Disposable
Humans in the age of plastic
“Plastic is necessary, only because of the kinds of lives we lead” - Dr Melissa Neave.
Last week we celebrated a birthday at work. Routinely, my supervisor purchased a cake, some candles, and a pack of plastic plates. We sang the song, my coworker blew out the candles and the cake was cut. Plastic plate in hand, one-by-one everyone grabbed their share and retreated back to their respective computer caves. Within the hour, like clockwork, the plates were discarded with little to no afterthought.
It had me thinking, we have a well-stocked kitchen at our disposal filled with reusable crockery, yet, everyone gravitated towards the plastic alternative.
‘Who knows how often those plates get washed’,
‘It’s just easier’,
and, my personal favorite,
‘But I have a KeepCup!’
This isn't a token narrative. Across Australia it has become widely apparent that the problem is not with plastic being “disposable”, but rather its unspoken trademark of “disposable”-ness. Plastic has an expendable quality as a commodity that does not require great effort or care. In the momentary second we use it, plastic is perfectly clean, lightweight and convenient… and then quickly forgotten.
Right now, there is no single man-made element more common, useful, and pervasive, as plastic. First synthesised for consumers in the form of Bakelite back in the 1920s, the non-natural compound was quickly marketed as the answer to our every need. The technological boom of the post-World War II era was characterised by the advent of television sets, telephones and other technologies that made plastics common in our homes. It made electronics strong, lightweight and non-conductive, so they were perfectly safe to keep around the family. In the following decades, the plastic products proliferated rapidly. Glass beverage bottles became plastic, medicine was dispensed in small plastic pockets, and everything from your pen to your child’s toys was made out of it. Manufacturers saw its economic potential and plastic quickly became king.
how has plastic changed our behaviour?
Our grandparents were at the height of the plastic revolution. Adrian Harris, 81, remembers a time before single-use plastic crept into our everyday lives.
‘We would get Chinese takeaway for dinner every Friday night, much like the rest of the neighbourhood. I would bring my saucepan to the local restaurant and pass it over to the chefs, he’d would put the Chicken Lo Mein right in it, none of these silly takeaway containers.’
Plastic bags are now widely publicised as a symbol of disposability, but they weren’t always.
‘I also grew up with paper bags at the shops, so
when plastic bags made their way in my mother
treated them like china. She would often wash out
the plastic bags and let them dry on the washing
line. We would re-use them many times over.’
Baby boomer, Joseph Aaron, 69, also recalls a
behavioural shift in himself.
‘I used plastic sheets to cover some perishable items that were lying out in the open on rainy days. I’d use the plastic till it turned yellow! However, I don’t remember using plastic as often as I do now. My wife and I shop around three times a week, before the bag ban I would say we used around four bags each shop.’
Four plastic bags used for each trip to the supermarket makes 48 bags per month. A stark difference from the days of airing your plastic out on the old hills-hoist.
WHY CAN'T WE KICK THE HABIT?
Politics played a significant role in the onset of the plastic lifestyle. The Liberal government under Robert Menzies (1949-1966) de-regulated and privatised certain industries in the latter half of the 20th century, which resulted in growing prosperity for the working class. Professor Linda Brennan, an analyst of marketing and advertising tactics used for social change, recognises this period as the first time plastics truly entered the market. “The introduction of plastics was fundamentally in the post-WWII era”. In the years following wartime rationing, attitudes toward spending readily relaxed. Manufacturers made the most of this psychological shift by replacing the expensive glass and metal parts of their products with plastic. This kept production costs down whilst encouraging the output to increase.
‘It was totally the product of modernization. We have been selling plastic as modernity for 50 years. By taking a step back into non-plastic thought, we’re actually telling people not to be modern.’
‘People see plastic as a symbol of modernity, and non-plastic as a lack of development and resources.’
Manufacturers saw the dollars signs and
successfully employed retailers to roll out
their products to the general public.
So as the middle-class expanded, so too
did the consumption of single-use plastic
products. With more people
experiencing a growth in quality of life, the
more entrenched in the plastic economy they
became. Whilst developed western countries
were at the forefront in the shift of consumer mindset, rapidly modernising countries in Asia soon followed suit and quickly became rapid consumers in the plastic-infiltrated market, highlighting that plastic and development go hand-in-hand. Professor Brennan acknowledges that ‘plastic was the ultimate food security product,’ its properties ‘would keep your food fresh, keep it clean, you could store it [and] smells wouldn’t transfer’. But like all good success stories, the bubble quickly burst.
The detrimental effects of plastic on the environment and our health swiftly became known to the public. As Professor Brennan explains, ‘recently plastic manufacturers have not been marketing their products in an overt way to consumers’. As a result, the cracks in this perfect plastic façade began to show. Landfills are currently overfilled, oceans are littered with junk and irreparable damage is being caused to our marine life. With over half a billion hits for “single-use” plastic on Google and its constant documentation in the media, it’s clear we understand the negative consequences of plastic. So why can’t we kick the habit?
WHO'S TO BLAME?
After discussions with Professor Brennan it became apparent that we as consumers are malleable to influence. We were quick to embrace plastic, but ‘we buy what’s in front of us’ says Professor Brennan, ‘it’s that simple’. She suggested that consumer behaviour is mostly influenced by our retailers. If our retailers supplied us with only the eco-friendly option, we would buy it. When there is multiple options in front of you, with the eco-friendly option likely to be more expensive, most Australians will reach for the plastic option. For consumer habits to change, the supply-chain needs to be actioned on a government level.
‘It’s possible. It’s just a lack of political will. We solved the aluminum problem and the problems of the supply chain with glass’ said Professor Brennan, as for plastic ‘it has been left to have left it for retailers and consumers to figure out.’
‘We are inherently entrenched in a neoliberal system” agreed environmental analyst Dr Melissa Neave. ‘It does seem like our government isn’t particularly supportive of transforming consumer behaviour.’
Now let’s pause for a second. Are you too like my co-worker and own a KeepCup, do you use your metal straw as you quench your thirst on that kombucha, or keep your avocado fresh in a beeswax wrap? If your answer to any of these is yes - that’s great. But it’s a luxury that many cannot afford. The message is there and we all realise that the ecological damages are piling up faster than we can wean ourselves off the material itself, but for some it’s simply not viable. ‘Environmentalism is extremely expensive’ says Professor Brennan, ultimately discriminating those who can’t afford it. It shouldn’t have to be like this, but it is.
These days those who flippantly using plastic products are publicly reprimanded. Automatically those who are perceived as ignorant to plastic issues are assumed to be ill-informed on social issue. As result there has been a movement towards the environmentally-friendly “green” trend amongst consumers.
‘Not using plastic has become trendy. This means if you do use plastic, it looks like you don’t give a stuff’ says Dr Brennan. Unfortunately, the trendy people aren’t enough.
Professor Brennan explains that on one side it’s common for ‘people to see others who follow social trends to be upper-middle class and elitist.’ They question ‘those who have the time to care about plastic, what are you really what are you worried about? It’s a rich man’s problem’. Blinded by privilege, they believe they’re doing the right thing. On the other side, people are barely managing to make ends meet, who don’t have the luxury of buying trendy environmentally friendly items that are more expensive. It’s this ‘opposing dynamic that is problematic in the consumption space’ cautioned Professor Brennan.
“The reality is we can’t get rid of all the plastic that is on the planet now… it’s everywhere” - Dr Neave
where from here?
Plastic is here to stay. As every piece of plastic ever created still exists, we need turn things around before we make irreparable damage. The solution Professor Brennan suggests is a circular economy, which is where all disposable items are repurposed into something else instead of becoming waste. We’ve tried it before, you might remember the catchy slogan of “reduce, reuse, recycle”. In theory it summed up a circular economy perfectly, but in practice we focussed too much on the “recycle” element, without doing a good job of it either. Reduce and reuse may be the key to a more sustainable lifestyle. However, for people to reuse items it will require thoughtfulness, mindfulness and thinking ahead. All the things that the modern consumer just doesn’t do. By removing our current linear economy and replacing it with a circular model, consumers will be taught to retain resources for as long as possible and extract its maximum value before regenerating products at the end of each service life.
It all seems like a utopian ideal, but it’s not entirely impossible. Many aspects of the plastic crisis are uncertain, but at some point in the future we may have no choice. Despite the social angst that comes with change, a study by the World Economic Forum in 2016 showed that sustainability was the number one cause of concern amongst young people, beating out war and religious tensions. With the seed planted for activism, we now need to ensure its roots begin to grow. The problem is we simply do not have effective recycling facilities in Australia to create a circular economy on a large scale. For years our solution was to offload our waste to China, as a result our recycling habits declined and our infrastructure failed to advance. The out of sight out of mind approach is now on its last legs, as China begins its BlueSky program, which will block the import of Australian waste. With landfills filling rapidly and emitting tonnes of toxic gases we need to invest in our future before it’s simply too late.
OK, so it all sounds very doomsday. The point of the matter is we need to change our behaviour now. So what can you do to help amend this? It’s great if you change your own mindset and create a circular economy in your own home, but we aren’t going to tackle this issue unless we face it head on. We need the facilities to reduce the plastic output by manufacturers, reuse plastic that can withstand multi-use and recycle the millions of tonnes of plastic that already circulate of country and will continue to for years to come.
“There are a lot of really good benefits of plastic. It’s incredibly durable, it’s incredibly reproduced — our problem is that we under appreciate it” - Dr Melissa Neave
It is apparent that the real problem is not plastic - it’s us. In order to make any real change to the plastic problem, we need to understand why it has become such a huge part of our lives in the first place. The answer is not rejecting the material, but instead regain our sense of wonder and look to treat it as a finite resource as opposed to trash. If we discard our disposable mentality towards plastic, we may just reverse this botched mindset and start to treat it like gold.