Since its invention over 100 years ago, plastic has become an integral part of our everyday lives. Its widespread use for packaging, preservation and protection really took hold from the 1950s and grew about 8.4% each year on average until 2015. This is not surprising, given how convenient, robust, versatile, and readily available plastic products are.
However, as we now know, there’s a dark side to the world’s penchant for plastic that, in more recent years, has come to light.
As a leading bioplastic products company, we’re committed to developing sustainable alternatives to traditional plastics and making them easily available for businesses to order online.
In this article, we’ll explore seven scary facts about plastic that should raise alarm bells and inspire you to take sustainable action by identifying any plastic that’s currently in your supply chain or production line and replacing it with an eco-conscious substitute.
1. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down
Arguably, one of the most terrifying aspects of plastic is its durability and longevity. By design, plastic is made to last and can take anywhere between 20 and 500 years to break down, all the while releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. Some of our most frequently used items are the worst offenders for the time it takes them to decompose. Plastic water bottles take up to 450 years in landfill, while the humble toothbrush can take up to 500 years to disappear. (forgerecycling.co.uk)
2. More than 40% of all plastic is only used once before being thrown away
While the message is finally getting through about the dire impact of single-use retail shopping bags, there’s still a plethora of plastic that we touch once and discard in our everyday lives. Consider sweet wrappers, packets of biscuits, cling film over dinner leftovers in the fridge, Styrofoam lunch trays and soft drink bottles; there’s an endless list of products we consume daily that are packaged in quickly-discarded single-use plastic. As much of this type of waste cannot be recycled, it is generally sent to landfills, where it will accumulate rather than decompose. (NationalGeographic.co.uk)
3. More than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans
It’s common knowledge that plastic waste often finds its way into our oceans, where it endangers marine life and disrupts ecosystems. As of 2023, it is estimated that the amount of plastic waste in our oceans has increased from 16 trillion in 2005 to 171 trillion pieces. It’s feared that by 2050, there’ll be more pieces of plastic in our oceans than there are fish.
While the ocean may seem out of sight and out of mind, worldwide, an estimated 73% of all litter that’s washed up on the beach is some form of plastic, from bottle caps to plastic bags, cheaply made toys and polystyrene containers. We can all do our bit by recycling plastics (where possible) and joining beach clean-up crews to reclaim and properly dispose of the discarded plastic that washes up on the shore. (bbc.com)
4. Packaging is the largest market for plastic production
Plastic has long been a favoured material for use in packaging because it is lightweight, cheap to produce, strong and durable. Its use around individual products, food items and takeaway containers has been accelerated by the lifestyle demands of middle and high-income countries. While this type of plastic use continues to be a pain point around the world, in recent years, there’s been a greater understanding of the long-term impacts of easily produced and disposed of plastics.
As a result of changing public sentiment, there’s been more research and funding into the development of biodegradable substitutions for common packaging purposes. (Science.org)
5. Only 9% of all plastics produced are recycled
While recycling is great in theory, it comes with its own challenges. Plastics are easy to contaminate and difficult to sort, meaning that only a tiny portion of the plastic produced each year is actually recycled. Recycling is not the silver bullet solution the world needs to ease our addition to plastic. According to a new report, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled, while 22% is mismanaged. Without new policies around the production of plastics, our global consumption could continue to rise, with experts saying it could almost triple by 2060.
These shocking insights make it even more crucial for businesses and individuals to move away from plastics and switch to a bioplastic alternative. (OECD.org)
6. There’s a floating island of plastic three times bigger than France
Located between the beautiful island of Hawaii and the sunny shores of California, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a disgusting floating mass of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Currently, it is 1.6 million square kilometres, which is 3 times bigger than France and twice the size of the state of Texas, and it continues to grow as more rubbish in the ocean joins it. This eyesore is a stark reminder of our failure to implement a closed-loop end-of-life process for used and discarded plastics. (theoceancleanup.com)
7. Microplastics are already inside us
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles, often invisible to the naked eye, that result from the breakdown of larger plastic items. Some are smaller than a grain of sand, and researchers suspect they can penetrate deep into the body, passing through our protective membranes.
They’ve recently been found in the human body’s bloodstream, lungs, and other internal organs, raising serious concerns about their long-term impact. If that wasn’t scary enough, microplastics have also been discovered in areas we’d imagined to be pristine and untouched, like in the fresh snow near the top of Mount Everest and in the low reaches of the ocean, including seawater in the Mariana Trench. (nbcnews.com)
These scary plastic facts highlight the urgent need for humans to change our habits. At Because We Care, we’re dedicated to providing sustainable alternatives that deliver all the convenience of traditional plastic products without devastating and long-lasting environmental or health consequences.
By choosing bioplastics and supporting initiatives that reduce plastic waste, you can do your bit to reduce the current plastic crisis and ensure a healthier, more sustainable future for our planet and the next generation.
Together, we can turn the tide on plastic pollution.
