Looking for US Involvement in the Fight Against Single-Use Plastic Pollution
In 1907, arguably one of the most transformative inventions of the modern world was born; synthetic plastic. Since that time, every object known to man likely contains polyethylene, the world’s most abundant plastic. It is incredibly durable, light weight, flexible, heat resistant, and can be used in transparent products. Polyethylene is found in cars, clothes, and furniture but is also the most used material for single-use items. Single-use plastics are made to be used once and disposed of. Single-use plastics play a vital role in food processing, preparation, and packaging to reduce cross contamination and extend shelf life. They were also vital in protecting workers and patients during the Covid-19 pandemic with plastic being used in single-use personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gowns, masks, gloves, and more. But single-use plastic also includes items that are used for a very short duration before they are disposed of; plastic bags, restaurant to-go containers, single use utensils, water bottles, and coffee cups.
The magical properties of polyethylene have met many human needs but have created one of the largest waste crises on the globe. It is estimated that 100 billion plastic bags are used each year in the United States and 2.5 billion coffee cups are disposed of globally each year. In 2018, the EPA estimated that 14.5 million tons of plastic containers were generated in the United States, and that figure does not include plastic bags or single service plastics. After its use, single-use plastic is either buried in a landfill, incinerated, recycled into new items, or subsequently released into the environment as litter. In a landfill, plastics take hundreds of years to break down, if at all. It is estimated that a plastic bag takes 20 years to break down and plastic bottles and cups take 450 years. In the United States approximately 85% of plastic goes to a landfill and only 5-6% is recycled, with the remaining plastic either being incinerated or shipped to other countries. Globally, 14 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean each year, culminating in an estimated total of 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic currently in the oceans. Globally, the United States is the second largest producer of single use plastic behind China.
Cooperative global legislative pushback to the plastic problem has been slow, but not nonexistent. On March 2, 2022, at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) annual assembly, 175 countries agreed to craft a global treaty over the next two years aiming to end plastic pollution. In June 2023, at the United Nations meeting in Paris, 58 countries agreed to create an international plan to end plastic pollution by 2040. Despite these international agreements, the United States has not followed a similar path, and instead supports a voluntary treaty approach that will let countries decide how much plastic waste to reduce.
While the United States as a whole has stayed relatively uninvolved, individual states have begun to tackle the single use plastic pollution problem, but the impact is minuscule compared to the enormous scope of plastic waste. Multiple states have enacted statewide bans on plastic bags including Colorado which passed The Plastic Pollution Reduction Act (House Bill 21-1162) to prohibit stores from providing single-use plastic bags. Oregon, Washington, Delaware and a few other states have implemented restrictions on foam packing peanuts or styrofoam to-go containers to go into effect in 2024.
Some companies have worked to reduce their plastic use, but many have not felt compelled to alter their business practices. With the cost of virgin plastics (new and pristine plastics which have not been recycled) remaining much lower than recycled plastics or alternatives, many companies do not have an incentive to make a switch in their single use products. Consumer pressure has helped to incentivize companies, but the competitive nature of the market has held back corporate involvement in reducing single use plastics.
As the world grapples with a world filled with plastic, it is imperative that the United States steps up to reduce its single-use plastic waste. The approach could be multi-disciplinary and include combined actions from companies, state legislation, and the federal government but historically, sweeping federal bans have made major impacts in fighting global pollution and environmental problems. In 1972 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a cancellation order for DDT (a pesticide which led to declines in bird and fish populations) and subsequently participated in international negotiations to end DDT use. Since the Stockholm Convention there has been a global decline in DDT production and concentrations in the environment. Additionally, the United States joined the fight to heal the ozone hole by banning Fluorocarbon gasses in aerosol products. The United Nations estimates that the ozone hole will be mended by 2066.
It is clear that the environmental impacts of single-use plastic highly outweigh their benefits in applications that do not involve health and safety. In my opinion, a federal ban on plastic used in disposable cutlery, cups, and to-go food containers would fuel the transition to sustainable replacements such as corn-based plastics, bamboo products, easily recyclable aluminum, and reusable products. This change can slowly come from consumers using their purchasing power to only buy sustainable alternatives, but would not be rapid enough to create the impact that is needed to stop the ever growing accumulation of plastic pollution. As the second largest producer of single-use plastics, the United States also has an obligation to participate on the global stage and join international agreements to curb the plastic pollution that they generate.