In part 8 of this guide, we learned that solving plastic pollution and moving towards zero waste needs a whole system change to be successful. This is a really big task! And sometimes it can make you feel like your actions are just a drop in the ocean. But it’s important to remember that what we do still matters. In fact, without us system change would never happen!

Why is this? The short answer is that individual change and system change are not opposites. They work together.

The kind of change we looked at previously is called top-down system change. This is because it comes from people in charge, who hold the power and authority to control how things are done. Some examples are: governments passing laws to punish polluters; building infrastructure for reuse; or the food industry setting new standards for packaging and labelling. The new Global Plastics Treaty from the United Nations will be the biggest top-down change ever for plastic pollution! But even the people in charge of your local trash collection would make a big difference if they made people sort their waste. When the people at the top change the way things get done, everyone has to follow – and they will also be helped to do that.

But there is another type of change, that starts with us. This is called bottom-up system change. It comes from individuals like us taking action and influencing the smaller local systems that we live in – schools, offices, shops, restaurants etc. Some examples are setting up a water refill network, a repair cafe, a community garden for composting or a campaign to bring your own containers for take away food.

Initiatives like these influence how people and society think about a problem like waste and plastic pollution. In turn, this puts pressure on the higher levels of government and big companies to respond. They need to meet our new expectations. Even if this takes a while, we’ve already planted the seeds.

Individual action can take many forms: from protests to citizen science to organising a clothing swap. The key is to link up with other people doing the same thing, so that our individual impact multiplies. This is known as collective action and it creates momentum for wider system change.
Here are the twins with more:

Ideas for individual and collective action that change the system

Create a new normal
Just think how rare it was to see a reusable water bottle a few years ago and how common they are now. This is a result of people who started making those swaps and showing their family, friends and others that another way was possible. To help raise people’s awareness of plastic pollution, you can:

• Share your zero waste lifestyle on social media
• Talk to your friends and family about why you’re making these changes
• Take your reusables to new places, like street food stalls, the deli counter, or your regular lunch venue

Influence local systems
There are many small local systems that we are part of – our school or workplace, our street or apartment building, or even our wider neighbourhood. As we already belong in these places, it’s often easy to start a small campaign or project that will help others in the same system to reduce waste. If you feel you don’t have enough influence to do it alone, ask some friends for support, or join a group that’s already working on similar issues.
You can:

• Start a campaign to reduce single-use plastic or other waste at your school or workplace canteen
• Ask local cafes to offer a discount for people who bring their own container
• Join or start a Trash Hero chapter doing community cleanups
• Get people composting
• Ask friendly neighbourhood businesses to join our water refill network

Influence big companies
Because companies want to make money, they usually listen to their customers – people like us! That’s actually why you see so much greenwashing lately. Big business knows people are worried about plastic pollution so they are trying to fool us into thinking they care 🙄 But the more pressure they feel, the more likely they are to take real action. You can:

• Do a brand audit, or join one from Trash Hero or other groups
• Call out greenwashing and false solutions on social media
• Start a boycott of big polluters and get others to join

Influence governments
As well as being a consumer, you are a citizen with the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Governments have a lot of power to decide what companies can and can’t do and the collective action of individuals can help to push for policies that would make them responsible for the pollution they cause. You can:

• Start or join a campaign to support zero waste infrastructure or EPR laws
• Start or sign a petition supporting a strong Global Plastics Treaty
• Write letters to your local government representatives
• Join a protest march or rally about plastic pollution
• Join a group that does all of the above and more! See the links below for some ideas

All of these actions follow the golden rules of reducing waste at the source and working towards a safer, fairer and more sustainable system for people and planet. Hopefully you can find something here that you would feel comfortable doing! And again, we encourage you to find a group that is doing similar things, or start your own: it’s way more fun and way more impactful to work together.

It’s also important to keep learning about these topics! Although we’re wrapping up this guide here, feel free to go back to previous parts and watch or read things you missed. A deep understanding of the issues – and the real solutions needed – will make any action you take more meaningful and powerful.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

To get more inspiration for the actions you can take, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you. If you want to discuss any ideas you have, or have some thoughts on the question below, leave us a comment!

If you’re a few weeks in to your zero waste lifestyle, you may already be noticing that, even though you are carrying around a reusable water bottle, there are still loads of single-use plastic ones around. The shops are full of them. Canteens and restaurants are full of them. Most people still buy them because they don’t know any different – or maybe don’t care. It can feel frustrating. How much of a difference are you really making? The twins wondered about this too:

Why is changing our habits not enough?

Changing individuals’ behaviour to help reduce waste is important, but it’s never going to be enough on its own to eliminate plastic pollution. How come?

1. The size of the problem Even though there are a LOT of concerned individuals all over the world who are trying to reduce their waste, our actions will only impact a fraction of the overall plastic pollution. Billions of pieces of plastic packaging are being pumped out every minute of every day. Then there is synthetic fast fashion, produced whether anyone wants it or not. The sheer volume of plastic waste produced by corporations makes our individual efforts to reduce it seem puny.

2. The scope of the problem Pollution and climate impacts happen across the  w h o l e  l i f e s p a n  of plastic, from the extraction of the fossil fuel materials to their disintegration into microplastics. We can choose what plastic we use, but we can’t choose how the production or disposal happens – we don’t have that power.

3. The source of the problem Most plastic pollution is a direct result of the way companies decide to design, package and distribute their goods. People have a huge choice of things to buy but not how to buy them. Even if we can personally avoid single-use plastic, these items are still being produced. To really solve the problem, the system needs to change.

What system are you talking about?

In this case, we’re talking about the economic system – all the ways we make, buy and use stuff, and what happens to it afterwards. Currently this system is set up with all the stages in a straight line, going in one direction:

TAKE → MAKE → USE → WASTE.

A lot of things happen on this line that we can’t see, and which are beyond our control. For example, there’s no way for us to know what chemicals are put into the plastics we use every day – or to change them if they are toxic.

The Story of Stuff in our watchlist below is a must to understand this one-way linear system – 20 minutes that will change your life!

We never really think about this system because we’re in it and part of it. We take it for granted – just like fish wouldn’t know they are in water, because they are surrounded by it. And they can’t compare their system to anything else because they never leave it.

The people who control the system we’re in right now want us to think it’s natural and inevitable: we’d be like fish out of water if we changed it. But that’s not true. The way things are done now is not the only way. And it’s definitely not the best way – look at all the problems it’s causing! Here are some changes that would massively reduce waste and pollution:

1. Create new laws and regulations Right now, companies are free to produce as much plastic as they choose and put thousands of chemicals into it, with no responsibility for what happens later. Governments can make companies:

• limit the amount of plastic they produce
• stop using plastic for unnecessary items
• force companies to design safe and reusable plastics; and
• collect damages for any pollution they cause.

These types of laws are called Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR.

2. Build zero waste infrastructure The current system is designed for throwing things away as fast as possible. It’s hard for people to switch to reusing and repairing if they have to fight against this and do everything themselves. Just like a train needs tracks to run, zero waste needs a support system.

For reusable packaging to become the norm, we need to make accessible drop-off points off for cleaning and reuse. Repairable items need affordable repair centres. Composting needs a collection system and recycling needs clear labels to help sorting. This is all “infrastructure” – the basic facilities that support our daily lives.

3. Put people and planet before profits This is the hardest part of the system to change – at least without government regulation. Traditionally, companies focus on making money for their owners and they fight against anything that will change that. But a few companies are starting to make taking care of people and the environment their top priorities. Any profits they make are invested back into the communities they serve. This model could be more widely used.

Changes like these will start to transform the existing linear system into a circle. There’s more about the circular economy and what it is in our reading and watchlists below. But take it from us: it would be a whole new world.

Of course, there are many other problems with our current economic system besides the environmental harm it causes – injustices like wealth inequality and the exploitation of workers, sexism and racism. Dealing with these would involve even greater change, which is a challenging but worthy goal. We encourage you to look into this after you’ve finished this series.

So if we need to change the system, is individual change still needed?

Yes of course! Just because we need the system to change doesn’t mean individuals have no role to play. In fact, without us, system change would never happen! We’ll be looking at how to achieve this in the next part of this guide.

In summary, we might say that to solve plastic pollution and reduce waste, changing our behaviour is an important first step, but the ultimate goal is to change the system that creates the problem. We need to move from a linear economic system to a circular one, that is designed using the principles of zero waste.

To find out more about how the current system works and how it should change, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you. You can also apply your new knowledge in an activity, or test it out in the quiz. If you have any thoughts on changing the systems, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!

Hi! You’ve landed on the activity page for our Educate Yourself – Zero Waste series part 7. If you’ve not yet gone through the topic, we encourage you do so before trying out this task. Just click on the link above to get there.

Take a look at the ads and products below (click or tap to enlarge). Can you explain why they are greenwashing and false solutions?

Try with at least 3 different images and feel free to share your answers in the comments below. If you get stuck, our False Solutions Tool can give you some tips.

Why do you think people fall for these type of ads? And what can we do to stop this happening?

Before we start, how are you doing with your zero waste lifestyle? Hopefully you’re not too overwhelmed! One thing we found when we started to cut out single-use plastic is that you have to decide between so many alternative options – paper, bioplastic, compostable plastic. It can get confusing! Take a look at this:

Alternatives to single-use plastic

With alternatives to single-use plastic, there’s just one question you need to ask to see if they are worth using: does this help reduce waste overall? If the answer is no, there’s likely a better option out there.

This is because replacing one throwaway item with another doesn’t really fix the bigger problem. We are still using valuable natural resources to make things we use for a few seconds and ending up with the same quantity of trash to deal with.

Some of these “plastic alternatives” also have other issues that might make you think twice about using them: bioplastics for instance still contain chemicals and sometimes even fossil fuel plastic as major ingredients. And of course, they still create microplastics. Any paper that’s in contact with food usually has a thin coating of plastic on it so it doesn’t fall apart. There’s more about these different materials in the watch list below.

In general, the best alternatives for single-use plastic are things that are reusable. Think real (metal) cutlery that can be washed and used thousands of times instead of trendy disposable bamboo versions. Or a glass, porcelain or thermos cup for tea, instead of a paper cup. Because we use these items over and over again, we help reduce waste overall. It means fewer new things need to be made and thrown away.

Alternative ways to deal with discarded plastic

But what if we can do something useful with all that trash? That would mean disposables are not so bad after all. You may have heard of waste being turned into electricity, heat or fuel. That sounds much better than putting it into a landfill or letting it get into nature, right?

Let’s think this through. What exactly do we put into those machines to produce the energy? In most cases, it’s mixed (not separated) waste. This means piles of food, glass, metal, paper and of course plastic. Why mixed? Because it’s much easier for local governments this way – there’s just one set of trash to collect and then burn.

Burning mixed waste is pretty inefficient though (all that wet food!) and lots of good things that could have been recycled or composted go up in smoke.

If the waste is sorted first, and organics and recyclables removed, we’re usually left with a bunch of plastics. As these are made from fossil fuels + chemicals, when they get burned they cause climate breakdown in exactly the same way as oil, gas or coal. But with plastic, there’s also a lot of seriously toxic stuff in the ash and smoke – things like dioxins, furans and heavy metals. This is especially dangerous when plastic is turned into fuel briquettes that get used for making cement or cooking food.

Now let’s think about where all that waste comes from in the first place. Plastic trash – the main source of heat – is not a renewable source of energy, like wind or solar power. It’s a finite fossil resource. Waste-to-energy facilities cost a lot of money and, to work properly, their fires need be kept burning 24/7 at a very high temperature. This means we need a steady supply of new plastic waste to feed the machines and get the money back – so more oil and gas being extracted from the Earth.

Zero waste means keeping materials in use, over and over again, for as long as possible and then disposing of them safely. But when we burn plastic, all that remains after the heat, fuel or electricity has been used, are toxic by-products. Nothing useful can be done with these, though some companies attempt to mix the ash into building materials. In any form, the leftover ash and smoke cause serious health problems for people and  ecosystems nearby.

The bottom line is, if we separate our waste and compost and recycle what we can, we’re mainly left with a pile of plastics. By reducing this pile – for example by designing durable and reusable products – we can conserve finite resources and have very little left to burn. So there’s no need to produce heat or electricity from waste at all: we already have real solutions and many climate-friendly sources of energy we can use instead. Why risk our health and our environment if it’s not even necessary?

Introducing… false solutions and greenwashing

False solutions are any ideas or actions that claim to solve the plastic crisis in some way, but in fact do not. They usually focus on switching one single-use material with another, that is supposedly better for the environment, or on using technology to “manage” plastic better at the end of its life.

By this definition, bioplastics and any kind of waste-to-energy or fuel technology could be considered to be “false solutions”. There are many others, like saying we can turn used plastic into new clothes or shoes, or that plastic-eating worms or bacteria will save us. They never try to solve the problem at the source – to reduce the plastic we produce in the first place. In fact, they can even make the problem worse, by distracting or delaying us from working on the real solutions that will lead us to zero waste.

Companies who promote these types of solutions are often said to be “greenwashing”. This means – intentionally or not – they trick people into thinking that the problem is being dealt with and that they are part of the solution. They might use misleading labels or marketing to try and boost their image or sales. Meanwhile, they are supporting the same overproduction and overuse that caused this crisis in the first place.

As we know from the previous parts of this guide, after plastic has been produced and used in any form, the damage has already been done. The climate has already been impacted, pollution has been created and our health damaged by the release of microplastics. So these false solutions aren’t solving the problem – to do that we need to change the system that produces the waste in the first place.

Greenwashing is a big topic and covers a lot of false environmental claims and promises made by companies in all sorts of industries – fashion, cars, energy to name just a few. If you want to know more, check out the links at the bottom of this page.

In summary, we might say that false solutions try to fix the plastic crisis with alternative materials or ways to deal with the waste. These might seem to be helping but in reality, they still deplete natural resources, create new waste and cause harm to the planet and our health. They don’t address the root of the problem: our throwaway culture. As zero wasters, we need to be able to recognise false solutions and reject them – but they are often hard to spot, especially if they are marketed as “eco-friendly”.

To find out more about false solutions to plastic pollution, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you. You can also apply your new knowledge in an activity, or test it out in the quiz. If you have any thoughts on false solutions, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!

If you’ve been following the earlier parts of this guide, you’ll already have a good sense of the scale and complexity of the plastic problem. And you’re probably starting to wonder how we will ever solve it!

Real solutions can’t come from changing how we manage plastic trash. We need to change the way we live too.

As the twins say, there are hundreds of accounts on social media all sharing tips about how to reduce plastic and other waste in our daily lives. This is called a “zero waste lifestyle”. Note! A zero waste lifestyle is nothing new – it was not invented by influencers, nor does it need a perfect white kitchen and lots of cool zero waste products. In fact, most people in human history up until the mid 20th century lived zero waste lifestyles and millions still do today.

This kind of lifestyle just means that the things we use are made to last, materials are reused and repaired – not thrown away – and we are more connected to nature and our local community.

So what happened in the mid 20th century to change this? The dawn of mass production and advertising, fuelled by plastic — the new “wonder material” — started a consumerist, throwaway culture. This transformed people’s lives and even their values.

Once we start looking, we can see that a lot of what is now being sold to us is overpackaged and quite often not even needed at all. So a zero waste lifestyle really just starts with observing our buying habits and thinking of ways to avoid any unnecessary purchases and waste.

Start small with simple swaps

The key is not to feel pressured to change everything at once. Start by making small, manageable changes and gradually build from there. A great first step is a reusable water bottle. Choose one made from plain stainless steel to avoid issues with microplastics. Fill it from the tap (if you can) or another reusable source like a tank or public refill point. That will already start saving a lot of plastic bottles.

Next you could try a reusable shopping bag – again choose one that is small enough to fold up and keep in your main bag or pocket so you always have it with you. Or, carry a reusable cup. Both of these swaps mean you might have to ask the seller if you can use your item instead of the disposable one they provide. It can feel awkward the first time you do this. But if you can explain the reason – that you are trying to avoid single-use plastic – most people are quite happy to help.

The more you practice, the easier and more normal it feels. And, as well as saving plastic, you’re also being a great role model for people you know – and even those you don’t! – who see you making those choices.

Plan ahead to make more impact

Once you get the hang of carrying a few reusables with you, you’re ready to go a step further. For more ideas, look at what you and your family use and throw away each week. Is there anything you can do to avoid plastic packaging? For example, could you choose loose fruit and vegetables instead of wrapped? Could you buy any other products (e.g. sugar, rice, nuts) at a local market or refill store instead of at the supermarket?

If you pack your own lunch, could you make it zero waste – without packaging and in a reusable container? Could you swap from disposable period products to reusable ones? Or from liquid shampoo and soap to a solid bar? If there are some things you can’t or don’t want to give up, that’s okay. We all like salty snacks 🙂

Become a hardcore zero waster?

There is actually a lot more you can do to reduce waste, from composting to repairing things to making your own cleaning products. You can go room by room in your house, giving them zero waste makeovers. This sometimes does require special equipment, as well as a bit more time and effort. Some people will enjoy exploring these options, others will find they get overwhelmed and demotivated.

Our advice is to do what you can, and stick to what is working for you. A little every day is better than trying to do too much and ending up doing nothing at all!  And in the next parts of this guide, we’ll be looking at more ways to support zero waste lifestyles for everyone, even those who are reluctant to try.

In summary, a zero waste lifestyle means being aware of the waste you produce in your daily life and taking steps to reduce it. By buying only what we need, choosing unpackaged or second-hand goods when possible and switching disposable items for reusable ones, we can prevent a huge amount of waste. Separating any remaining waste by composting organics and recycling will leave even less that needs to go to landfill.

To find out more about zero waste lifestyles, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you and don’t forget to try some swaps out for yourself. If you do try any of the suggestions, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!

Yes, you read that right: unfortunately, recycling more is not going to solve the problem of plastic pollution. Here are the twins with why:

Quite a few different points were mentioned in that conversation. Let’s break them down.

Plastic is difficult and expensive to recycle

Recycling plastic is tough because there are thousands of different types, colours, and additives – just think of the average supermarket shelf! All the different plastics usually get collected together and sorting them out at the factory is expensive and not always effective.

Inaccurate sorting leads to contamination, where a whole batch of plastic might need to be thrown away. It also means any recycled products are lower quality and need new plastic (from fossil fuels) mixed in to make them work.

The sorting and treatments needed to make recycled plastic also make it expensive to sell – it usually costs more than brand new or virgin plastic. This means it is often not cost-effective for companies to switch to using recycled plastic.

Recycling arrows are meaningless

Those little symbols with arrows on plastic packaging might make us feel good, but they’re not a guarantee that the plastic can be or will be recycled.

If the arrows you see have a number inside, this is the symbol to show the general type of plastic it’s made from. There are 6 basic types:

1. PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate)
2. HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene)
3. PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)
4. LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene)
5. PP (Polypropylene)
6. PS (Polystyrene)

The seventh type is “Other”, which means “everything else” – thousands of varieties! Only 2 of these types, #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) can be effectively recycled, yet all the numbers are shown with arrows around them. How misleading is that?

Plastic recycling is not infinite

Unlike some materials like glass or metal, plastic can only be recycled once or twice before it degrades too much to be useful. So, it’s not a never-ending cycle like we might hope.

Nope, that’s still not going around…

The way plastics behave and the high risk of contamination mean – if it can be recycled at all – it usually gets downcycled. In other words, it gets turned into a different kind of product from its original use. For example, plastic bottles (made from PET) are often downcycled into clothing or carpets. Plastic bags (made from LDPE) can get downcycled into waste bins or garden furniture. These new products can’t be recycled further so they eventually end up in landfill, incinerated or in nature.

Around 2% of plastic is effectively recycled, which means it gets turned into something similar to its original use, so a plastic bottle to a plastic bottle. But this only adds 1 or 2 extra “loops” to its life – after that this plastic too will degrade and get thrown away.

Plastic recycling is not safe

As we know, plastic contains a lot of chemical additives – sometimes half or more of the material weight. Around 16,000 different substances have been identified in plastics but very little is known about any of them, let alone what happens when we mix them up with others in the recycling process.

Scientists are worried because they have found dangerous chemicals such as flame retardants in recycled plastic cooking utensils This is a problem because they are in contact with our food.

Recycling plastic also means grinding, shredding, and heating the materials, which exposes workers to more of these harmful chemicals through skin contact and breathing in fumes and microplastics. In many countries, they don’t get proper protection to keep them safe, nor healthcare to help deal with the impacts.

There’s way too much plastic to recycle

Let’s not forget the original problem with plastic: we’re churning it out at an alarming rate, far faster than we can actually recycle it. And most of the time, we don’t even want to recycle it because recycling is difficult and expensive.

This means a lot of it ends up being shipped to poorer countries to deal with. This is called the waste trade. But why would they want other people’s trash? Well, sometimes they are promised money for it, or sometimes it is (falsely) labelled as useful items.

Either way, when it arrives, the companies who got the money for it usually end up dumping or burning it, even if they promised to recycle it. It’s an unfair system that puts an unfair burden on developing countries, who often don’t have the facilities to deal with their domestic waste, let alone more from abroad.

In summary, when we say plastic recycling is broken, we mean that there is both too much plastic and too many different types to handle with recycling. The material itself is not designed to be recycled, so it’s expensive to do, not safe and the quality deteriorates each time. This means more new plastic needs to be made to replace it, which defeats the purpose of recycling.

To find out more about plastic recycling and how it works, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you. You can also apply your new knowledge in an activity, or test it out in the quiz. If you have any thoughts on plastic and our health, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!

Plastic isn’t just a pollution and public health problem; it’s the fastest growing industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet!

Yikes. It’s true: the production, use and disposal of plastics are now estimated to contribute up to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, compared with the whole aviation industry (estimated at around 3.5% of emissions). This doesn’t mean it’s okay to take the plane when there’s an alternative option! It’s just to give you an idea of the scale of the problem.

But how is that amount of emissions even possible? By now, we know plastic is made of fossil fuels + chemicals. In the 1950s, when it first came into wider use, plastic accounted for less than 1% of global oil consumption. These days it uses around 7% and this is projected to increase to 20% by 2050. This is because big oil companies believe making more plastic will save their profits as the world moves away from fossil fuels to towards renewable sources of energy.

To understand the climate impacts of plastic though, we don’t just look at its ingredients. We need to consider its whole journey, from how it’s made to what happens after it’s thrown away – a.k.a. its lifecycle. This gives us a much fuller picture.

Let’s break down the hidden emissions during the lifecycle of plastic.

EMISSIONS FROM EXTRACTION & PRODUCTION

Plastic’s journey begins with the extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth, which emits greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. The refining and manufacturing processes (the cracking and polymerisation we learned about in Part 1) then release more CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Around 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic are created at this production stage.

Plastic is also transported at every stage of its life and this uses more fossil fuels.

EMISSIONS FROM DISPOSAL

The endless stream of plastic packages and products we deal with every day will usually end up either in a landfill or incinerated. A small amount gets recycled. And a lot of plastic also gets into the environment – there’s more about that below.

Landfilling plastic, especially when mixed up with food waste and other organic material, creates conditions where methane is produced. Methane – which you may know from cow farts – is a greenhouse gas that’s way better than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. It makes climate change happen at a much faster rate.

Landfills are the world’s third largest source of methane emissions (cows and other agriculture come in – appropriately – at no. 2, with energy production taking the top spot). Making sure food waste doesn’t end up with plastic and other non-organic material in the landfill would reduce this a lot.

Incinerating plastic is a big problem. As it’s made from fossil fuels, it has the same climate impacts as burning oil and gas, with added toxic chemicals being released – often near where people live.

A small amount of plastic gets recycled and this process generates some greenhouse gas emissions, but far less than when new plastic is produced. In theory, that makes recycling more plastic a good option to slow climate change. But there are other issues with plastic recycling, which we’ll see later, that mean it’s not as helpful as we might think.

EMISSIONS FROM PLASTIC IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Scientists have found that plastic in the environment reacts with sunlight to release methane and other greenhouse gases. Microplastics are also a climate problem in the atmosphere and in the ocean. In the atmosphere, microplastics can trap heat, just like other types of air pollution.

In the ocean, there’s a different effect. Marine ecosystems help to absorb and store around half of the carbon dioxide on our planet, making them the world’s biggest “carbon sink”.

A lot of this CO2 is captured by plankton and other microorganisms in the water and then transported to the deep ocean in their poo. But the increase of microplastics in their diet is interfering with this process. As the water becomes more contaminated, less carbon dioxide can be absorbed. This threatens not only the climate, but the balance and even the survival of these beautiful and important ecosystems.

In summary, we might say that plastic has important and often unexpected negative effects on the climate at every stage of its life. The largest part of its impact comes when new plastic is produced, but it continues to create emissions after it is thrown away. It can even interfere with the planet’s natural processes to capture CO2 in the ocean.

To find out more about plastic’s impacts on climate change, check out our reading and watch lists below. Take your time to explore whatever appeals to you. You can also apply your new knowledge in an activity, or test it out in the quiz. If you have any thoughts on plastic and our climate, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!

If you’ve checked out the previous two parts of this series, you’ll already have heard of microplastics.
Microplastics – and their even tinier cousins, nanoplastics – may be small but they are a really big deal!

In this episode we’ll be finding out why, where they come from, and how they even get into our bodies in the first place.

Scientists usually define microplastics as any piece of plastic under 5mm (or half a centimetre) in length. Some of them are visible but most are too tiny to be seen, going down to just 1 micron (or one thousandth of a millimetre) across. When they get under this size, they are usually called nanoplastics. But to keep things simple, for now we’ll just call them all “microplastics”.

WHERE DO MICROPLASTICS COME FROM?

Most microplastics start life as part of something bigger. As these items get produced, used and thrown away, microplastics are released. This usually happens in 3 ways:

Friction: two of the biggest sources of microplastics are textiles and car tyres. Making, washing and wearing clothes made from synthetic fibres like polyester or acrylic releases tiny microfibres. So too does making, walking or sitting on synthetic carpets and furniture. And when people drive, the friction between their tyres and the road surface creates tiny particles of microplastic dust (if you thought tyres were only made from rubber, think again – they are about 1/4 plastic). In a 2020 study, 78% of microplastics in the ocean were found to come from tyres!

When any plastic gets hot and comes into contact with other things, the surface breaks down much more easily, for example when cooking with plastic utensils, microwaving a ready meal, or putting your fleece in the dryer.

Fragmentation: when plastic gets old, or is exposed to things like sunlight or wave action, it can get brittle and start to break up into smaller and smaller pieces. This happens very often in the ocean or in open dumpsites, but also on farmland, where plastic is used to cover crops.

Incineration: Burning plastic along with other waste is a common way of managing the trash we produce. This creates a lot of microplastics both in the emissions and in the ash left behind.

Other microplastics, like glitter, start off small – and get smaller over time. Liquid plastics are common ingredients in toiletries like lotions, makeup, hair conditioners and toothpaste, where they are used to bulk out the product and to make your hair and body smooth and shiny. These all wash into the water system as microplastics after use.

Nurdles are small pellets of plastic used to make plastic products. Millions of tons are made every year and transported all over the globe, but accidental spills or careless handling mean many of them end up in the environment, where they can break down even further.

HOW DO MICROPLASTICS GET INTO OUR BODIES?

Some very small microplastics, like tyre dust or textile fibres, can float unnoticed in the air. While some will eventually settle, there’s so much new material arriving and being blown around, the whole atmosphere is full of it – both indoors and outdoors. You’re definitely breathing in plastic right now.

Any size of microplastic can enter the soil and water, either directly or through the sewage system. This means both plants and animals are exposed to microplastics and, as we eat plants and animals, the microplastic ends up in our bodies too. Because microplastics are so widespread and so tiny, this is not something we can see or control.

Then of course we’re also spreading microplastics on our skin, hair and nails and consuming more of them directly when we buy, cook and eat food and drinks wrapped in plastic.

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF HAVING MICROPLASTICS IN YOUR BODY?

Scientists are still studying all the effects microplastics might have on our health. The main issue is with all the chemical additives used to make plastic. These additives can make up more than half of a plastic material!

A lot of research has shown that these chemicals can be toxic and also affect the way our hormones work. This can lead to an increased risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, some types of cancer, birth defects, premature birth, brain disorders, and infertility.

The pieces of plastic themselves can lead to inflammation or damage to our organs, especially if we’re exposed to a lot of them over time. They can also prevent the proper absorption of nutrients from our food.

Because plastic is synthetic, not natural, our bodies don’t know how to break it down. So once it’s in our lungs, blood or tissues, it just stays there. As more arrives, the concentration builds up. This is called bioaccumulation.

In summary, microplastics usually come from bigger pieces of plastic breaking down, and they can get into our bodies through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Once they are there, we can’t easily get rid of them and they can impact our health in both chemical and physical ways.

This is a really big topic and you’ll find a lot more information and explanation in the reading / watch lists below. Take your time and check out whatever appeals to you. You can also apply your new knowledge in an activity, or test it out in the quiz. If you have any thoughts on plastic and our health, or want to answer the question below, leave us a comment!