Our Eternity: A Tale Told in Plastics

A million plastic things, used once for a minute or two before being cast aside to waste away for centuries. These objects which exist in our lives for such short, mundane moments will forever exist in the lives of others if our fascination with plastic cannot be curbed. Dr. Gimzewski gave a highly in-depth guide to the amount, and kinds, of plastic that are used constantly throughout our lives, and how these can have a disastrous impact on our environment. His discussion, paired with other activities and resources on the overuse of plastic, made me wonder just how much plastic my life revolves around.

 

(image from https://givingcompass.org/article/10-facts-about-plastic-pollution-you-absolutely-need-to-know

 

Nearly 91 percent of plastic isn’t recycled, as Dr. Gimzewski explained in his lecture. In 2018, only 8.7 percent of all plastic that was discarded was recycled in the United States, a drop in the bucket considering that America produces more than 46.3 million tons of trash annually (Loria). As I type this, I see the overflowing clear bottles and empty plastic milk gallons that sit waiting to be dropped in the recycling on my next outing. In the fridge, there are more waiting to be emptied and meet the same fate. Chart: Plastic Recycling Still Has A Long Way To Go | Statista

(image from https://www.statista.com/chart/18064/plastic-waste-in-the-us-municipal-solid-waste-disposal/

 

I would like to think that I try to be environmentally aware. I use reusable bags at the store when I remember, and storage containers that can be put in the dishwasher for my leftover food. And of course, I constantly recycle any plastic item that comes into my life. However, it is hard to admit that we are hurting the environment every day as we complete the repetitive actions of our lives. A purchased water bottle on a hot day, an extra plastic bag at the store, a wrapper for the shiny new package that came in the mail. These items are all forgettable to us, who use them once and then move on with our lives. The items, on the other hand, do not. 

 

Dr. Gimzewski stated in his slides that packaging contributes to the largest amount of plastic pollution. In fact, packaging alone contributes to over 146 million tons of waste per year (Ritchie). Due to this, I decided to look into ways to make packaging more environmentally friendly, especially since so many people are shipping packages to and from themselves on a daily basis. To do this, I tried to move away from the use of plastics at all and towards more biodegradable methods that might be easier for our always growing society, In one article, I found that both biodegradable and compostable packaging need to be processed in order to actually achieve their eco-friendly status (Dillon). However, these options still act as a good start because “neither will hang around for hundreds of years in landfill or in the sea” (The ‘Break Down’ on Compostable and Biodegradable Packaging). 

Plastic packaging plays a key role in the quest for solutions to the food waste problem

(image from https://www.profoodworld.com/home/article/13275654/how-plastics-help-reduce-waste-in-food-packaging)

 

Furthermore, I also looked into the mushrooms that are able to decompose plastic. Pestalotiopsis mushrooms are able to decompose plastic in anaerobic conditions, and may have a use in lessening the amount of plastic from the current Great Pacific Garbage Patch in our ocean (Vasarhelyi). We have seen the use of mushrooms and limiting the toxicity of humans when used in burial, but it is incredibly interesting to see them applied to the endless amounts of garbage that are taking up space on our lands. 

 

(image from https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/16715/mold-that-eats-plastic)

 

In light of plastic pollution, we were also able to see an exhibition by Bobby and Bomi, which combined still life negatives of people with three dimensionally rendered backgrounds of natural states. I especially enjoyed the use of transparent photograph-base material, since I think it helped the exhibit capture the idea of the impacts people may have on the environment. In a way, it is the perfect metaphor: We should all be more aware of how we treat the things and people around us, lest we cast a shadow on our precious environment. 

 

I am glad to see pollution getting more attention, especially since recycling just isn’t matching up to the amount of single use, and even multi-use plastics that add up every time. We should all take the time to be more environmentally conscious, and do our part to live sustainable lifestyles that change the world now, little by little. 

 

1. Dillon, Michael. “Biodegradable & Compostable Packaging : What’s the Difference?” Meyers, 27 July 2021, www.meyers.com/biodegradable-vs-compostable-packaging/.

2. Loria, Kevin. “The Big Problem with Plastic.” Consumer Reports, 8 Sept. 2021, www.consumerreports.org/environment-sustainability/the-big-problem-with-plastic/.

3. Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. “Plastic Pollution.” Our World in Data, Sept. 2018, ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution#:~:text=Packaging%20is%20therefore%20the%20dominant.

4. “The ‘Break Down’ on Compostable and Biodegradable Packaging.” Eco & Beyond, 8 Jan. 2018, www.ecoandbeyond.co/articles/compostable-biodegradable-packaging/.

5. Vasarhelyi, Kayla. “Plastic Eating Mushrooms.” Environmental Center, 4 Nov. 2021, www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/plastic-eating-mushrooms.