Plastic Pollution, Plastic Trash Fiction: The Flame That Needs To Be Lit

Millions of disadvantaged people need work. The environment needs to be cleaned from plastic and other non biodegradable contaminants. Millions of pounds of plastic and other non biodegradable waste enter into the oceans and environment daily. It is a crisis that is not addressed. The need to remove this garbage from coastlines and other areas requires the efforts of millions. A massive effort must be made by governments, nonprofits, private sector entities, and by people and organizations that want to save the planet and not horde their wealth. One small nonprofit organization is trying to start the flame with small scale projects employing disadvantaged people to remove plastic and other non biodegradable waste from ecologically diverse coastal areas. It must become the flame that will develop into a large scale effort in which millions of impoverished people are employed to remove this damaging waste. Time is running out before we destroy ourselves with our own garbage. Already wildlife, marine environments, humans and more are harmed by this waste.

There is a false impression that most plastic trash and other non biodegradable oil based waste has value, and therefore there is a financial incentive to remove it. The reality is that very little of it has value, and very little of it can be monetized. Almost all of the waste that can be recovered consists of non recyclable, non biodegradable plastic and other oil based waste such as sachets, synthetic textiles and clothing, plastic bags, vinyl gloves used in restaurants and elsewhere, Styrofoam, wrappers, packaging materials of all sorts, and much more. Even the plastic that can be recycled, which is a small amount of the non biodegradable plastic waste contaminating oceans, coastlines, and so forth, often is too damaged and degraded to be of any value. 

The most effective way to remove plastic and other non biodegradable trash is to employ people. This can only be achieved with proper funding. Disadvantaged people will then receive employment and harmful waste will be removed. The small amount of plastic that can be recycled should be recycled, and the value it has can be used to improve communities. If people are only rewarded for bringing in plastic that can be recycled and that has value, there is no incentive for them to remove the vast majority of plastic and other non biodegradable trash that cannot be recycled and that has no value. 

Another major issue that must be faced is what to do with the plastic and other non biodegradable waste that is removed from the environment. There is no easy answer for this. Some places and countries burn the waste, which has its own set of serious concerns. If the waste goes into a landfill, it must be properly buried, which often is not the case. If the waste goes into open pit landfills, winds and storms put it back into the environment. Proper waste management and proper disposal of plastic and other non biodegradable waste is a huge problem, especially in developing countries. Many countries desperately need assistance to ensure plastic and other harmful non biodegradable waste is disposed of properly. 

The effort to remove plastic waste and other non biodegradable trash already in the environment must also address the manufacturers and others that continue to mass produce plastic and destroy the environment. Cleanup efforts are meaningless if plastic waste and other non biodegradable waste keep pouring into the environment. All the present existing cleanup efforts in the world on a combined annual basis do not in any way equal the volume of plastic and other non biodegradable trash newly entering into the environment on any single given day.

Paying people to remove all plastic trash, not just the small percentage of  plastic trash that can be recycled, requires a great amount of funding. Very little plastic trash can be recycled. The small amount of plastic trash that can be made into plastic bracelets or some other item must not mislead  people to believe that this crisis is adequately addressed. The only way to effectively remove the enormous amounts of plastic pollution from coastlines and other areas is to employ people. No volunteer effort and no technology can achieve what employed people can achieve in cleaning coastlines and other areas from plastic pollution. High rates of poverty and unemployment in many countries means that there are millions of people desperately seeking work. The environment desperately needs to be cleaned. Put the two together.

Employing people, especially in developing countries where many people desperately need work, and where there are high rates of poverty, limited opportunity, malnutrition and disease, means providing incentives for people to remove all plastic trash, not just the small amount that can be recycled. This means paying people salaries. It means that the value in their labor comes from removing harmful plastic pollution.  Plastic pollution removal benefits all of humanity, wildlife, the oceans and so forth. Too many existing programs provide incentives for the recovery of only that which is recyclable, while ignoring the vast amount of plastic that cannot be recycled and that has no value.

The idea that buying a plastic bracelet means the removal of a pound of plastic might make people feel good, but it does nothing about the millions of pounds of plastic newly entering into rivers and oceans daily, or the trillions of pounds of plastic that are already in the oceans and environment. The bracelet or other item most likely will be disposed of at some point.
Furthermore, many of the cleanup efforts conducted in developing countries fail to address what to do with the vast majority of plastic pollution that cannot be recycled. Many of these countries openly burn the plastic, or bury it in landfills that are inadequate, and where the trash escapes back into rivers and oceans. The feel good aspects of cleanups often mask the harsh realities of proper disposal of the plastic pollution that is recovered.

Any and all cleanup efforts must ensure that the plastic pollution recovered is disposed of properly. There must be accountability in this regard. As of yet, there is no accountability. Too many people are unwilling to look past the feel good aspect of alleged plastic cleanups.

Sweden burns most of its plastic pollution. It even imports plastic trash. Sweden uses plastic trash to generate energy. This has generated controversy, but it is important to look at the existing alternatives. Sweden has spent millions developing technologies that significantly reduce the harmful contaminants that burning plastic trash emits. In many developing nations, people openly burn plastic trash. The harmful pollutants are not filtered in any way. The mass burning of plastic trash across the developing world is exposing millions of people to harmful carcinogens. Entire ecosystems are bring contaminated. The other option, burying plastic trash in landfills, also entails risk. Many landfills in developing countries are inadequate, and the plastic returns to the environment.

Whether it is burning or burying, the developed world needs to assist the developing world. Burning plastic openly is far more dangerous and harmful to people and the environment than using the technology Sweden has developed to clean much of the plastic trash that it burns. If plastic goes to landfills, there must be higher standards set and met for the proper burial of this toxic waste.

Plastic is virtually indestructible. It breaks down into particles and fibers that often cannot be seen and that humans and other animals are breathing, drinking and consuming. It will continue poisoning the planet for unseen generations to come. There is no miracle or technology that will rescue humanity from this man made crisis. Remove plastic waste from the environment while it can still be recovered and dispose of it properly. Do not expect some bacteria or fungus to rescue us and eat up all the plastic destroying the oceans and other areas. It will not happen. What must happen instead is a worldwide concerted effort to remove the plastic already in the environment that is large enough to be recovered by sheer human labor, and to reduce the use of plastic and seek alternatives to this destructive material.

This crisis must be addressed before it is too late. Pay people living wages to clean up plastic pollution - recognizing that almost all of it cannot be recycled, and that all of it is harmful. No one should exploit this plastic pollution crisis. No one should profit from this disaster. Instead, disadvantaged people can be helped, and the world will be helped, by a worldwide effort to employ people in need to remove plastic trash, and by a worldwide effort to ensure the proper disposal of plastic waste.

Plastic particles are now in rain, in pristine places like the Arctic, in the deepest depths of the oceans, in jungles, rivers, lakes, and remote forests and deserts. It is everywhere, and it is poisoning us. It is already killing wildlife and the oceans.

Governments, instead of squandering trillions on ways to kill each other, need to start a worldwide employment project hiring millions to clean the environment before it is too late.

Finally, no effort to clean up this trashed and degraded world should free manufacturers, retailers,  distributors and others from their responsibilities. They have produced, distributed, sold or used plastics, synthetic clothes, Styrofoam and many more oil based non biodegradable products knowing full well the environmental consequences. Unfortunately, it is the oceans; seabirds, fish, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, humans and more that are paying the price. There must be a shift in responsibility in which all are responsible, and none are exempt. Many have made, and continue to make millions, billions and trillions from plastic and other oil based non biodegradable materials. It has meant the impoverishment of our oceans, health, wildlife and planet.