the abrasion of car tires (that is, when starting and braking the vehicle), but also the soles of our shoes. It’s in cosmetics – that’s granules in toothpaste or shower gel, or glitter.

How it affects our health is not yet known. Scientists around the world are conducting research on it, but it’s too early to make any conclusions. The World Health Organization in 2022 reported that current technologies do not yet allow us to quantify at the population level our exposure to microplastics, or to assess how much of these particles remain in our bodies.

How to limit plastic?

In 2019, the European Union adopted the Single-Use-Plastic Directive (known as the SUP Directive) to reduce the use of single-use plastic packaging. Its provisions are being introduced gradually. It began with a ban on the sale of plastic straws, stirrers, plates, cups, cutlery or ear sticks, as well as polystyrene food and beverage containers, including cups (starting May 23, 2023). As of January 1, 2024, businesses charge additional fees for dispensing food or beverages in disposable packaging, and as of July 1, 2024, they are required to provide customers with alternative packaging made of materials other than plastic or reusable packaging. The obligation to permanently attach caps and lids to single-use beverage packaging also came into effect on that date.

The SUP directive also imposed, for example, an obligation to inform consumers about the presence of plastics in products such as wet wipes, tampons, filtered tobacco products and beverage cups.

A Global Plastic Treaty has been in the works at the UN since 2022. It will be the first international legally valid instrument to eliminate plastic pollution. The document is to be based on a comprehensive approach that covers the entire life cycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal.

What else can be done? For example, ban the packaging of fresh produce in plastic containers. Such a solution has already been introduced by Spain and France. In Spain, vegetables and fruits weighing less than 1.5 kg cannot be placed in plastic bags. Excluded from it are those that – sold in bulk – could spoil. The French, on the other hand, have introduced a list of 30 products that cannot be packed in plastic bags, including apples, bananas, eggplants and tomatoes. The list is expected to expand in subsequent years to include all fruits and vegetables in 2026.

The European Union is working on similar restrictions. They could come into effect in 2030. In addition to plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables, disposable packaging for sauces, ketchups or condiments used in catering, or mini-shampoos and shower gels found in hotels will be banned. Wrapping luggage at the airport will not be allowed either.

What can we do?

40 percent of plastic production is packaging, so each of us can contribute to reducing its production. All it takes is:

• go shopping with your own bag,
• use reusable bags for fruits and vegetables (sewn from old curtains, for example),
• grab takeaway drinks in your own cup,
• carry a reusable water bottle with you and fill it with tap water,
• choose products without packaging in the store,
• ask sellers not to pack the products we buy in bags,
• choose products made of natural materials (e.g., glass food containers, bamboo toothbrushes),
• replace food wrap with, for example, waxed paper,
• segregate trash (and recycle beverage bottles).

In turn, to be less exposed to microplastics, it is also a good idea that we::

• don’t store food in plastic packaging,
• don’t heat food or drinks in plastic packaging in the microwave,
• don’t cook rice or porridge in pouches,
• do not wash plastic packaging in the dishwasher,
• buy cosmetics without granules,
• do not use glitter – neither in cosmetics, nor in decorations (e.g., Christmas) or toys,
• do not use tea in bags,
• buy clothes made of natural materials.

If we don’t reduce the production and use of plastic, we could triple our planet’s plastic pollution by 2040, WWF warns.

At Łukasiewicz – PIT, we support companies in their sustainable development. We advise on how to transition to a circular economy, assess product life cycle and carbon footprint – you can find our offer here.