Rethinking Lifestyle

Isn’t plastic wonderful stuff? It’s cheap. Comes in any colour you would like, or it can be totally clear. It’s flexible and can be moulded into intricate shapes. It’s cheap. Flexible or hard, super- tough or as soft as paper.

Unfortunately the trouble with plastics is they don’t ever go away. They just break down into smaller and smaller bits into dust so fine that it becomes part of the eco-system. And at such a microscopic scale it can be taken in, ingested, even breathed in by the smallest of animals that form part of the food chain all the way up the line to us. It becomes part of living tissue, carrying with it toxic chemicals that are absorbed into body fat and passed down through breast milk to the next generation.

What is worse, because plastic is so cheap much of what we make with it is treated as disposable. From plastic bags to children’s toys and cheap fashion so much of what we produce is used once or twice then discarded. Recycling is only part of the answer. Although it can help reduce much of pollution created by waste plastics it does nothing to stem the constant supply of energy needed to make more plastic.

Things we can do to reduce our plastic waste

Put a tax on plastic packaging. Make it enough to make people think about their consumer choices. Perhaps a scale relating weight of packaging to weight of item would help manufacturers come up with new ways to limit waste? Packaging regulations in Europe require many goods to be packed in cardboard, but yet those same products are sold here in plastics.

We need to put an end to plastic bags in stores. Instead of five or ten cents per bag let’s make it a dollar or even five per bag. Rigid boxes or reusable bags made from hemp or flax grown in Manitoba could be offered for a refundable deposit to anyone who has forgotten to bring there own.

Improve labelling on plastic bags to make it clear what bag to use where. Many biodegradable plastic bags that are destined for landfills never break down as there is insufficient oxygen when buried deeply in the ground. Compostable bags are great for organics but only if they are part of a municipal composting scheme.

At the same time we can cut taxes on goods made from sustainable natural materials. This would help us cut down on plastic and encourage consumers to look again at natural materials.  Even hi-tech composites can now be made with natural fibres such as hemp and flax with reduced cost and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The opportunities for local producers and manufacturers can be part of our new “Green Economy”.

For a great example of what can be done take a look at Patagonia Common Threads Program to find out how they are building a partnership with their customers to reduce waste throughout the lifetime of their products. If we only buy what we need Patagonia will enable reuse and eventually recycling of their clothing when no longer wanted.