Jeri White: Fighting to keep plastic from fouling our planet
About the writer: McMinnville resident Jeri White, a fifth-generation Oregonian born in Newberg, makes her living as a restaurant consultant, business therapist, accountant and event director. She’s also an accomplished musician and stone carver who enjoys puzzles, mysteries and beachcombing. But her passion is public education and activism on the danger posed by plastic in our environment.
Plastic not only poses major challenges for permanent burial, but also for recycling for reuse. But The Plastic Project, affiliated with Zero Waste McMinnville, is making inroads on multiple fronts.
Through implementation of Senate Bill 545 two months ago, Oregon joined several other states in allowing restaurants to package prepared foods in containers supplied by customers.
This legislation also permits restaurants to provide their own containers, which customers can return to any participating restaurant in the local system, so they can be sanitized for reuse time and again.
The Plastic Project is currently recruiting restaurants for a network committed to introducing reusable take-out containers.
Moving from single-use disposables to reusable containers is a great concept, as reuse is critical in a sustainable circular economy. Each participating restaurant saves money and the community and our planet grows healthier in the process.
Three years ago, The Plastic Project started to address another challenge in the same arena — the recycling of problem plastics not allowed in curbside recycling bins.
We began sponsoring community collection events every four months, in February, June, and October. In the course of eight collections since, we have now rounded up and recycled more than three tons of plastic otherwise destined for landfills.
We transport our collections to James Recycling in Portland.
It has strict standards, ensuring the entire amount we collect will actually be recycled in Oregon. As an added benefit, it has a mission of providing employment for people on the autism spectrum.
In 2023, The Plastic Project joined Zero Waste McMinnville in order to grow our project beyond plastic recycling. We’ve educated ourselves regarding the harm plastic pollution is causing our planet, and more recently, our concerns have grown regarding plastic chemicals and human health.
Plastic is a toxic, hazardous waste that takes centuries to break down. It fouls soil, water and air indiscriminately.
Further, medical research confirms that many diseases are related to plastic chemicals and microplastics that have invaded our bodies. It is troubling that even newborns already possess such substances in their systems.
A particular concern is the practice of placing hot food or drink in plastic or plastic-lined containers, because when plastic is heated, toxic chemicals leach into the contents. Warnings from the federal Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency acknowledge the danger in this practice.
Microwaving food in plastic is particularly harmful. It should never occur. Think twice about K-cups, plastic-lined coffee cups, plastic lids and frozen dinners.
The Plastic Project has identified several programs to help educate our community about the health aspect of over-reliance on plastic. Public education is critical to our mission to reduce the flow of toxic plastic into our communities.
Changes in government policy and practice are needed to move us from a take-make-waste model to a sustainable circular economy. And that takes public support.
Businesses moving from single-use disposables to reusables save money and prevent waste. Teaching people how to recycle properly promises to improve a plastic recycling rate currently standing at just 5% in the U.S.
The Plastic Project is fortunate to have dozens of volunteers willing to visit school classrooms and staff its events, including a Farmer’s Market booth, regular plastic collections, workshops and group presentations and outreach to other communities open to organizing groups like ours.
Each of us makes a difference as we work together toward healthier lifestyles for ourselves, our community and our planet. But awareness is only useful if it leads the way to action.
The petrochemical industry is powerful. In recognition of its loss of business as we move from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy, it has instituted a Plan B — restoring lost revenue through investment in plastics as a future business model.
Plastic is created by heating methane generated from the fracking of fossil fuels, along with other chemicals.
When the mix of gases cools, it becomes solid. It is then chopped into pellets, called nurdles.
It is shipped to plastic companies, who melt it down and add chemical additives that give it certain properties. They proceed to mold it, blow it or extrude it into the desired product.
The industry uses more than 16,000 different chemicals in its formulas, many of which are unknown to the FDA, because individual company formulas are considered “trade secrets.”
A lot of plastics aren’t readily recyclable. Others degrade as they go through new toxic manufacturing processes, sometimes to the point where they can only be recycled once.
There are many encouraging efforts being instituted across the globe, however, as citizens take action to address the plastic pollution in our midst.
Oregon’s new ban on extruded polystyrene foam, commonly marketed as Styrofoam, is slated to go into effect Jan. 1. Implementation of the Producer Responsibility and Recycling Modernization Act, aimed at standardizing recycling rules statewide, is slated to follow on July 1.
In addition, the federal government has finally taken action to limit domestic plastic production, a breakthrough reversing its previous position with regard to the Global Plastic Treaty.
These developments call for all of us to change our behavior and become better stewards of our beautiful planet Earth. We have the power within us to just say no to plastic.
Comments