Plastic waste is a problem, but we can do better
Germans who do not want to care about environment protection often point to China and the United States. “If they do not do better, why should we?”, is a frequently used excuse.
The thought behind that: If huge nations pollute the environment massively, why should we try to protect it? It is just a drop in the bucket. Not worth the effort. Useless.
I have always considered that way of thinking as far too short-sighted. We can still make an effort, can’t we? Why look to the United States, when things in Europe are far away from being good?
Maybe that was kind of naive. To be honest, it blew my mind when I arrived in the United States. The sheer amount of plastic waste in daily life made me speechless.
Some examples: h Groceries are packed in plastic bags. And no savings are made on that: vegetables go in one, toiletries go in one, beverages go in one (two, in fact, because they are heavy). Restaurants serve beer in glasses, but water in plastic cups. Why?
h A corn dog is wrapped in tinfoil, even when it is eaten immediately.
h In some places you get plastic dishes, even when you are eating at the restaurant.
h Drinks and food to go are literally everywhere!
As a result, plastic garbage can be found on the streets, on the sidewalks, in the Great Smoky Mountains.
During the pandemic the national park has witnessed increasing numbers of visitors.
And that has led to an increase of litter, trash, and waste.
Volunteers of the Facebook group Save our Smokies collected litter for around two hours – and quickly had a truckload!
It was then, when I first comprehended the argument above. I realized how deep-rooted the use of plastic in the United States is.
It is simply everywhere, easy to get, cheap, and I have to admit: It makes life really comfortable. I think most people simply just do not think about it.
Or how would you explain a person pouring water from a small plastic bottle in a plastic cup to drink it?
U.S. is world's biggest waste producer and Nashville's waste is high
According to the Global Waste Index 2019, the United States is the biggest generator of waste per capita worldwide with each citizen producing an average of 1,781 pounds per year matching around 4.9 pounds of garbage every day.
In Nashville, Davidson County the average is even higher, about 9.4 pounds per person per day in 2020.
For comparison: According to the German Federal Statistical Office, the average in Germany is around 1,343 pounds per person per year (which is humiliatingly higher than the average of 1,107 in the European Union). Germany has 83 million inhabitants, the USA 331 million. Do the math!
Plastic has many valuable uses, for sure. But single-use plastic has created a whole bunch of problems:
h According to the United Nations Environment Program, only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. While 12% has been incinerated, the rest has gone to landfills, dumps, or - even worse - the natural environment.
h Thus, 8 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every single year. There, it is almost immortal. It takes hundreds of years for a plastic bottle to decay.
h According to the German Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union, plastic waste kills 135,000 sea mammals and one million seabirds each year.
h Some plastic items do not disappear, they are just getting smaller. Animals mistake them for food, so the waste finds its way on our plates and in our stomachs. Those microparticles can also be found in our daily used tap water.
To sum it up: Plastic waste is dangerous for the environment, animals, and in the end for us. Or do we really want to suffocate in plastic mugs?
How governments are fighting against pollution
Luckily, there is a growing number of national and local governments fighting against plastic pollution.
Nashville for example has a long term Zero Waste Plan offering a blueprint for how we can be more responsible with our waste. But that is not enough. It is on each and every one of us to do our best to avoid waste in the first place.
Maybe by bringing a refill mug to your favorite coffee place. Or by taking your backpack to go shopping. Or by asking the restaurant next door to stop providing plastic drinking straws.
And yes, it is a global effort. Americans, Europeans, Africans are in this together. Let us not wait for politicians to take action.
Tatjana Heid is a professional journalist in Germany working at The Tennessean on a Arthur F. Burns fellowship from the International Center for Journalists. Email her at theid@gannett.com.