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Plastic Is Good For You

A century ago, plastic, which was first invented in the late 1800s, barely existed. Fifty years ago, it was "a hot tip for young graduates":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSxihhBzCjk&feature=related. Today however, in the worlds of environmentalism and...

A century ago, plastic, which was first invented in the late 1800s, barely existed. Fifty years ago, it was a hot tip for young graduates. Today however, in the worlds of environmentalism and design, plastic is not infrequently depicted as public enemy no. 1. A deeply-seated byproduct of the crude oil industry, the six hundred billion pounds of the stuff we use annually – or three hundred pounds per person – underwrite a seemingly endless amount of disposable and ecologically unsavory stuff.

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This explains an increasing number of plastic bag bans across the world, an attempt to stem the kind of pollution that clogs waterways and adds chemicals to drinking water. Like removed mountaintops and coal plants, the infamous Pacific Garbage Patch (see Vice’s documentary) has become part of the environmental tourists’ decay-porn itinerary.

Even Werner Herzog made us feel guilty, entering the anti-plastic fray by serving as the voice in perhaps the most poignant film ever made about a carelessly discarded bag bound to choke a poor sea bird.

But now plastics are getting the counterintuitive treatment. If used right, plastic can be one of our most sustainable materials. That’s the idea behind a new book by Susan Freinkel, called “Plastic: A Toxic Love Story,” and a recent op-ed in the Times:

It's estimated that half of the nearly 600 billion pounds of plastics produced each year go into single-use products. Some are indisputably valuable, like disposable syringes, which have been a great ally in preventing the spread of infectious diseases like H.I.V., and even plastic water bottles, which, after disasters like the Japanese tsunami, are critical to saving lives. Yet many disposables, like the bags, drinking straws, packaging and lighters commonly found in beach clean-ups, are essentially prefab litter with a heavy environmental cost. And there's another cost. Pouring so much plastic into disposable conveniences has helped to diminish our view of a family of materials we once held in high esteem. Plastic has become synonymous with cheap and worthless, when in fact those chains of hydrocarbons ought to be regarded as among the most valuable substances on the planet. If we understood plastic's true worth, we would stop wasting it on trivial throwaways and take better advantage of what this versatile material can do for us. In a world of nearly seven billion souls and counting, we are not going to feed, clothe and house ourselves solely from wood, ore and stone; we need plastics. And in an era when we're concerned about our carbon footprint, we can appreciate that lightweight plastics take less energy to produce and transport than many other materials. Plastics also make possible green technology like solar panels and lighter cars and planes that burn less fuel. These "unnatural" synthetics, intelligently deployed, could turn out be nature's best ally.

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Some tips from Susan’s book:

  • Refuse single-use freebies: carry your own bag, mug and refuse straws.

  • Reuse plastic when you can: don’t throw away that take-out container if you know you can use it for, say, holding your collection of plastic tchotchkies.

  • Stop drinking bottled water: there’s very little reason to still be drinking bottled water, unless you like looking like a careless human being. Grab a stainless steel, aluminum or BPA-free plastic bottle, take it to work, to play, or anywhere you might typically buy bottled water.

  • Learn how to recycle: your curb-side pick-up isn’t the only way to recycle your plastic. UPS stores will recycle shipping peanuts, many grocery chains will take back bags and film, and office supply stores will take back used printer cartridges.

  • Don’t microwave plastic: hazardous chemicals can leach out of polymers during heating, leaving unsavory chemicals in your food.

Read more at the Times, and find the book at Amazon.