Health & Fitness
Plastic Pollution: A Global Issue Worth Solving
Plastic pollution plagues our streets, rivers, lakes and oceans. I am working with the City Council to find solutions (including a plastic bag ban) to reduce our consumption of single-use plastics.
Minneapolis has one of the greatest park systems of any city in the world: we have the best biking (according to Bicycling Magazine), over 180 beautiful parks, and serene, well-kept lakes. Despite our environmental achievements, however, we’re still no Garden of Eden. Like most big cities, we are plagued with plastic pollution. For most of us, plastic is our lifestyle. We use plastic forks and spoons from casual restaurants, plastic bags from supermarkets, and plastic cups from coffee shops, to name just a few. At the same time, we never consider the impact we’re making by producing all of this waste.
The impact is insurmountable and largely invisible due to the plastics industry. The plastics industry wants the consumer to believe that plastic is “sustainable.” Unsurprisingly, it’s the exact opposite. Plastic isn’t biodegradable and takes 500 to 1000 years to degrade from sunlight. Plastic is never recycled but rather “downcycled,” or turned into lower quality plastic. According to the EPA, only 8% of plastic is actually recovered for recycling. Much of that plastic is worth so little that it’s shipped to China to be burned for energy; the rest ends up in streets, landfills and the oceans. Five massive vortexes, or gyres, of plastic circulate in our oceans: the North Pacific Gyre, South Pacific Gyre, North Atlantic Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, and Indian Ocean Gyre. Some estimate the size of the North Pacific Gyre to be larger than the state of Texas. The plastics industry wants us to believe that recycling reduces waste, but according to Mark Daniels of Hiley Polex (one of the largest plastics company in the US), a whopping 70% of the plastic in a recycled HDPE single-use plastic bag must be made of virgin material. That means for every plastic bag one recycles, he or she produces about 3.3 more bags. Recycling is not a sustainable solution to the problem.
The only way to save our streets, rivers and oceans from plastic pollution is to stop it from being produced: we need to ban single-use plastics. When we consider the state of Congress in Washington and St. Paul, we can anticipate little hope for national or state action. However, several West Coast cities have banned single-use plastic bags and have even taxed single-use paper bags to encourage people to use reusable bags. I believe Minneapolis should lead the Midwest in the same direction. On December 21st, I met with Mayor RT Rybak to discuss the need for banning single-use plastic bags from supermarkets, stores, and restaurants. He was enthusiastic and referred me to my City Council member, John Quincy. I called Council Member Quincy that day and planned to meet with him at City Hall on January 5th. I met with him and discussed the issue. We are currently researching for the best solutions to reduce plastic pollution. If you’re interested in becoming involved in banning single-use plastic bags or have any comments or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at willbildsten@gmail.com. You can also learn more about the issue by visiting the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s website, www.PlasticPollutionCoalition.com. I hope the people of Minneapolis will stand by me in this crucial fight against plastic pollution.
