Colorado Plastics Blog

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, Book Review

  

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As a plastic distributor, I like to read books about the history of plastics.  As a Colorado resident, and husband to a professional conservationist, I enjoy learning more about environmental issues.  I got a chance to do both when I when I recently read the new book, Plastic; A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel.

The author decided to spend a day without touching anything plastic.  But she didn't make it too far.  About 10 seconds, she estimates...since both the light switch and the toilet seat in the bathroom were made of plastic.  So she changed the experiment into a list-making exercise and that day she wrote down 196 different plastic items that she touched.  Of course, many of these items were non-durable items like plastic packaging.  The next day she continued list-making with a similar tally of everything she touched that wasn't at least partially made of plastic.  The non-plastic list only made it to 102 items.

This led to some reflection and a list of questions, which she attempts to answer in the book. Those questions include:

• What is plastic?
• Where does plastic come from?
• How did we get so many plastic items in our lives without really trying?
• What happens to plastics after we put them into a recycling bin?
• Does plastic actually get recycled after it's picked up curbside?
• How much of the plastic that the typical American discards is ending up in the ocean?
• Should we stop using plastic shopping bags?
• Is there a future for plastic in a sustainable world?

To explore the answers to these questions, the book is organized into separate chapters about eight common, everyday, relatively non-durable objects that are commonly made from plastic, including the comb, the stackable cafe chair, the Frisbee, the intravenous solution bag, the disposable lighter, the grocery bag, the soda pop bottle and the credit card.

Two of my favorite factoids in the book were:

1. In the 19th century plastics were actively promoted as a way to replace ivory from elephant tusks for use in billard balls and to replace hair comb materials that were coming from hawksbill turtle shells.
2. The rapid growth of plastics after World War II had a lot to do with their utility as a way to use the ever-increasing stream of petroleum refining by-products.

Overall it thought that the Pro's of this book were:

• It's a good historical overview of plastic
• The author acknowledges the paradoxes of the plastic industry
• There is a good chapter explaining what the recycling numbers on plastic products indicate and where they came from
• And there's an excellent notes section at the back of the book