Plastic


Plastic is an amazing material. 
It's waterproof, unbreakable, 
and can be used for an amazing number of items.

This is great, if the item is reusable.


Photo by Greg Halinda Photography

But plastic has also become a huge problem.



  • Plastic does not biodegrade. It can never become dirt. It is bio inert.
  • It is embrittled by the sun. It can break into smaller bits that are ingested by animals.
  • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (North Pacific Ocean Gyre) is a swirling mass of small plastic debris twice the size of Texas and weighing about 300 million pounds. It is composed of entire plastic items (toothbrushes, pens, soothers) and plastic that has broken into smaller pieces that don't decompose. In the surface of the Pacific Ocean, plastic outweighs plankton. Read more
  • 27% percent of the total of the total of what is found in the North Pacific Ocean Gyre is plastic film like that used in packaging. There is no code for knowing what kind of plastic there is. There is no infastructure for recycling it.
  • It's an irony that a product that is meant to last forever, is used for seconds and then tossed. Charles Moore, scientist, Plastic Soup for the Soul