Blog Dis
The Curse of Plastic
2025-05-27
Two Thursdays past, I enjoyed a pub burger with a long-time friend and former colleague. We've known each other for 28+ years and anyone who's enjoyed a friendship for any length of time will tell you that one of the obvious benefits is being able to be yourself, to let it all hang out, so to speak — all the good, and all the bad too.
So, while we walked along the main Elgin Street on our way back to our respective places, I took the liberty of inviting myself up to her condo to take a look at the new swanky flooring in her bedroom — gorgeous vinyl flooring that looks like wood, but isn't, and which is more durable than wood. This new vinyl flooring had transformed the look of her bedroom, which has now inspired her to want to paint the bedroom, to include her entire condo. Amazing how one new installation, be it flooring or paint can make a place look brighter, fresh and ramp up the enjoyment factor.
I didn't stay long, leaving for home and as I typically do when I reflect on my dialogue with friends, and then shot off a text to my friend to make light of the fact that I had invited myself up to her condo, like some pushy broad. 😆 Lately, you see I've been somewhat depressed following an episode of The Nature of Things that featured how the use of plastics in the world has transformed regular every day to one of convenience. But this convenience comes with the highest of prices. We've unwittingly altered the health of our bodies, our fertility rates, our oceans and entire atmosphere — micro-plastics and Nano-plastics are in virtually everything. The host of this episode is the daughter of David Suzuki, who was the long time host of The Nature of Things. She took over the role from her father, who appears on a segment every now and then. As part of this episode, to prove the invasive nature of plastics, she submitted samples to multiple scientists, to test for the presence of plastics. They found micro and Nano plastics in her stool, blood, saliva, hair and it was acknowledge that the presence of plastics in her vital organs could only be determined after her death, or if these organs are removed.
North American societies banned the use of plastic bags at grocery stores over a decade ago. I keep an organic pail at home, into which I'll toss coffee grounds, egg shells, anything that is biodegradable, and I'll only use paper bags or reusable cloth bags for buying groceries. But this isn't enough. As featured on the show, petrochemical companies knowing that oil and gas have been declining for decades are ramping up manufacturing to create more plastic, like single-use plastic bottles, toys, food containers, and pretty much anything that can be made from plastics, such as vinyl flooring, which is made from a type of plastic called polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
If you research the invention of vinyl it might shock you to know that it was invented by a German chemist in 1872 though not widely used until the 20th century.
Nano-plastics have been discovered in droplets of rainfall, in our atmosphere (thanks to the dastardly petrochemical companies and their manufacturing smoke stacks spewing thousands of pollutants into our atmosphere). Nano-plastics are present in snow flakes, and in the placenta that once present will alter the formation of DNA before the embryo has had a chance to fully develop. I am gravely saddened by this information, which explains why I was so depressed after watching the show, more so because there are applications where plastics help humans, such as in hip and knee replacement surgery, and in the case of my friend purchasing flooring, rather than tear down trees to make hardwood planks to build more houses.
We are getting worse when it comes to the usage of our renewable resources like forests, and worse as our dependence on plastics grows. So, when it comes to the micro variety of plastics, under five millimeters in size, and Nano-plastics, smaller than one micro-meter (found in bottles of water), I can only continue to follow my non-usage of plastics where I can, and to encourage others to inform themselves on their usage. As I had recently talked with another long-time friend, at one point we used to build cars without plastic. This era ended in the late 70s, when plastics started to appear in the build-out of cars. Now, new cars contain approximately 50% build-out in plastics.
Worse, is the knowledge that t's estimated that there are 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic waste in the ocean. I'm choking! I'm horrified. By the time I finished this episode of The Nature of Things, a scientist in Italy had proven that plastics have breached the blood brain barrier, and a piece of Nano-plastic was found inside the brain of a woman as the cause of her tumor.
One day, governments will decree the use of plastic to be illegal, and they'll levy fines against all those who disobey by buying and then throwing out single-use plastic bottles. I'm not one to support stringent laws and slamming the cuffs on disobedience but when it comes to plastics, we're like plastered sailors who've been docked in port for less than 24 hours and have already spent like drunken idiots.
It might interest you to know that all hope is not lost. Norway recycles close to 97% of all its plastic, and they did so by implementing a deposit-return scheme to incentivize people to recycle. How cool is this?
So, while we walked along the main Elgin Street on our way back to our respective places, I took the liberty of inviting myself up to her condo to take a look at the new swanky flooring in her bedroom — gorgeous vinyl flooring that looks like wood, but isn't, and which is more durable than wood. This new vinyl flooring had transformed the look of her bedroom, which has now inspired her to want to paint the bedroom, to include her entire condo. Amazing how one new installation, be it flooring or paint can make a place look brighter, fresh and ramp up the enjoyment factor.
I didn't stay long, leaving for home and as I typically do when I reflect on my dialogue with friends, and then shot off a text to my friend to make light of the fact that I had invited myself up to her condo, like some pushy broad. 😆 Lately, you see I've been somewhat depressed following an episode of The Nature of Things that featured how the use of plastics in the world has transformed regular every day to one of convenience. But this convenience comes with the highest of prices. We've unwittingly altered the health of our bodies, our fertility rates, our oceans and entire atmosphere — micro-plastics and Nano-plastics are in virtually everything. The host of this episode is the daughter of David Suzuki, who was the long time host of The Nature of Things. She took over the role from her father, who appears on a segment every now and then. As part of this episode, to prove the invasive nature of plastics, she submitted samples to multiple scientists, to test for the presence of plastics. They found micro and Nano plastics in her stool, blood, saliva, hair and it was acknowledge that the presence of plastics in her vital organs could only be determined after her death, or if these organs are removed.
North American societies banned the use of plastic bags at grocery stores over a decade ago. I keep an organic pail at home, into which I'll toss coffee grounds, egg shells, anything that is biodegradable, and I'll only use paper bags or reusable cloth bags for buying groceries. But this isn't enough. As featured on the show, petrochemical companies knowing that oil and gas have been declining for decades are ramping up manufacturing to create more plastic, like single-use plastic bottles, toys, food containers, and pretty much anything that can be made from plastics, such as vinyl flooring, which is made from a type of plastic called polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
If you research the invention of vinyl it might shock you to know that it was invented by a German chemist in 1872 though not widely used until the 20th century.
Nano-plastics have been discovered in droplets of rainfall, in our atmosphere (thanks to the dastardly petrochemical companies and their manufacturing smoke stacks spewing thousands of pollutants into our atmosphere). Nano-plastics are present in snow flakes, and in the placenta that once present will alter the formation of DNA before the embryo has had a chance to fully develop. I am gravely saddened by this information, which explains why I was so depressed after watching the show, more so because there are applications where plastics help humans, such as in hip and knee replacement surgery, and in the case of my friend purchasing flooring, rather than tear down trees to make hardwood planks to build more houses.
We are getting worse when it comes to the usage of our renewable resources like forests, and worse as our dependence on plastics grows. So, when it comes to the micro variety of plastics, under five millimeters in size, and Nano-plastics, smaller than one micro-meter (found in bottles of water), I can only continue to follow my non-usage of plastics where I can, and to encourage others to inform themselves on their usage. As I had recently talked with another long-time friend, at one point we used to build cars without plastic. This era ended in the late 70s, when plastics started to appear in the build-out of cars. Now, new cars contain approximately 50% build-out in plastics.
Worse, is the knowledge that t's estimated that there are 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic waste in the ocean. I'm choking! I'm horrified. By the time I finished this episode of The Nature of Things, a scientist in Italy had proven that plastics have breached the blood brain barrier, and a piece of Nano-plastic was found inside the brain of a woman as the cause of her tumor.
One day, governments will decree the use of plastic to be illegal, and they'll levy fines against all those who disobey by buying and then throwing out single-use plastic bottles. I'm not one to support stringent laws and slamming the cuffs on disobedience but when it comes to plastics, we're like plastered sailors who've been docked in port for less than 24 hours and have already spent like drunken idiots.
It might interest you to know that all hope is not lost. Norway recycles close to 97% of all its plastic, and they did so by implementing a deposit-return scheme to incentivize people to recycle. How cool is this?
