The Boon of Plastic

There's been a lot of talk about plastics lately. I've read people's comments and heard conversations about how "plastic is poison" and that we should ban plastics. Okay, what are the alternatives? It's pretty ignorant to think about reverting to a world without plastic at this point - especially when voiced by people who rely so heavily upon it. I find it humorous that the people are making these comments are using devices made almost entirely of plastic to voice their opinions.

Plastic is perhaps THE ONE thing that has enabled us to advance into the age of technology. Without plastic, the world would definitely be different - but not necessarily in a good way though. There are devices and processes that would not even be possible. Virtually every modern essential uses plastic in some way, shape or form - from communications to construction to transportation to medical to educational to food and agriculture - plastic is the one common denominator that makes it all possible and in the least expensive, most durable and most hygienic way possible.

With every advantage, there's also going to be drawbacks though. As with all our resources, we need to be good stewards or there will be adverse consequences. Although plastic is fairly inert, the mass quantity of plastic that enters into the waste stream seems to be unmanageable. Though in North America (and other industrialized areas of the world) we have infrastructures in place to manage recyclables, we still can do better. While the vast majority of the plastic that enters into oceans and other bodies of water are from third-world countries that don't have and infrastructure in place (or don't really care about the environment), there is still a notable amount from the U.S. that makes it into the oceans and litter our public lands. This is unacceptable. But calling on outright bans of certain plastic items... or worse, all plastics, not only demonstrates the ignorance of those calling on the bans but demanding such radical decrees is detrimental to the industrialized infrastructure that is in place. Since this notion is absolutely absurd anyway, such a ban isn't going to happen.

I have worked with materials (wood, metal, plastic, glass, ceramics, etc.) for most of my life and just in the past 50 years or so, I have observed the evolution and progress that has been made with technology and manufacturing. We can make things now that weren't even a possibility just a few decades before.

As stewards over these resources, we need to be responsible at the consumer level. We can't and shouldn't expect government regulations and decrees by political figures to solve problems that we personally are a part of causing. It's fair to say that most of the population does not know where plastic comes from, the differences between types of plastics or where it goes when it's disposed of. One of the things I want to do in my life is to not only be a part of educating others about the benefits of materials and how to be more resourceful, but also to be more of an active part in the chain of reuse/repurposing of such and proper disposal of that which is no longer usable. It's quite a learning curve. I've been doing this for most of my life, but I still have a lot to learn and as technology advances, we have to keep up with that as well.

Stay tuned for more specifics on what I'm doing and learning and what we're doing as a family.