Where Is All the Plastic From?

Column 2018-4

For some time various people have expressed concern about the plastic accumulating in the oceans. One of the more noticeable accumulations is a blob floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Recently individuals and groups have launched a campaign to do something. They are seeking bans on plastic drinking straws. Some city governments appear ready to act.

Certainly plastic straws are plastic. Also, most likely some of those straws reach the oceans.

This isn’t enough to answer the question, Does the straw ban make sense? Advocates for the ban don’t appear interested in research. Their minds are made up. What might a little research reveal?

One point perhaps worth considering is that only a small fraction of one percent of plastic made in the US is used to make straws. If all of it went into the oceans, Would it make a detectable difference?

A study found that most plastic that goes to the oceans by river flows out of ten rivers. Two of these rivers are African. The other eight are in Asia. The Yangtze is by far the biggest contributer. Three more of the rivers are completely Chinese. An additional three are partly Chinese.

Perhaps the straw banners should take there campaign to China. Of course, it is highly unlikely that straws are a significant part of Chinese plastic.

The main point is that under developed countries with poor or nonexistent trash disposal facilities are the main sources of plastic flowing into the oceans.

Meanwhile back home in the USA Starbucks® has jumped on the end the straw bandwagon. It announced its plan to replace straws with a cup cover that eliminates the need for straws. One reporter did some research. He found that the new cover contains more plastic than the old cover plus a straw. Perhaps this is a small price to pay for getting rid of those cursed straws.

If plastic straws are eliminated, we could go back to paper straws. There might be a flaw in this plan too. Paper straws cost 10 times as much as plastic ones. Paper straws cost more because more resources are used to make them. Consuming more resources will have an impact on the environment. Perhaps someone should investigate that impact before beating the drum for paper straws. The results might be surprising.

I read of a study comparing the environmental impact of driving an auto to the impact of riding a bicycle. The researcher concluded that the bicycle rider generated the most pollution. The calculation included pollution from producing the food the biker ate to produce the energy for peddling. I have no idea if this conclusion will stand up under scrutiny. It does, at least, bring to mind the importance research being thoroughly done.

Back to that blob of plastic in the Pacific Ocean. Apparently most of the plastic is from discarded fishing equipment, such as nets. How many plastic straws go fishing in the Pacific?

It seems that once again the defenders of the environment have hatched a half thought out plan that will do little or nothing to improve the environment. If the ban is enacted, it will, of course, be a minor nuisance to millions of people.

I will boldly predict that the world can survive without plastic straws. Perhaps the campaign for the ban is a good thing. The effort and wealth devoted to the ban campaign won’t be used to pursue causes much more threatening to the comfort and survival of humanity.

aldmccallum@gmail.com

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Copyright 2018

Albert D. McCallum