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Throw-away Society

January 14, 2014

Today’s Guest Blog is provided courtesy of Michael Tully, Safety & Health Manager and Jacob Levenson, Sustainability and Communications Coordinator of Poly Recovery.

In August 1955, Life Magazine revealed a cover story entitled “Throwaway Living.”  Inside this article the term "throw-away society" was coined to describe the new trend of plastic products that promised to minimize the time housewives spent accomplishing their daily chores.  Why spend valuable time washing and reusing household objects like plates and silverware when they can be inexpensively made of plastic and disposed of after use? 

With this began a plastic revolution that quickly infiltrated every part of our day-to-day lives.  Many things have changed in the past 50 plus years; women now account for 47% of the workforce and improvements in technology has led the way for companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft to totally reshape the way we live and communicate.  One thing that has not changed is the increasing trend of becoming a throwaway society.  In the last fifty plus years we have seen an explosion of products created with a one-use life span.  Counter intuitively these single use products are manufactured from plastic, a material made to last thousands of years.  Replacing glass milk bottles with HDPE plastic jugs or glass soda bottles with PET plastic bottles was only the beginning.  Stop and think about the plastic products you use in your daily life and how many of those products are thrown away after each use.  It is estimated that today Americans discard approximately 33.6 million tons of plastic each year.   6.5 percent is recycled, 7.7 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities and the remainder eventually ends up in giant landfills buried under ground.

Worse than landfills is when plastic waste ends up in the ocean like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  Plastic in the ocean photo degrades into smaller and smaller pieces until they are mistaken for food and eaten by our sea life.  Plastic more than any other material has shaped modern society and the thought of completely removing plastic from our lives is preposterous.  An equally preposterous thought is that we as humans are the only organisms on earth to produce non-biodegradable waste.  Looking back on our accomplishments as a species, this is not one to be proud of.  The plastic we manufacture today will last for the next thousand years.  Each day new products flood the market often touting the ease of use for consumers, just use and throw away.  Need that initial pick me up in the morning?  Just throw in that disposable k-cup and within 30 seconds you'll have that piping hot cup of joe.  Got a little food caught in that molar?  Grab a flosser where a piece of plastic holds the floss before it is conveniently thrown away after use. 

Consumers are slowly beginning to hold business responsible for the traceability of their waste and in turn companies have begun using materials that are easily recyclable.  Growing up, my parents taught me to consider my actions and what the ultimate cost of that action is.  Our society as a whole should take a long hard look at the long-term cost of the convenience of plastic and make the determination of its worth in the end.  Businesses need to take a closer look at the products they manufacture; what recycled products they can use in their process and how they can produce a product and it's packaging so that it's easily recyclable for the consumer.  With effort from both the manufacturer and the consumer, it is possible to have a responsible use of plastic for convenience. 


Poly Recovery is a full service recycling company located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

NERC welcomes Guest Blog submissions. To inquire about submitting an article contact Athena Lee Bradley, Projects Manager. Disclaimer: Guest blog’s represent the opinion of the writer and may not reflect the policy or position of the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.

 

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