General / December 12, 2024
You’ve seen it before: A sea turtle caught in a wasted fishnet or struggling inside of a plastic bag. It’s the most evocative image in the work to change the way that humans use plastic, but the challenge is far from simple. Plastic packaging has had a growing environmental impact worldwide, from the pollution accumulating in the oceans to the flood of microplastics into the soil and the food chain.
Hope remains in the expansion of sustainable packaging and recycling options. Companies and consumers can stifle plastic’s impact with the help of increasing government regulation. Wondering, “How does plastic packaging affect the environment?” Worried about how plastic bags affect the ocean? You can find the answers right here.
If you think about the plastics that you encounter in your life, you might notice a wide range, including:
The environmental impact of plastic happens throughout its lifecycle, but particularly at the beginning and the end. The United Nations Environment Programme reports that 98 percent of plastic packaging is virgin, meaning that it is coming from fossil fuel and not from recycling. They estimate that, by 2040, plastic production and waste management will take up about 20 percent of the world’s carbon budget. Environmental effects from the oil extraction process turn into mountains of waste that keep growing bigger and take thousands of years to break down. After all, that garbage must go somewhere.
Early on, plastic packaging waste was fairly easy to manage. But it didn’t stay that way. The UNEP notes that plastic waste grew as much in the 2000s as it had in the previous 40 years combined. In the 2020s, plastic packaging production is at its height. Earth.org estimates that the world produces about 400 metric tons of plastic per year, with about 85 percent of it ending up in the landfill. The U.S. produces more than 10 percent of plastics, the largest share in the world.
If you wanted to know how plastic bags affect the ocean, you can see how everyone plays a role. Throwing away a plastic bottle, even hundreds of miles inland, presents environmental toxicity concerns for marine life. The UNEP reports that a significant amount of the world’s plastic pollution in water starts in rivers, eventually leading to the ocean. For example, about three-quarters of the litter floating along the Mississippi River is plastic. By the time the plastic reaches the ocean, it is much more difficult to remove or manage.
Marine life has no option but to engage with the plastic pollution. Plastics accumulating on beaches create vectors for disease, such as stagnant pools of water for mosquitoes to breed. Marine animals can become entangled or even strangled by the plastic. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch provides a famous example. Located in the North Atlantic Ocean, this floating island of garbage demonstrates how plastic packaging accumulation can prevent photosynthesis and even disrupt the food chain.
You might think that plastic pollution never breaks down, but it does crumble in water, and with serious environmental impact. When the plastics disintegrate, they turn into microplastics that pollute water sources, eventually landing in the marine food chain. The UNEP argues that microplastic consumption can lead to a number of negative effects in marine life, such as altered gene expression, brain growth, feeding patterns and reproductive success. The environmental impact ranges from a decreasing food supply to a significant lowering of marine biodiversity due to the failure of reefs and bioturbated sediments.
Although plastic’s effects on marine life are infamous, you should know that plastic waste does damage wherever it accumulates, including on land. Earth.org notes that animals often consume plastic packaging, leading to the deaths of elephants, tigers and other vulnerable species. Plastic consumption can lacerate internal organs or accumulate in the body, leading to organ failure. Rodents and other animals that browse through human garbage to find food can become entangled in the plastic, especially raccoons and bears.
Plastic pollution puts a number of species at risk as a result of consumption, loss of habitat or other forms of environmental toxicity. The Center for Biological Diversity reports that Hawaiian monk seals and Pacific loggerhead sea turtles are just two of the many endangered species at risk from plastic consumption and entrapment. The Audubon Society warns that several species of seabirds are facing endangerment or extinction threats from plastics, such as shearwaters and petrels. These birds nest and breed in limited areas, which are increasingly encroached upon by mounds of growing garbage.
Even if the animals do not eat the plastic pollution, it can contaminate the soil and create other problems for terrestrial wildlife. Microplastics leach into soil and become part of the food chain. Research from 2020 showed that microplastic consumption creates negative health effects for earthworms, snails and nematodes. These species are crucial for maintaining soil quality. Their loss translates into a decrease in plant growth, which other wildlife need for survival.
Microplastics become a regenerating concern, especially once they arrive in humans. Microplastics are present in the soil in which we grow crops, the animals we eat and the water we drink. Once they arrive in the human body, they are there to stay. The UNEP noted that the cycle keeps moving. Microplastics have been found in the placentas of newborn babies. While humans aren’t generally handling choking, lacerations or poor digestive capacity due to plastic consumption, they face a number of negative health effects.
Recent research indicates that microplastics can present health concerns quickly, once entering the human system, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates are already known for their effects on the body. Specifically, research shows that microplastics tend to imitate hormones, disrupting the body’s endocrine system. The most obvious effects happen during fetal development, with long-range effects including:
The fact remains that much of microplastics’ risk to humans is unknown. Some researchers posit that an increase in the risk of stroke, heart attack, colon cancer or ADHD may come from microplastic exposure.
As if the microplastics were not enough, the chemicals that often accompany the plastic packaging materials can do even more damage. Plastics are often treated with chlorine, which can lead to lung problems as it accumulates in the body. Methylmercury acts as a neurotoxin, crossing the blood-brain barrier.
If you wonder why the world continues to create plastic pollution in growing numbers, you can look to the quality of government regulation as the answer. Most of the plastic waste comes from businesses, and according to the Sierra Club, just five companies produce about a quarter of that waste worldwide. Many countries are reticent to place restrictions on corporations to reduce production or require recycling, due to strong political lobbies or difficulties in enforcement.
Countries do implement policies about handling food packaging waste, but they tend to be limited in scope. For example, the Global Plastic Laws Database maintains only one national law for the United States, The Marine Debris Act. This law focuses on removing debris from oceans, waterways and beaches but does not put restrictions on the companies that produce it. China has two, one of which limits the importing of solid waste. The other is more comprehensive, creating new systems to highlight sustainable packaging solutions, recycled plastic, and improved waste management systems.
Recent calls for an international solution led to a landmark treaty by the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2022. This treaty, which 175 countries signed, created a committee to produce legally binding legislation for participating countries. The agreement gave the committee until the end of 2024 to report findings and create outcomes, which countries can review and determine whether they are willing to sign it.
Although eliminating the use of plastics entirely isn’t on the horizon, recent innovations create useful alternatives that replace plastic or reduce the quantity in plastic packaging materials. These industry-leading packaging innovations include:
Many businesses are choosing to make sustainable packages a major part of their social impact. For example, Lush has gradually decreased packaging cosmetics and other products, framing the decision as an aesthetic as well as a sustainable choice.
Given that less than 10 percent of plastic waste comes from recycling, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, biodegradable and compostable packaging options tend to remain the most effective choices. Compostable items must meet U.S. standards for compostability before they can be sold to the public. By comparison, biodegradability sets vague definitions, allowing companies room to claim that certain plastics are biodegradable. In either case, using alternative or reusable packaging materials tends to cost more, highlighting the need for ecoconscious businesses to consider multiple options. Paper bags and increased recycling efforts are better than nothing.
Of course, the consumer plays a role in the demand for companies to produce sustainable packaging. A study from McKinsey & Company revealed that packaging materials don’t even rank in the top three of customer reasons to buy a particular product. Consumers tend to focus on quality, convenience and price, often giving companies little incentive to shift to sustainable snack food packaging or other options. Until these alternatives become important enough to drive purchasing decisions for a majority of the population, businesses may decide to continue to use plastic.
Decreasing the environmental impact of plastic packaging is a group effort, requiring everyone to get involved. Pollution from plastic is a growing problem with a number of effects, ranging from short-term damage to marine life to long-term impacts to human health. By considering alternatives, such as recycling or the use of compostable packaging, companies can reduce their impact and drive innovation forward.