If you were alive during the 1990s, you’ll remember the big debate over soda pack rings. Do we cut them up, lest some poor sea critter mistake them as food? Or do we trust a federal law, passed in 1989, to ensure that US-manufactured soda rings are 100 percent biodegradable?
Today, there’s still some uncertainty regarding what happens to soda rings that end up in the ocean. Yes, they’re made of photo-degradable plastic, which begins to break down in as little as a week. But to meet US standards for being a “compostable” plastic, only 60 percent of it is required to dissolve within six months. Hardly impressive, considering 13 million tons of plastic wind up in our oceans every year.
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I’m not trying to lecture anyone about the merits of chopping up your soda rings—these days, some companies are even producing plastic that doubles as fish food. But a recent tweet from the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a nonprofit that boldly aims to rid the world of plastic waste, perfectly visualizes how vulnerable marine life is to our consumption habits.
Last year, a study published to Global Change Biology estimated that 52 percent of sea turtles had consumed plastic debris. Of the six species the University of Queensland researchers analyzed, the Olive Ridley turtle, which is currently vulnerable to extinction, was the most at risk because of its penchant for eating jellyfish. The sea turtles are unable to tell the difference between jellyfish and plastic bags, and can wind up with compacted intestines or chemical exposure because of it.
“Turtles can be killed directly by ingesting plastics, through blockage of the intestines or through piercing of the intestinal wall,” the paper’s lead author, Qamar Schuyler, told the Washington Post last year.
“Currently plastics are being produced at an exponentially increasing rate, but globally our waste disposal technology and capacity is not increasing at the same rate. Plus we now know that unseen micro-plastics are entering the oceans from our cosmetics, from the clothing we wear, and from fragmentation of larger plastic particles. Unless we take substantial action, the problem is bound to increase,” Schuyler said.
Green sea turtle and plastic bag. Image: Rebecca Hosking
That same year, another study, published to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that by 2050, approximately “99 percent of all seabird species will be contaminated by the plastic waste flooding our oceans.” At face value, these findings paint a dismal portrait of the progress we’ve made since the soda ring-scare of the late 20th century.
According to the nonprofit Worldwatch Institute, 299 million tons of plastics—23 percent of which end up in our oceans annually—were manufactured globally in 2013, marking a 4 percent increase over production rates in 2012. Here in the US, the Energy Information Administration noted that low natural gas prices in 2014 helped to “increase domestic plastic production after a decline from the 2008 recession.”
So what’s a regular person supposed to do? The Plastic Pollution Coalition has some recommendations, which include declining plastic products at stores and restaurants; reusing products; opting for goods made of glass or other more sustainable materials; and of course, recycling.
However, because plastic is found in an inordinate amount of items these days, policy changes like bag taxes or bans are a more permanent solution to lessening our dependence on plastic products.
Still, some environmentalists have argued that plastic bag laws aren’t entirely good for the environment. But neither are paper bags. Nor fabric totes. It’s complicated. Basically, critics worry that people might instead choose paper bags to carry their groceries, which could leave a larger carbon footprint than plastic due to higher amounts of energy that go into manufacturing them.
At the end of the day, each of us can only do so much to lighten our environmental footprints. That’s fine. If we all do a little, it’ll add up pretty quickly. And thankfully, tossing your rubbish in the recycling bin is an easy place to start.
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