Plastic, plastic, plastic… our relationship with plastic is like your relationship with an ex that you know is not good for you but you cannot stop texting… Most of your friends tell you to stop but you just can’t help it… well, get over it!
Our use of plastic has grown exponentially since the 1950s and nowadays you can find plastic almost everywhere. It is cheap to produce, light to transport, resistant and it contributes to job creations around the world. Plastic plays an essential role in our modern societies but it also brings a negative impact to our planet. So what can we do?
Let us first have a quick glance at our love affair with plastic. The global average use of plastic is 45kg per person per year. That is globally… According to the European Environment Agency, in western Europe we use at least 136 kg of plastic per person (Plastic Insight, 2016). In 1950 the world used almost no plastic and in 2018 we used 359 million tonnes… that is almost as heavy as 51 million African elephants…
Where do we find that much plastic? The largest end-use plastic can be found in packaging, construction and in the car industry. In Europe this represents 70% of all the plastic used! In 2018 we used almost 62 million tons of plastic and 40% was for packaging. That is why many companies now are focusing on a new way of protecting their products and new European rules are inviting its citizens to use less plastic.
But how do we produce plastic? The chain for plastic is quite long and complicated. We extract crude oil and refine it into naphtha. We then add natural gas liquids and after a chemical reaction we are left with molecules called monomers. We then polymerase the monomers into polymers (a chain of multiple monomers linked together). To make things easier, imagine a group of kids on a field trip holding each other’s hands. A polymer is a group of monomers holding each other’s hands, linked together. We then add various chemical products depending on the type of plastic we want (this is called compounding). Last but not least, the plastic created is then shaped into plastic products such as bottles, cups, etc.
Carbon in present in all plastics. However, there are two ways of producing plastic: with fossil-based carbon or with bio-based carbon. Bio-based carbon uses carbon from renewable sources such as cellulose and agricultural products.
You can therefore make plastic with oil or sugar, it will still have the same properties! Our world recycles only a third of the plastic we produce, and we have to aim for a more circular way of using plastic. If packaging represents such a huge amount of the plastic we use, we have to find a way to avoid it. One thing is sure, nowadays we cannot live without plastic, and aim for a world without plastic is way out of our hands. However, you can make a difference by being more careful with how you use the plastic you buy, how you recycle it, and ask your store if they have another option such as paper bags. These are a few first steps that are easy to make and actually do make a difference!
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