Sustainability Education & Awareness

NYPC: New York Plastics Challenge
Overview of Campaign

It is difficult to imagine life without plastics. Plastics' versatility allows it to be used in practically all aspects of our popular culture - from car parts to doll parts, from soft drink bottles to the refrigerators they are stored in, from the film used to produce TV shows to the television you watch them on—even the plastic credit card you bought it with.

However, plastics are also both a health and an environmental affliction beginning with their extraction as the raw materials natural gas and petroleum. The production of both plastic compounds and end products has proven to cause cancer in workers and sometimes in those living in the vicinity of the facilities.   In addition, chemicals released in plastic production can cause birth defects and damage the nervous system, blood, kidneys and immune systems. These chemicals can also cause serious damage to the ecosystem. The production of plastic emits substantial amounts of toxic chemicals (eg. ethylene oxide, benzene and xylenes) to the air and the water supply. The use of some types of plastics in the household may release harmful toxins, especially in the case of fire. 

The disposal of plastics is complicated as they do not biodegrade and incineration releases hydrochloric acid, chlorine and toxic heavy metals.  Plastics comprise over 20% by volume of the entire municipal waste stream while less than 2% of plastics used are recycled.  They also take over 500 years to disintegrate in our landfills even though their average lifespan is 15 days.   Furthermore we are tossing away a nonrenewable resource – 25% of all petroleum used in United States goes towards the making of plastic.

New York City resident's reliance on the use of plastic is staggering compounded by the nature of our unusually fast-paced lives.  Our reliance stems from take out and pre-prepared foods conveniently encased in number 3 plastic polyvinylchloride or number 5 plastic polypropylene—neither of which are recyclable—and is multiplied by the sheer amount of non-recyclable plastic forks and spoons handed to us or delivered with meals that never get used. 

A lot of this waste is unnecessary, but the convenience and cheapness of plastic is hard to argue—that is unless the human health and environmental costs are taken into consideration.  New solutions are now available made out of fully biodegradable plastics that disintegrate to plant food when properly composted.  Many of these biodegradable plastics are also reusable and recyclable. 

The fashion industry's use of plastics to manufacture the fabric polyester is also significant, sparked by the trend towards retro looks - tacky slacks and groovy shirts a la Austin Powers style. Virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) currently cannot be produced fast enough to meet the soaring demand of the fashion industry.

Commenting on the role of plastics in fashion, sustainable design guru William McDonough says, “We're not just going back to nature; we also see huge value in synthetic products. The world will need highly intelligent synthetic polymers [plastics]. Because if everybody wore cotton and Birkenstocks the planet would dry up and we would run out of cork.”

McDonough is also the bearer of good news. New, innovative and safe alternatives are now available to the fashion industry. Recently, several textile designers have redesigned polyesters to eliminate the antimony, a heavy metal that makes traditional polyester so detrimental to the environment. A pure fabric created by Designtex is so free of toxins it's edible. Cargill Dow has produced an entire line of fabrics that are fully biodegradable made out of polymers derived from 100% corn. Polyesters from Milliken and Co. are an isotope of nylon, nylon-6, and like all the fabrics mentioned here, are designed for continual recycling into new fabric.

While these new fabrics are not widely available to consumers yet, they demonstrate the technological advances in plastics, indeed the future direction in plastics.  

Biodegradable plastic packaging for the fast food industry solves many problems but requires an infrastructure to be fully viable.  These products are biodegradable when composted, and yet New York City has cancelled most of its compost programs.  They are also recyclable but cannot be combined with other plastics and must be source separated individually.

In light of New York City 's Olympic Bid for 2012, innovative and progressive solutions are in order.   New York City must meet our waste management challenges head on by reducing landfill, toxins in our homes and environment while reducing our reliance on petroleum-based products.  Doing so will not only make New York City a better candidate for the site of the 2012 Olympics, but a better place to live as well as an exemplary global citizen.

Pop Sustainability proposes the adoption of a city wide resolution addressing biodegradable plastics in packaging, biodegradable plastics recycling programs, composting programs for biodegradable plastic products making them a viable solution, and city procurement policies giving preference to biodegradable plastic products.

Pop Sustainability's Call to Action:

NYC adopts policies that enable a grassroots campaign towards the sustainable use of plastics, supporting a zero-waste goal for the city.

NYC government adjusts its waste management infrastructure, possibly only minimally, to accommodate voluntary participation in this campaign. For example, NYC government assists with the establishment of sorting and/or composting programs necessary for NYC to lay the ground for the introduction of new biodegradable plastics products.

New York City government endorses and participates in a public private sector effort to raise awareness and educate NYC citizens about biodegradable plastics.

NYC residents participate in a pride campaign to reduce use of plastics, preferential selection of biodegradable plastics products, including the recycling and/or composting of these biodegradable plastics products.

In conjunction with a partnership agreement, the biodegradable plastics industry co-brands an awareness and action campaign, including supporting participating deli's and groceries to integrate and promote new biodegradable plastic packaging products within the pilot program.

Pop Sustainability undertakes a full scale awareness and action campaign targeting young professionals and college students to publicly support the adoption of the Biodegradable Plastics Bill , while media coverage helps to generate attention spilling over to general audiences.

Fashion Industry tries on new plastics and recycling as part of the New York Plastics Challenge —Pretty in Plastics including a fashion show during Fashion Week September 2004.

© 2002 POP SUSTAINABILITY