Sustainability in an Unsustainable Time

As we all sort through the emotional toll that quarantine has taken on our lives this spring, I want to shed light on something more tangible: plastic waste. I hate to add to the negativity of the current state of our world, but there is a serious plastic pollution issue at hand. Without bringing this issue to our attention, it will cease to be solved.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak and the start of the global quarantine in March of 2020, the number of single-use plastics has increased trifold. In an era of fear, we have resorted to purchasing products that can be thrown out, and have forgotten the harmful environmental effects of these commodities. Grocery stores have stopped accepting personal shopping bags, and reinstated plastic and paper bags. Personal protective equipment — such as masks, gloves, and anti-bacterial wipes — are on back-order, and are used one time before being tossed out for the safety of our health. Items at stores are being wrapped and re-wrapped in plastic, to ensure the cleanliness and asepsis of the materials. Sales have skyrocketed for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bottled water, and other essential goods, all of which are encased in plastic.

Since the start of the COVID-19 quarantine, the price of oil has markedly dropped in conjunction with the collapse of the economy. Oil is used in the production of plastic, and with its drastic fall in price, more plastic has been made due to plastics’ cheap assembly and current practicality. Meanwhile, Trump has recalled nearly 100 environmental restrictions in an effort to jumpstart industry and other businesses during this economic downfall. This reversal on environmental rules has allowed many businesses to revive their interest in using plastic products, particularly as the price of manufacturing plastic has lowered. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have stopped filling customers reusable cups. Target has been under constant scrutiny for maintaining its use of plastic bags for their shoppers, but this scrutiny has been placed on the back-burner during quarantine. And who knows when this quarantine will end, and when life will return to normal.

Even worse, the recycling business has suffered from the global economic crash. In a capitalistic society, our recycling facilities are run in a manner of profit: it has to be cheaper for the facilities to collect and recycle plastics than to throw them out. Many county and local governments have suspended curbside recycling pickup programs due to the rising cost of running the recycling facilities. I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the recycling program for my house has been temporarily shut down. In order to recycle my plastic waste during this time, I have to drive 45 minutes to the local recycling center to drop it off. It shocks me that this process is a norm for many people across the U.S. It has served to stress to me the need to develop an improved and functional recycling system, particularly as more recyclables are being thrown out during the pandemic.

I believe that part of our solution to the recycling issue and the rising numbers of single-use plastics is consumer culture. While it is challenging to decrease our purchase of single-use plastic products, it is not impossible. In a time where the world around us is chaotic and we cannot control when coronavirus and its subsequent quarantine will end, we can find control in the products that we choose to buy. Look for sustainable logos and items that appear to contain less plastic. Examine the areas in your life that seem to harbor the most waste, and search for better solutions. My mom loves to drink bubble water, yet this love for sparkling H2O has led her to continually buy plastic bottles from the grocery store. During this quarantine, she has learned to accept plain water for its taste, and pondered the idea of purchasing a bubbling water machine. While I believe her purchase of the sparkling water machine is superfluous — if anything, it adds to our whole consumer culture/plastic waste issue — the machine prevents her from both acquiring single-use plastic bottles and from resorting to ingesting unhealthy sodas. I could digress on the topic of health and increased sugar-intake, although that subject would fill pages. Instead, I want to point out that trade-offs are essential; I will allow my mom to purchase the sparkling water machine in an effort to reduce her consumption of plastic than to bog her down with reasons as to why it might also be harmful to the planet and how it is adding to our societal belief in an anti-minimalist lifestyle. These trade-offs are important, so look for the areas in your life that could be improved with a simple modification! Perhaps a sparkling water machine will be the change you need as well.

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