Where Does Plastic Come From?
Doesn’t matter if you’re high or low E Gdim F#m B7
Doesn’t matter if you’re fast or slow Emaj7 E7 Amaj7 Am
There’s one thing we all can share G#m Gdim F#m B7
We’re all breathing plastic air E C#7 F#7 B7
Feel it coming down in the rain
Watch it trickle down your window pane
In the oceans and in the streams
Polyester and propylene
From your tires and your overcoat Bm E
A little friction and away they float Amaj7/6
In the clouds and all around the globe F#7
It’s in your coffee and your frontal lobe B7
Every second we still produce
So many tons for single use.
Baby diapers and drinking straws,
Styrofoam peanuts, and more faux pas,
Polycarbonate and PET,
Methyl methacrylate and PVC.
In your liver and in your spleen,
Polyester and propylene.
All the particles that we release
From our parkas and polar fleece,
Baby bottles and plastic wrap,
Turned out to be a progress trap.
Exxon knew a long time ago, but
Where it comes from, most people don’t know!
And recycling ain’t no match for
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Is there anyplace left to spoil? A
Another one for Big Oil? E
On our fingernails and in our hearts F#7
In our pancreas and private parts B7
She’s got petro-particle fashion swag,
Hydrocarbons and a Gucci bag.
Prettiest girl that I’ve ever seen… is just…
Polyester and propylene!
©Doug Hendren 2024
What’s it about? In asking people for the past twenty-five years where plastic bags come from, my wife Nancy and I have been consistently surprised that the great majority of American adults simply have no idea. Much more disturbing, however, is what we have learned in recent years about where it ends up. The fate of microscopic plastic particles is thoroughly presented in Matt Simon’s 2022 book, “A Poison Like No Other: How microplastics corrupted our planet and our bodies.”
To summarize briefly, microplastic particles are shed constantly from automobile tires, polyester and other plastic fiber clothing, and countless other plastic products. The particles circulate freely in the atmosphere, and are found at ever altitude in every corner of the world.. Through our lungs, particles small enough can enter our bloodstream, and can cross the blood-brain barrier. They are in breast milk, in brain tissue, in our testicles and virtually everywhere else. In addition, evidence now indicates that microplastics interfere with the effectiveness of antibiotics, possibly by increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Plastic is obviously here to stay. It is just an amazing family of materials, much too useful to get rid off altogether. But do we really need plastic forks and spoons, bubble wrap and styrofoam packing peanuts? How about all the plastics used in cosmetics? Not really. Single-use plastics are the first things we need to stop, and laws are beginning to catch up in various parts of the US and the world.
Regardless of how useful plastics are, the US is now joining other nations in support of global limitations on plastic production. In addition,
In September 2024, California has brought the first legal action against ExxonMobil over its plastic waste pollution and its deceptive plastic recycling campaign. Given what we are learning about plastic pollution, this will no doubt just be the tip of the iceberg. Just like the oil industry’s decades-long campaign to undermine recognition of climate change, they have also deceived the public for decades about plastic recycling, and heavily promoted plastic consumption, leading to our current plastic waste crisis.
Here is one very bright spot on the horizon: The Ocean Cleanup. Look at the fantastic work this nonprofit organization is scaling up to rid the world’s oceans of plastic!
Here is a ten-minute crash course in plastics for the uninitiated. Tell your neighbors.
Wikipedia: A well-illustrated summary of how plastic is made.
