My vision is to live in a world where I dont have to worry about future health (endocrine disruption) and environmental implications because of microplastics in my food, accessories, clothes, etc. It is really unfortunate to think that most of the plastic we see in our everyday life is stuck in a vicious cycle that has no end because you can't recycle it. So if we can't recycle it why can't we minimize it? I think the very least we can do is ban single use plastics worldwide as it is scientifically proven they are of harm to the environment and human health. To be completely honest there hasn’t been one case in my life where I have heard of a positive benefit to single use plastics. So why are they still around? Why are companies still making them? And why are there no regulatory actions by global governments that ultimately ban the manufacturing of these harmful plastics? Ultimately the answer is, we need more preemptive action. There are multiple alternative materials that have been researched and cause less GHG emissions than plastic in the long run. As a community we need to work with governments and bring these solutions to attention as well as identify them as if they are a BIG DEAL.
Hi Hunter. I agree, microplastics are scary, and seemingly unavoidable. Hopefully we can find alternatives soon so that we can minimize the damage that single use plastics cause for us.
Hey Hunter, I love the picture you included. I was unaware of how production of plastics contribute to GHG emission.
Hi Hunter, thank you for your informative figure!I think this figure is very useful to educate or do a campaign on this topic! I am persuaded by the figure that single-use plastics is a BIG DEAL! For the questions you asked, I had the same doubt. Do not understand why someone values money and power more than health and everything else.
Hi Hunter! I love the infographic you included and share your frustration with the use of single-use plastics. It is insane to think that despite knowing just how harmful single-use plastics are, we are still seeing them being used by large corporations.
Hi Hunter! I think that the banning of single use plastic also has to be accompanied by some pushes in equity in general. One example of this is the plastic cups ban in Vancouver and how it as affected the homeless population here. Before the ban you could get water for free at any fast food restaurant. Now, homeless people who cannot afford the cup charge lose access to clean drinking water.
People create single-use plastics for convenience. Disposable plastic does facilitate our lives, but it hurts people invisibly due to its microplastic molecules. My brother thinks microplastic molecules are pseudoscience. So proper popularization of science is also highly necessary.
HI Hunter,
I completely agree with you and share the same hope for a future where we no longer need to worry about the environmental and endocrine impacts of plastics. I hope that we can all continue to make changes in our own lives and encourage policy and law makers to help us to make systemic change when it comes to plastic use. We need to work together as a community to solve this plastic problem!
Single-use plastic must be replaced or changed! Although people can't live without plastic, we still hope that people can try to use non-disposable plastic products that can be used continuously, such as sports kettles, or the pressure of plastic will only become greater and greater until the day we cannot bear it.
100% agree! It would be amazing and so transformative to see a worldwide ban on single-use plastics. It's obvious that such a ban is desperately needed.
You are so right that this is a big deal, that we need to move on quickly–the UN has estimated ~2050 as the threshold where plastic will overtake fish presence in the oceans globally. COVID certainly was a step back for single use products, as the disposable nature of so many things in the medical industry was, to some extent, necessary. I do want to note that there are lots of places have banned easy-to-eliminate single use plastic bags, cutlery, etc.–there is reason to be hopeful! Kenya (2017) and Rwanda (2019) have been pioneers in plastic bans. Zimbabwe, Canada, and parts of the US (NY, CA, HA) have followed suit. The UK and EU are making similar legislative moves and many countries have also banned plastic microbeads. The question is how we stand up to lobbying and extend these bans from bags and bottles to all containers, multiple (unnecessary) layers of packaging, and so on–I wonder if a blanket packaging tax (per g of plastic used) could be applied along with other import taxes?
Totally agree Hunter! Production of single-use plastics needs to be banned...a logical fix to our problem, and hopefully it will happen.
Hi Hunter, we need to convince government bodies to force companies to stop the production of single-use plastics. I am glad to see a lot of single-use plastics being banned throughout the lower mainland though such as plastic straws.
I love the infographic you included, it shows the impacts plastics has in a visual and effective way.