“There’s a whole range of plastic items that actually we could live without, and I think we’re going to need to… We need to make sure the products we’re making are essential to society.” —Richard Thompson, marine biologist, who first coined the word “microplastics”

If you are old enough, you may remember the first time you touched a plastic bag or miraculously discovered that the shampoo bottle could bounce off the floor and not cause a mess by breaking like a glass one would. When I was a child, the reason why plastic shopping bags caught my interest was that their texture was so different from the familiar paper ones. 

Little did I realize that plastic would take over food packaging, and then take over the ocean, rivers and our bodies, including our brains. Plastics are indestructible, and our babies are being born pre-polluted. Microplastic bioaccumulation in the human placenta has been linked to premature births.

“Plastic is an essential piece of the unravelling of our human existence,” says professor of paediatrics Leo Trasande in The Plastic Crisis: A Health and Environmental Emergency, a podcast conversation with three highly knowledgeable people who know what plastics are doing to our world. https://tinyurl.com/plastics-conversation

An alarming statement, and the unravelling includes climate/biodiversity careening towards chaos because of the chemicals and fossil fuels that go into plastics. Consider that fewer than 20% of these chemicals have been investigated to understand their health implications. 

During The Big Plastic Count (https://thebigplasticcount.com), an estimated 1.7 billion pieces of plastic were thrown away in the UK in one week in March 2024. The most widely discarded were soft plastic from snacks and from fresh fruit and vegetables. Canada’s not doing any better.

Want to give up single-use plastics in your life for a month? An interesting and frustrating story emerges. Here is what happened to one journalist who tried it: https://tinyurl.com/cut-out-plastics

In many cases there appears to be currently no easy alternative. A partial solution is for governments to tax plastics and put into legislation the tools to steer an addicted public away from buying plastic-shrouded goods. 

Almost two decades ago a small island in the Caribbean was forced to give up glass bottles for plastic ones if they were to continue to drink a favourite beverage. People on the island were upset and tried get the government to refuse to accept the plastic bottles; the glass ones, which could be returned and a deposit refunded, could be used countless times—and most importantly they didn’t contribute to waste, which as you can imagine is a problem on an island. These local citizens didn’t succeed, in part because the government did not encourage public discussion. It was determined that it was a financially unacceptable burden on the beverage industry to clean and refill the glass bottles. Profit is everything, and who cares where the plastic bottles end up? 

Most plastic is made from oil, and the oil industry has little incentive to clean up after itself. To placate the public’s sense of outrage, a virtually symbolic paltry fine is imposed by governments hell bent on not disturbing the oil companies’ lobbying machinery, which ultimately funds political campaigns. 

Plastic waste ranging from toothpaste tubes to deodorant containers is exported to Java, Indonesia, to name just one country, where bakeries and street vendors burn this waste in their outdoor kitchens. The consequent contaminated food is killing thousands. In Kenya, rivers are clogged with western plastics. Since so much of the chemical/fossil fuel production and the disposal and breakdown of plastics is centred in the poorest communities, it is vital that we look at the social justice crises that arise. Some call this “garbage imperialism.”

A lawsuit pending against Danone Waters of America posits that Danone’s water in plastic bottles is not, as the company claims, natural and sustainable. Microplastics and the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) can be found in the water. Despite what Danone will tell the court, this plastic packaging is a major factor in never creating a “sustainable” product. 

Which is more difficult to accomplish: getting individuals to give up plastic items, or having a global treaty to regulate the vast petrochemical networks that infest our world, and create legally binding targets to reduce plastics manufacturing and cut usage? We are past simply demanding behavioural change. A global plastics treaty has been in the works since 2022. It is still not in place, and if petrostates have their way, any such legislation will be wafer-thin on substance.

When California, the fifth largest economy in the world, declares certain chemicals in plastics unacceptable, petrochemical corporations will comply in California but still sell plastics that small island nations have no clout to stop. I have witnessed fossil-fuel-derived pesticides banned in Canada being sold to the global south. Scientists are telling us that there is the strong possibility that ultimately we will contaminate all our water and food, creating global conflict to procure safe food—the ultimate catastrophe. 

Last year, Carbon Brief produced an important analysis setting out the impacts of plastics on climate change. A plastics emergency is happening now, and the figures show us what is at stake and why the world must curb the production of plastics.  https://tinyurl.com/plastics-charts

In 2022 more than 170 nations backed a UN resolution to end plastic pollution. Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN environmental programme, declared: “Today marks a triumph by planet Earth over single-use plastics. This is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. It is an insurance policy for this generation and future ones.” Sadly, she spoke too soon. No treaty of any substance came out of the summit.

The fifth conference of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee took place in Busan, South Korea in November 2024. “The failure of the Busan negotiations marks a significant setback in global efforts to combat plastic pollution,” concluded sustainability expert Mitota P. Omolere. “However, it also serves as a reminder of the complexities involved in international diplomacy where economic interests often clash with environmental imperatives.” https://tinyurl.com/busan-conference

The plastics treaty was derailed by petrochemical states such as Saudi Arabia. The previous conference, which took place in Ottawa in April 2024, had also been imperilled by an invasion of lobbyists and national governments vigorously protecting fossil-fuel interests. https://tinyurl.com/lobbying-plastics

Political momentum has definitely started to move beyond the all-encompassing reach of petrostates. The plastics treaty can be a catalyst for change, but action needs to be taken now. 

Plastics recycling is not the answer. The chemicals in plastics simply get dispersed along with microplastics, and failing to address the issue of production perpetuates dependency and provides a perceived rationale to continue using plastics. Reducing the amount of plastics manufactured, as mentioned in the plastic treaty negotiations, can have a great benefit for all life on Earth. Wildlife is impacted terribly and tragically by the release of these plastics into Nature. May 17 was Endangered Species Day, and plastics play an enormous part in pulling apart the ecological fabric of Earth. 

Nor is token banning of, for example, plastic shopping bags, as in Québec, going to solve the problem. However, there are small steps we can all take to reduce our dependence on single-use plastics. When the local bakery asks you if you want a plastic bag for your bread for the freezer, hand them a reusable plastic bag or request a paper one. Buying take-away food? Bring your own containers. Styrofoam will last for a million years. We must immediately stop indulging in short-term, unnecessary conveniences.