The Case Against Plastic

What is Time magazine's pre-occupation with the so-called "green" movement including phasing out plastics?

(Disclaimer: For seven years, I was a full-time reporter for Plastics News. I spent time in plastics factories, reporting on everything from vinyl siding to Tupperware containers to those pesky plastic grocery bags that have every city on the Left Coast and some Midwest cities like Chicago in an uproar. Ban them, they say.)

Needless to say, I know more than anyone would want to know about plastics. I loved it. I enjoyed the industry and its people. It's a fascinating world.

Back to Time.
In a recent issue,
(or link to it here http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1821664,00.html)
it ran an article called, "The Truth About Plastic." I would have thought the author would at least have interviewed someone from the American Chemistry Council or someone who could offer the "other side."

Nope.
They interviewed a 28-year-old marketing coordinator from Chicago who has started her own grassroots effort to ban plastics from her life.

Here's the lead line to the story:

"If you know where to find a good plastic-free shampoo, can you tell Jeanne Haegele? Last September, the 28-year-old Chicago resident resolved to cut plastics out of her life."

The story recycles the tired cliche from The Graduate and then interviews a biologist from the University of Missouri who is set on proving that plastics products are harmful to humans.

How responsible of Time. Find a 28-year-old who started a blog (http://www.lifelessplastic.blogspot.com/) who makes her toothpaste from vodka, cinnamon and baking soda, and let her voice her uneducated opinion on the harmful effects of plastics.

That's priceless.

On a philosophical front, there is no "truth." There is only opinion.
I encourage all of you to follow these steps in decision-making about plastics products:
1. Do your research. When it comes to plastic bags, check out the other side of the story, too.
http://www.savetheplasticbag.com/
The case for the "environmental" friendliness of plastic bag manufacturing can be made, too. Some people argue that it is more environmentally friendly to make a plastic bag than it is to make a paper bag.

2. Follow your own gut. If you are not comfortable using plastic in the microwave, then don't. If you are not comfortable using a plastic baby bottle for your son or daughter, then don't.

PLEASE RECYCLE.
I cannot ask this enough. Those plastic bags that you do get at the grocery store can be reused by you in so many ways, but also, you can reuse them to bag your groceries.
Or, you can return them to recycle bins at some large grocery stores.
Churches also have recycling drives.
We are lucky in our community in Oklahoma because we do have curbside recycling. Does your community have curbside recycling? If so, take full advantage of it.

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.
That's my last bit of advice. Analyze everything with a critical eye, and have confidence in your own ability to make the decision that's best for you and your family.

REMEMBER, SO MANY THINGS WOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT PLASTICS.
It's like anything else in life: there's good and there's bad. It's all a balance. I remember watching all the tubes that went into my mother as she lay on the hospital bed. It was all plastics!

Also, plastics is considered "green" in the bird-watching industry on certain fronts. Milk gallons and other post-consumer plastics are used to make plastic "lumber," which is then used to make birdhouses.

As I said, read everything with a critical eye and God forbid, don't rely on hype.