4ocean Education | The Making of the Ocean Plastic Crisis | A World of Convenience

This morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee on my way into work. Later, I had lunch at my favorite taco place. And on the way home from the office, I swung by the store to pick up some stuff for dinner. All in all, it's a really average day, probably pretty similar to yours. But it just so happens that our average days also include a lot of single-use plastic. As the education supervisor for 4ocean, I'm used to looking out for when and why we use plastic. But for most of us, it's so ingrained into our day-to-day that we don't give it a second thought. And when we ask, why is there so much plastic in the ocean? There's not one simple answer. There are many causes, cultural influences, and economic ties that got us to where we are. But for all the ways plastic has become a problem for our marine ecosystem, we also know that didn't used to be the case. So we want to take you back to the beginning. Let's understand more about why plastic became our go-to material and what makes it so much a part of modern life. Now fast, efficient delivery service. Milk to you in sanitary containers, sealed within a few hours from the time it left the cobs. Milk untouched by human hands. Before World War II, we had more of a return and refill system, like what you're seeing with the Milkman. Customers got their milk and returned the glass bottle to the supplier when it was empty. These bottles could be reused some 30 to 50 times. This method is still in use today with bulk grocery stores, except that customers are both responsible for and the owner of the container they use. After World War II, we had a new economy of goods that needed to be redirected away from war efforts. This included steel, aluminum, and yes, plastic. It was a natural fit to turn to consumer goods, but these products weren't reusable. Advertisers and marketers had to incentivize customers to adopt this new way of thinking. PepsiCo's new two-liter plastic bottle is 25% lighter than glass. It's tough and light. So these new products were marketed as a convenient alternative to the so-called time-consuming return and refill system that we were used to. And all that marketing paid off. More disposable items entered the marketplace, including everyday items like cups, silverware, and plates. By the 1970s, convenience was the buzzword around disposable goods, and our return and refill system was largely phased out. Consumers were repeatedly told and eventually believed that their convenience was a top priority and that there were no or very few consequences to using these items. It was thought that these items were so cheap and easy that they should be thrown out and repurchased over and over and over again. With that mindset, plastic became the material of the modern world. And as populations have increased at a global rate, so too has plastic production. All those new people on the planet will use bags, bottles, straws, cups, and other single-use plastic items throughout their lifetime. Today, up to 40% of plastic produced is packaging, while nearly a million plastic beverage bottles are sold every minute around the world. Within seconds, this plastic serves its purpose and is now worthless, ending up either in landfills, our environment, or our oceans. For all the ways plastic is a part of the modern world, it's still a relatively new invention. In fact, nearly half of all plastic ever manufactured has been made since 2000. That was only 19 years ago, and it's reasonable to think that we're capable of equal change in the years to come. Plastic is so popular for many reasons, but mainly because of marketing objectives that perpetuate misinformation about its convenience and our growing global consumer demand. If we stop using single-use items that rely on plastic and seek out alternatives, plastic will lose some of its power and we will cut down on overall plastic waste. And we know there are alternatives to plastic. We've lived without plastic for centuries. We can reintroduce more sustainable methods that come with less environmental impact. And we're seeing many of those alternatives become more popular, like reusable straws, water bottles, and other household items. So now we know what got plastic into our homes and industries, but there's still more to explore. Subscribe to our channel to become a part of our series and watch our next episode, where we dig into what makes plastic so darn indestructible and also invaluable.