• The most common plastic disposal methods include dumping and burning.
• Dumping clogs up streams, harms fish and other wildlife, and leaches toxic material into water and soil.
• Burning releases known carcinogens and other poisonous chemicals into the air.
• Repurposing old plastic reduces the incentive to produce new plastic. Recycling 1kg of plastic saves 2.5kg of CO2 emissions.
• CAUSE Canada will promote plastic recycling microenterprises among women entrepreneurs, and will integrate plastic bottle construction into our building plans.
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It is a mistake to view plastic strictly in negative terms. Plastics are essential in improving fuel efficiency in planes and motor vehicles, developing green architecture and renewable energy, replacing more rare or environmentally destructive materials in consumer products, and providing sanitary medical services. The problem is not that plastic is a bad product, but that plastic is too good a product to use frivolously and then throw away or destroy.

Globally, more than 300 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year. About 40% of this is designated to single-use consumer items and packaging and will be discarded within one year of its production. Despite falling apart between the store and the bus, most plastics persist for centuries in landfills, as litter, or perhaps even as pieces of the Texas-sized plastic island wandering the Pacific Ocean. With all that new plastic coming into the consumption stream and all that old plastic sticking around indefinitely, what we have is a massive build-up of manufactured waste. Except when we burn it.

Without a regulated incinerator, burning garbage is illegal in Canada, principally because plastic makes up 25% of landfill contents by volume. Burning plastic sends into the air: dioxins and furans (carcinogens and hormone disruptors that bio-accumulate in fat and are passed on from mother to child); volatile organic compounds (respiratory, allergic or immune effects, including cancer); particulate matter (smog); hydrogen chloride (corrosive to skin, eyes, and respiratory system); carbon monoxide (brain swelling); and sulfur and nitrogen oxides (respiratory ailments). In addition, the process liberates toxic metals, including antimony, arsenic, barium, lead, mercury, and phosphorous, that can bio-accumulate in the food chain and lead to a wide range of human and environmental health problems. Of particular concern are the contents of “fly ash,” the light particles that are carried into the air by combustion. Fly ash can travel thousands of kilometers, dropping onto plants and water bodies that are later consumed by people and animals.

The other easy options for disposing of plastics are landfilling or littering, both of which are popular choices around the world. The most visible problem, of course, is that plastic doesn’t breakdown easily or quickly. It accumulates wherever leaves accumulate, but it doesn’t biodegrade with water and sunlight. So it continues to accumulate, creating ugly urban landmarks, clogging streams and sewers, trapping or chocking wildlife, and gradually leaching those toxic materials listed above into soil and water.

As imported goods make rapid market incursions in low-income countries, plastic makes up an increasing proportion of waste. In CAUSE Canada’s partner communities, household waste is frequently burned in barrels, while massive garbage dumps grow around markets and in streams, ravines, and floodplains. In Todos Santos, Guatemala, for example, a large garbage dump slides down the slope of a ravine into a river that serves tens of thousands of people downstream.

The good news is that because plastic is so resilient there are countless uses for it that can reduce burning and dumping while replacing new materials and generating local income. Shredders can break plastic down into smaller pieces that can be molded or clustered at relatively low heat and made into anything from fencing, roofing tiles and carpets, to utility pipes, parking blocks and housing insulation. Low-grade plastic bags can be melted together with the heat and pressure of an everyday iron and turned into a high-density durable fabric that can be sewn into bags, clothing, waterproofing sheets, and a million other things. And plastic bottles can be repurposed into long-lasting and lightweight bricks for construction projects, replacing as much as 95% of the cement in a building.

CAUSE Canada plans to turn plastic collection into a micro-industry through safe plastic re-use and recycling workshops and microfinance loans through our ongoing Women’s Integral Empowerment Program (WIEP), and will be integrating plastic bottles into our construction plans.

A kilogram of new plastic emits approximately 6kg of CO2 to produce, while an equivalent volume of recycled plastic emits about 3.5kg. Every kilogram of recycled plastic that replaces a kilogram of new plastic saves 2.5kg of CO2. In addition, without plastic contaminating organic waste, landfill gas (LFG) utilization projects can be developed that reduce methane emissions and produce electricity. As with LFG projects, our partner communities in West Africa and Central America have the capacity and materials for plastic recycling programs, but require new infrastructure and organization. This is where CAUSE Canada’s carbon offsets come in. By offsetting your carbon emissions, you can help develop plastic recycling programs that reduce emissions of GHGs and toxic gases in Sierra Leone, Guatemala, and Honduras.

For an informative and entertaining look into our expansive use of plastic, watch Ian Connacher’s documentary film “Addicted to Plastic."