Are we creating plastic monsters?

This month we are taking on the challenge of “Plastic-free” July, which is a global movement that supports millions of people in becoming part of the solution on plastic pollution. To honour this important initiative, and throw plastic out of our lies, Plan A decided to curate you a mini-series of plastic-free articles, to raise your consciousness towards this dramatic issues, that makes mother earth suffocate.

This is a fact, nature always finds a way. And when nature is being thrown new conditions, such as during a brutal change of climate, either natural or artificially induced, or when a brand new material like plastic arrives into ecosystems, it suffers, but it adapts. What are the implications of introducing so much artificial material in nature? There are many.

What are plastics?

What is plastic, after all? How can such material be used for multiple purposes? From pipes, forks, packaging and literally, every thinkable object? The word plastic is derived from the ability to be malleable and moulded almost infinitely to take any desired form. This characteristic is called plasticity.

Plastics are a family of materials that are made up of polymers. A polymer is a huge molecule made of a repetition of the same grouping of atoms. Put one after the other, they create a pretty massive complex that is easy to manipulate, mould and alter. On the other hand, these structures are very hard – almost impossible – to digest and decompose organically.

The main issue is that living creatures cannot transform these materials into organic matter. So, plastics stay in the environment for thousands of years, only decomposing into micro-particles, also called “micro-plastic”, which are smaller, harder to collect versions of the same molecule. Hence, the shocking pictures of animal’s plastic-filled stomachs and plastic poop. That’s what happens when you eat something indigestible, except on a planetary scale this time.

What are those new creatures?

Get acquainted with these plastic-devouring slimy worms. They will be part of our future, for sure! Discover why in this short video.

Because of our addiction to plastics, we have let them spread in all directions and all over our planet. Statistics are suitably alarming from the surface of the oceans, where 6 plastics continents have formed, counting between 5-13 million tonnes of plastics (most likely around 10), or 5.5 trillion single pieces (are you coughing up yet?). Also, at the bottom of the ocean, a plastic bag has entered the Guinness world record book for being the most in-depth piece of trash in the history of mankind at almost 11,000 meters within the Mariana Trench.

Did you think nature was going to let all of this stuff go completely to waste? No, good sir (or madam). Not only have certain species evolved to feed off these polymers and digest what can be absorbed, but many more are already using plastics to build their nest and apply the properties of plastics. Some hornets have started cutting and recycling bits of plastic bags to construct waterproof and more resistant nests.

“Turns out that M. Campanulae was occasionally replacing plant resins with polyurethane-based exterior building sealant, such as caulking, in its brood cells–created in a nest to rear larva.”

Anonymous Scientist

As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.

Plastic is our responsibility

This article is written to open your eyes and ears: nature will not sort this problem out for us. The sheer amount of plastics, we produce and throw out in the environment year after year forces us to reflect on the life cycle of manufactured goods.

Ecosystems and the living world is suffering greatly from our plastic addiction. So much, that we are not far from an overdose. If a specific type of worm has figured it out, the rest of the biosphere hasn’t. Corals for example, accidentally trap plastics and this causes disease, death and destruction of entire reefs.

We won’t repost again these horrible pictures of injured turtles or malformed creatures due to 6-pack (not the muscles) beer can holders. However, we will say this much: plastics need to be addressed by each and every one of us because no one can say: “I am entirely innocent”.

Plastics have got really fantastic use cases, and allow for beneficial and sustainable practices. They also have very inefficient and damaging use cases. Any plastics (you remember, the material that can cross oceans for hundreds of years without suffering so much as a scratch) that is destined for a single-use is not a smart use of plastic.

As consumers, we must rule out straws, glasses, cutlery made of plastics and go out of our way to support initiatives which reduce the number of plastics used in packaging and processing.

As businesses, putting a product out in the world must require an exit strategy for all the materials used in the process. It is up to the firms responsible for choosing these materials to provide clear and simple ways to allow this product to re-enter the chain of production. This kind of life cycle thinking is called circular design and should be part of any new item coming out of the assembly line.

We are not worried that nature won’t survive. We are concerned that most of the nature that we know won’t, simply because of a stupid waste management issue. We don’t want to see desert islands turn into landfills for the cheapest material we got. And besides, those worms are not as cute as unicorns. No time to waste, let’s replace plastics with real food. Who knows which species might appear?

Thanks for reading! Stay involved and keep learning by signing up for our newsletter or requesting a demo here and let us define your company’s journey to becoming sustainable!