The Plastic Problem
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The Plastic Problem
Lots of Plastic, Lots of Waste
We have been mass producing plastic for about 60 years. In this short time, we have created 9.1 billion tons (8.3 billion metric tons) of plastic! So how much is 9.1 billion tons? Consider this, if every person on the planet stood together on a giant scale, our combined weight would not come close to that. In fact, the world’s population would have to grow by 26 times to weigh as much as the plastic we have produced! The problem is that most of that plastic ends up as waste. In fact, of the 9.1 billion tons of plastic we have created, 6.9 billion tons (6.3 billion metric tons) has wound up as waste. This means that 69% of all the plastic we’ve created has become garbage!
Difficult to Recycle
There are two main types of plastic: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics are recyclable. They are easy to melt and turn into new objects. Thermosets are not recyclable. They will not melt no matter how much you heat them. These plastics are often incinerated, transforming them into ash, gas and heat.
Where does the waste go?
There are things made of plastic that we use for a long time before we throw them away, such as computers or scooters. But almost half of all the plastic we make is used for packaging, such as the bubble wrap pictured on this page. This packaging is often single use, meaning we use it once and then throw it away. Every minute, people around the world throw away a total of 1 million plastic bottles, and 9 million plastic bags. This plastic waste goes to a variety of places, but probably not where you think. So where does it go?
The Plastic Problem, by Rachel Salt, is a much-needed resource in a time where plastic waste is in the forefront of society. This nonfiction book gives an general overview of plastic and the problems associated with it. Salt successfully does this in a way that is informative, engaging, and fairly easy to understand. The numerous chapters in this book range from 2 to 6 pages long each, and range on topics from explaining what plastic is, where it is in our daily lives, what it looks like and where you can find plastic waste/garbage, plastics in food (and you!), toxicity and global issues, and suggested solutions for the plastic problem. The text is peppered with informative pictures, diagrams, maps, captions, sidebars, graphs and charts, and infographics which are a welcome breakup from the volume of information presented. The Plastic Problem also contains the customary non-fiction features of a table of contents, glossary, and index.
Though information heavy, The Plastic Problem is written in small chapters, and each chapter is segmented into many smaller chunks of information. These short sections, with matching headings, make the book extremely accessible to readers as it allows one to search out specific bits of information, find areas that interest you, or simply page hop and see what you can learn. Some sections require the prior knowledge of previous sections, but that is not the case for all the information. Additionally, though the topic is a serious one and the information can get quite complex, Salt has also done an excellent job of making the facts understandable. This book would be suitable for strong grade 4 readers and up, though certainly not all in one sitting. The Plastic Problem is also suitable for adults who may not know nearly as much about plastics as they might think!
Salt also does an exceptional job looking at the ‘other side’ of plastics and explaining why plastics are so widely used and convenient, why simply banning plastics is not reasonable (or even possible), and why reusable options are often not as feasible: “A reusable canvas bag might seem to be a much more environmentally friendly option to a plastic bag. However, when it comes to climate change, one study found that canvas bags contribute more to global warming than plastic bags because their production and distribution require so much energy and resources.” This is a welcome addition to the public talk and backlash surrounding plastic – Salt is not saying that reusable canvas bags are not worth using, or that we should not use them, or that we should choose plastic instead, but what Salt IS doing is educating people about the often unthought of impacts of creating and consuming the things that we think are reasonable alternatives to plastic.
There are a great many positives to this book, but there are a couple cautionary items to take into consideration as well. Throughout the book, Salt makes sure to give statistics in both metric and imperial, but that sometimes gets cumbersome (and perhaps confusing) for readers, especially younger ones. The other potential downfall of The Plastic Problem is the anxiety it may cause readers, particularly the sections relating to microplastics, plastic toxicity and whether we have plastic inside ourselves. Knowledge is power, but sometimes knowledge can also be a burden, and this information (as well as some of the other information in the book) may be worrisome or frightening to some readers. Be prepared to talk to your students or children and help them do some more research if they are concerned about these, or any, topics in this book. Overall, The Plastic Problem is a wonderful, relevant, and needed resource for both home and schools.
Dawn Opheim, an avid reader with a Masters Degree in Teacher-Librarianship, works at an elementary school in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.