Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this: change the world. Here at Imagine, we believe that young bright minds are our biggest hope for making the world a better place. Each installment of our Big Problems department presents a problem in the world for which there is currently no solution. We challenge you, our readers, to propose one. Think, meditate, deliberate, mull it over. Consider this problem from all angles. Then send us your solutions. Remember that it doesn’t matter how big or how small your solution is; even the smallest step can set positive change in motion. We’ll publish the most innovative solutions in the next issue. Submit your comments below.
As a society, we’ve grown accustomed to using disposable products for many reasons: they’re cheap, sturdy, convenient, and ubiquitous. But it’s for these same reasons that our dependence on disposables is becoming a problem for our planet. All trash goes somewhere. According to the EPA, “In 2006, the United States generated about 14 million tons of plastics in the municipal solid waste stream as containers and packaging, over six million tons of nondurable goods, and almost nine million tons of durable goods.” Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste. The World Watch Institute reports that factories around the world produce four to five trillion plastic bags a year. An estimated 300 billion plastic bags are disposed of each year in landfill sites throughout the U.S. alone. Americans dump 68,000 plastic bags into landfills every minute. Once that trash is there, it doesn’t always go away easily. Natural products like paper and food scraps decompose within a matter of days or weeks because microorganisms eat away at them. But man-made polymers don’t degrade as quickly because microorganisms don’t recognize them as food. Plastic bags and disposable diapers may take up to 1,000 years to degrade. The Price of Plastic While plastic products are fairly cheap to produce, it’s important to consider the cost of their production to our natural resources. Making plastic requires petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. “Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feed stocks, and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby each year,” says the Real Diaper Association. Fourteen grocery bags embody enough petroleum energy to drive a car one mile. And not only does the production of disposables perpetuate our dependence on oil, but the manufacturing processes put harmful greenhouse gases and other pollutants in our air. If you’ve drunk from a Styrofoam cup lately, you should know that the compound Styrene can migrate into the food and drink in that cup, and then eventually into you. Same goes for phthalates, a class of compounds used to make vinyl softer and more pliable, that often appear in plastic toys, solvents, cosmetics, personal care products, and insecticides. The World Health Organization recognizes both Styerene and phthalates as possible carcinogens, and long-term exposure to them has been found to be disruptive to hormone functions in both humans and animals. The Growing Garbage Patch Improper disposal of disposables means we’re not the only ones at risk. The North Pacific Gyre, a clockwise swirl of currents, keeps part of the Pacific Ocean stationary. The rotation of the waves draws in debris and keeps it there. The result is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or the Trash Vortex, a floating island of non-biodegradable waste that is larger than the state of Texas. Turtles, dolphins, killer whales, and birds choke or starve by mistaking the bottle caps, plastic bags, and other trash for food. Reusable shopping bags, cloth and flushable diapers, and paper cups are all steps toward weaning us off disposables. Better recycling efforts mean that some garbage can be taken out of the waste stream. By banning plastic shopping bags and bottled water, San Francisco is leading the way for cities wanting to do something about the problem. But is there a way to keep the convenience and durability that disposable products provide without throwing our world away along with them? Sources: World Watch Institute, Friendly Bags, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, Real Diaper Association, Green Peace, and Children’s Health Environmental Coalition. Join in the conversation. | 
