An inconvenient truth — about single-use plastics

On June 5, 2018 — World Environment Day — the United

Nations released SingleUse Plastics: A Roadmap for

Sustainability, its first-ever global plastics report. The publication documented the efforts of more than 60 countries to fight plastic pollution and check the overproduction and careless consumption and disposal of plastic.

The executive summary defines the size and scope of the problem: “High concentrations of plastic materials, particularly plastic bags, have been found blocking the airways and stomachs of hundreds of species. Plastic bags are often ingested by turtles and dolphins who mistake them for food. There is evidence that the toxic chemicals added during the manufacture of plastic transfer to animal tissue, eventually entering the human food chain. Styrofoam products, which contain carcinogenic chemicals like styrene and benzene, are highly toxic if ingested, damaging the nervous systems, lungs and reproductive organs.”

Nearly 50 percent of the plastic waste generated globally in 2015 was plastic packaging. The most common single-use plastics found in the environment? Cigarette butts; plastic drinking bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery and other bags, lids, straws, stirrers, cups and cutlery; and Styrofoam take-out food containers.

While the report acknowledges that cities, states and countries bear much of the responsibility for reducing plastic pollution, by reducing their personal use of disposable plastics, individual consumers can also do their part. Some possibilities: carrying reusable fabric bags or reusing plastic grocery bags multiple times before disposing of them; buying sodas, water and other beverages in glass rather than plastic bottles; opting for reusable glass or metal straws; choosing glass or stainless-steel food storage containers; using your own spoons and forks rather than the plastic ones offered with take-out food; and putting pressure on supermarkets and restaurants to find safer, healthier alternatives to Styrofoam packaging.

To learn more, download a pdf of the full UN report at greengrowthknowledge.org/ resource/single-use-plasticsroadmap-sustainability.

NO MORE PLASTIC —Everyday decisions can make a difference: Try eco-friendly bags instead of plastic bags at the grocer.