Looking into the life cycle of plastic
Sustainable Living

Looking into the Life Cycle of Plastic

Plastic Free July is all about minimizing the plastic in our lives, but why is plastic so bad? A part of the problem is that plastic does not break down. Plastic is not biodegradable, so it takes hundreds of years for plastic to go anywhere. There is an entire life cycle of plastic before it gets to the garbage bin, though, so I want to take a look at this and see how else plastic hurts our planet.

plastic bottles set for recycling in the last stage of the life cycle of plastic

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations. We’re happy to contribute the lead post for the conversation this month. Learn more about the Climate Change Collective below.

Plastic Problems

Once plastic becomes a product, it is essentially a permanent fixture on our planet. While its form may change, the actual amount of plastic remains. The reason for this is that, if plastic does break down, it is simply breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. Eventually plastic degrades into microplastics.

Microplastics are pervasive small bits of plastic that pollute our waterways, become enmeshed within food that we eat, and can end up being ingested by us. The end of a piece of plastic’s life cycle isn’t the full story of plastic’s damage to our planet; there is a lot more to the creation, distribution, and use of plastic.

The Life Cycle of Plastic

Krista discussed a number of different types of plastic last week and while some steps in the creation of plastic types may vary, these are some of the general steps.

The main stages of the life cycle of plastic can be summarized as follows:

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 1: Raw Material Extraction

In this stage of creating plastic, raw materials, such as crude oil and natural gas, are extracted from the earth and are transported to refineries. One of the well-known areas in Canada for extraction of raw material is the Oil Sands (also called Tar Sands) area of Alberta. Images of this area are dark and their impact carries the same feeling.

Nature advocates estimate that the industrial development and wildfires in the tar sands region have cleared or degraded nearly two million acres of boreal forest since the turn of the millennium. This puts vital habitat for birds, caribou and other animals at risk. It’s also a climate issue since the boreal forest is a vital carbon sink.

Everything you need to know about the Tar Sands – Greenpeace

As much as the Alberta government tries to greenwash this area and downplay the impact of this industry, the reality has been studied time and time again. From polluting water, air, and wildlife, the impact of extracting raw materials like bitumen is hard to quantify.

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 2: Production

Production involves the refining of the raw materials. Refineries are large contributors to pollution and are known to pollute the air, water, and soil surrounding them. Refining raw materials, such as crude oil, is the process which changes the raw material into usable petroleum products. “All refineries have three basic steps: Separation; Conversion; Treatment.” (US EIA)

Raw materials and refined materials will both need to be transported. The risk of an oil spill big or small is a real threat to our environment. We generally only hear of larger oil spills in the news, but these things happen every day. Simply take a look at this oil spill tracker that tracks spills in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

In 2023, there were 2,623 drilling-related liquid spills in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico combined. Over 6.5 million gallons of liquid spilled in the three states.

2023 Spills Tracker – Center for Western Priorities

In the refining process related to creating plastic, crude oil is turned into fractions including naphtha and polymers (British Plastics Federation).

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 3: Manufacturing

This is the stage where plastic becomes what we are most familiar with–something we will use. Plastic resins are formed into products with the use of molds and casting. One of the main concerns that stood out to me from this part of the creation of plastic is the use of plastic pellets. Small pieces of plastic like these easily enter our waterways and not only pollute the water, but end up being consumed by fish and wildlife.

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 4: Distribution

The plastic products are then packaged–often within more plastic–and are transported to facilities for distribution and sales. The environmental impact of this stage of the plastic life cycle can come from emissions from transportation methods, the carbon footprint from creating packaging, and the single use waste from the packaging.

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 5: Usage

Next the plastic item is utilized by the consumer or industry it is sold to. This part of the life cycle of plastic would ideally be long, but it is unfortunately short due to the abundance of single use plastics in our world. As stated above and below, plastic is like a permanent fixture on our planet. As much as we want to recycle it, it is hard to recycle into a similar product and if it is tossed into the landfill, it is going to sit there for hundreds of years.

Ideally, we would be using only plastic items that are sturdy and can last for years, but there are so many disposable items that come into our lives. This is why I love finding ways to reuse things before tossing them, like I wrote about in How to Reuse Bread Bag Ties or How to Reuse Take Out Containers.

Life Cycle of Plastic: – Step 6: End of Life

Lastly, the end of a piece of plastic’s life means it ends up in the garbage or recycle bin.

Plastics are very stable and therefore stay in the environment a long time after they are discarded, especially if they are shielded from direct sunlight by being buried in landfills. Decomposition rates are further decreased by anti-oxidants that manufacturers commonly add to enhance a container’s resistance to attack by acidic contents.

Plastic Task Force: Environmental Impacts – Ecology Center

Plastic’s Environmental Impact in Every Stage of the Plastic Life Cycle

While the most evident impact in our daily lives when it comes to plastic may be the sight of it in our recycle bins, the environmental impact of plastic starts well before it gets to there. The goal of going plastic free is not only to eliminate single use plastics from our lives, but also to minimize the overall environmental impact that comes from the entire life cycle of plastic.

Climate Change Collective
Photo Credit: Michelle at Boomer Eco Crusader

The Climate Change Collective

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations.

The Climate Change Collective was born out of an exchange that took place between Michelle and Jamie in the comments section of a Jamie Ad Stories blog post. Jamie and Michelle both care deeply about the impact of human activity on our planet and wanted to find a way to keep the climate change message top of mind for everyone. A tweet was sent out, bloggers responded, and we’ve all now teamed up to create the Climate Change Collective! Learn more about the bloggers behind this group in our post introducing everyone: Get to Know our 5 Fantastic Climate Change Collective Bloggers.

The idea is simple. The members of the collective will take turns writing a monthly blog post sharing their concerns and unique perspective about climate change. After the post is published, the rest of the group will keep the conversation going by sharing a link to the post on their blogs along with their thoughts and ideas. If you’re a like-minded blogger and would like to join our collective, please get in touch. The more the merrier!

Pela phone case image. the compostable phone case.

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