— Written by Lyle Jarvis

Plastic: Not Just Floating in the Ocean 🏭️ 

When most of us think about the environmental detriment of plastic, we picture ocean birds choked with bags, whales with bellies full of debris, or the garbage patch that’s twice the size of Texas. And yes, with a decomposition timeline in the hundreds of years, plastic is terrible wherever it is. What’s worse, around 460 million metric tons are made each year, and without stronger policies in place to protect us, that number could soar as much as 70% by 2040.

Devastating as that may be, the worst thing about plastic might not be where it ends up, but where it begins.

Stripped down to its core, plastic is basically fossil fuel in another form. Producing it is enormously carbon-intensive, driving huge amounts of emissions at every stage (extraction, refining, manufacturing). And perhaps unsurprisingly, the plastic industry’s carbon footprint has doubled in the past few decades.

In recent years. as demand for oil in transportation slowly declines, the fossil fuel industry has fallen back on its trusty safety net: push more plastic into our lives (and mouths). The plastic crisis isn’t just an environmental nuisance. It’s a climate problem, a big oil problem, and by design, a cripplingly hard addiction to break. 

The Treaty (or Lack Thereof) 📖

Earlier this year, global leaders gathered to negotiate what was supposed to be a historic treaty to rein in plastic production and pollution. Instead? The talks have officially collapsed.

Even more disappointingly, when you look at the countries to blame, the collapse of the treaty draws back to a key (predictable) culprit: the oil and gas industry lobby. While more than 100 countries, including the EU, UK, Colombia, and Pacific Island nations, pushed for binding limits on plastic production and toxic chemicals, oil-producing nations flatly rejected proposals that touched production, protecting their fossil fuel lifeline. 

The collapse of the treaty is yet another example of corporate interest buying its way into government, and holding a serious influence over the interest of its profits, not the citizens of those governments.

According to the Center for International Law, fossil fuel and chemical lobbyists outnumbered the combined diplomatic delegations of all 27 European Union nations and the EU combined (coming in at a whopping 233). Other sources are quoting it as high as 307. Even further, 19 of those lobbyists have secured places in the national delegations of Egypt (6), Kazakhstan (4), China (3), Iran (3), Chile (2), and the Dominican Republic (1).

Heavyweight corporations are found in all hats at these talks. Since the Paris session in 2023, Coca-Cola hasn’t missed a single round of negotiations. Lego, Nestlé, Unilever and PepsiCo were reported to be right alongside them.

Oil and gas companies see plastic as their lifeline, a way to secure demand for fossil fuels even as the world tries to decarbonize. Every water bottle, takeout container, and shipping wrapper is part of that strategy.

And because plastic is so deeply embedded in our global supply chains (agriculture, fashion, electronics, you name it) society remains in an embarrassingly tight chokehold. And while waste management and regulations are certainly a good place to start, our ultimate goal should really be loosening the grip of industries that have no incentive to scale back.

For decades, we’ve been told a complete lie: “the solution is simple: recycle! Sort your bottles, rinse your tubs, pat yourself on the back for "recycling." But in reality, less than 10% of plastic has ever been recycled. The rest has gone straight to landfills, incinerators, or (see above) places like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The very concept of plastic recycling was promoted by the oil and gas industry as a PR move to shift responsibility onto consumers while they kept pumping out more plastic. It wasn’t about solving the problem, it was about buying time (that as we all know, is running out).

Breaking Free from our Grip ⛓️ 

Plastic feels inescapable, but it’s not inevitable. If enough of us demand change, at the ballot box, via civic action, at the checkout counter, and in everyday conversations, the world doesn’t have to stay this shrink-wrapped in plastic.

• Demand legislative action. Advocate for bills that stop plastic proliferation such as extended producer responsibility bills, microplastic and PFAS regulation, and stricter materials standards across our economy.

• Spread the word. The most powerful thing you can do is puncture the recycling myth in your circles.

• Ditch disposables where you can. Reusables aren’t the whole answer, but swapping out water bottles, coffee cups, and shopping bags still sends a signal.

• Back community solutions. From local refill stations to plastic-free grocery co-ops, grassroots efforts need momentum and visibility.

The Shift to Bioplastics 🧪 

Most of us already know plastic is an environmental catastrophe, but society’s demand for it is only getting higher. To help fill that demand with solutions that are biodegradable and aren’t so carbon intensive, there are tons of great developments happening in the bioplastic alternatives.

Just last week, Trellis published a piece on big retailers like Target and Adidas exploring bioplastics for their shoe production. Here at Pique, we’ve covered solutions from using microorganisms to create biodegradable alternatives, creating plastic alternatives from food waste and beyond.

Looking for a few more ultra-cool plastic solutions? Check out this playlist of our NextNow series on harnessing the power of biology to mitigate plastic pollution!

👀 Some Stories You Might Have Missed This Week 🗞️📺:

1. The New York Times put out an interactive map to plan an EV roadtrip across the U.S.! (New York Times)

2. A federal judge allowed work to restart on a New England offshore wind farm that Trump had previously halted (Politico)

3. Wall Street is turning climate finance into an energy security pitch (WSJ)