The great consumerist orgy at the end of the year resumes. This series focuses on the socioeconomic, environmental and health consequences of a few inexpensive and over-consumed objects and services. This time, the focus is on the glut of plastic.
Melamine in kitchen cabinets, non-stick silicones (used as electrical insulators or in surgery) like polyester in bottles and clothes were all invented in the same year, 1941, in WWII laboratories, there are so exactly eight decades. There was the cave age, the iron age, the modern age and we have since entered the plastic age.
About 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s. The demand for synthetic polymeric materials has quadrupled around the world over the past four decades. They are found everywhere: in furniture, fabrics, cars, computers and phones, toys, fake breasts, tea bags, banknotes, nail polish, paint and even nail eraser. to chew. The era is plastoc and fake.
Pollution from Amazon shipments increased 29% last year. The multinational alone generated around 271 million kilograms of waste from plastic boxes and bags according to a report released by Oceana in December. In Canada, packaging represents more than half of plastic waste.
In the great “cheapization” of the world that this series deals with, this material ultimately occupies a unique place. It should be recyclable, but hardly is. It could be revalued economically, but it is so little that not at all. Even conscientious citizens who seek to do without it rarely do so.
“There is certainly a relationship between the overuse of plastic and its low cost,” explains Sarah King, Oceans and Plastics Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Canada. “We have even seen companies backtrack after starting to use greener products because plastic is much cheaper. In fact, the price of this very harmful material when it is not recycled does not at all reflect its real cost on the environment during its entire life cycle, from oil extraction to pollution after use. “
Evidence of catastrophic environmental impact is overwhelming data banks. The images of the plastic continent extending over the equivalent of at least twice the area of Quebec are as striking as those of a straw removed from the nostril of a turtle or that Cuvier’s whale stranded in Norway. stomach full of thirty bags of groceries, candy wrappers and other stuff. Half of seabirds and 70% of marine mammals have already ingested or become entangled in plasticized objects.
Unsympathetic microplastics
Professor Zhe Lu, from the Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (UQAR-ISMER), documents the impact of microplastics in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary, but also in the Far North. He and colleagues at his Institute and at Lethbridge University in Alberta have just received $ 1 million from Environment and Climate Change Canada to conduct field and laboratory studies.
“I want to understand how many microplastics are found in the environment and what are the impacts of these materials on the air, water and wildlife. The more plastic there is in one place, the greater the potential for risk. I am also interested in the impact of chemicals, antioxidants or stabilizers, used in the production of plastic, which are also found in the environment. “
Professor Lu is from China. He explains that environmental problems in his country, especially air pollution, have encouraged him to become a specialist in ecotoxicology. He emigrated to Manitoba for his studies a dozen years ago, then moved to Quebec recently.
The tiny marbles he tracks down are less than 5mm in diameter. Below a micrometer, scientists speak more of nanoplastics. Microplastics are released into the environment during washing of synthetic fibers or with the use of certain cosmetic products, for example. Industrial fishing also leaves particles behind.
Researchers collect and study samples of air, water or living organisms for their studies. A new approach relies on the light reflection capacity of microbeads to develop a simpler way of detecting their presence in river and ocean water.
The professor explains that plastics are particularly bad for zooplankton. “For humans, we do not yet know what the exact impact is because it is difficult to carry out this kind of research, specifies Zhe Lu. What we already know, however, is that we find microplastics in the placenta of mothers, which can then pass it on to children. “
The source of the problem
As in many things, the responsibilities for this pollution are shared between the economic, political and individual poles. Greenpeace calls for a considerable reduction in the production of new plastics, a by-product of fossil materials, and therefore recommends eliminating single-use materials and instead introduce systematic recycling of objects.
Canada recycled barely 9% of its plastic waste in 2019. Sarah King cites the case of British Columbia, deemed green, where barely 20% of the lot is recycled, the rest being buried or burned.
The federal plan “considered” too ambitious “, and in fact unrealistic, by environmental groups promises to recover 55% of this material by 2030 and by 2040. More than 8 billion would have to be spent to divert 90% of the waste plasticizers from landfills to some 160 new recycling facilities.
“We still have a lot, a long way to go to improve the recycling record,” says M.me King. We must focus on reducing production since we cannot recycle the plastic produced. In addition, the offer on the Canadian markets does not allow us to make the right environmental choices. There are too few alternatives for an ordinary consumer. “
Living without plastic is in fact almost impossible. Several books and documentary series have been built around this almost insurmountable challenge. Sarah King herself tries to reduce her plastic life as much as possible, but admits that she does not succeed completely.
“It’s very difficult,” she said. Even taking a plane today while trying to reduce your plastic consumption is almost impossible. The conscientious traveler constantly refuses over-packaged single-use items. The pandemic has also increased the use of plastic and waste. The consumer is doing their best, but companies and governments really need to move in a different direction. “
The Stone Age did not stop for lack of free stone. The era of plastic will probably continue for a very long time due to the glut of cheap plastic …