How to Give Up Plastic - Will McCallum - Part 1 of 4

2020 Reading Challenge - Day 205

July 25, 2020

Book 57 - How to Give Up Plastic
Will McCallum
 Part 1 - pages 1-48
Reading Time - 60 minutes

I ordered this book, and several other eco-books, from the library as they had zero wait time while some of the ones I really want to read have a lonnnnggg wait list. I take what I can get and this seemed kind of a pertinent topic. Mind you, with Covid-19... everything seems to be going backwards and single-use plastics are making a huge come-back.

The author, McCallum, is a Greenpeacer and one of the most common questions he gets is "what can I do to help". His standard answer is to make informed choices about plastic and to look at single-use plastics to start with: plastic bags, straws and coffee cups. Getting rid of those would be one way in which we can, individually have a big impact. But it's more than that as well... our entire society (Western society) is built on a disposable model, or as McCallum says: "We have developed a throwaway culture around single use that is not healthy, for society or for the oceans."

In the Introduction, we learn that Greenpeace ships have found plastic in every single ocean in the world, even around Antarctica, thousands of miles from any human habitation. By 2050, plastic might outweigh fish in the oceans. If there's one message he wants us to take away - it's this - plastic affects all of us and we all share responsibility, both individually and collectively. We created this problem and we are going to have to be part of the solution.

In Chapter 1, the author introduces us to a short history of fighting plastic and touches on a few key areas, like micro-beads and plastic bottles. The root of the problem, ultimately, is that we produce too much plastic and we have no plan as to what to do with it afterwards. Less than half of all plastic bottles in the UK will be recycled. We need to move from a throwaway culture to one where we minimize our footprint.

In Chapter 2, we learn about some of the problems with plastic... it never decomposes... it just keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. And because colourful plastic looks so inviting... 90% of seabirds have plastic in their guts. And it also ends up in, or tangled around, turtles, seals and whales, to name a few high-profile animals. Plastic isn't inert either... it's a petroleum product, so it releases toxins... which means that it migrates its way up the food chain as little fish eat little bits of plastic and bigger fish eat the smaller fish, etc. Not only that, plastics can soak up toxins from the water... like PCBs... nice.

There are 150 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans and clean-up efforts are a drop in the bucket. Clean up a beach one day and return the next day to see it covered in plastic again.The problem needs to be handled at the source. Five to thirteen million tonnes of plastic are being added to the oceans every year. What boggled me is that one third of the plastic is micro-fibres from our clothing. It's making me take a good, hard look at the micro-fibre sheets that we bought... every time we wash them, we are releasing more plastic in to the water system.

And while I might feel good that we are doing our bit with recycling stuff into our blue bin... the recycling system is broken. We all heard a few years ago when China started turning away recycling from western nations. And the Philippines... and other countries. Because, really, so much of what we send is garbage - things like coffee pods and single-use sachets... like ketchup packets. Companies just produce these things because they are useful but... there is no concern for their disposal... and that is the problem. Indonesia has actually banned single-use plastics and... it works. Maybe it's time to take that on here... The biggest resistance, of course, comes from the plastics and petrochemical industry... but we can make a difference too...