The Social Injustice of Plastic

When we are asked to think of plastic pollution, often our minds turn to beaches overrun by misplaced household objects while we cast our minds back to the images put out by media outlets which horrifically show entangled seabirds, beached dolphins and struggling turtles. Very few of our minds conjure images of suffering humans. Why surely, we are the ones that created this mess? We are the offenders not the victims? Yet our dumped belongings often assemble themselves in certain communities who must then bear the brunt of our plastic nuisance in much the same way our ocean animals do. If saving wildlife, the marine environment or part of our food source isn’t enough to convince you or someone you know to take action against plastic, then maybe the unequal, devastating social consequences of consumption will be the trigger.

Environmental justice is a movement which grew out of America’s Deep South in the 1980s. After decades evolving the civil rights movement to include equal rights to education, employment, public facilities and a clean environment, the environmental movement, which had sprouted at a similar time in response to a string of ecological catastrophes, decided it would be beneficial to join forces, thereon creating the environmental justice movement. The basis of its concerns were that communities comprising mainly those of colour, certain national origin and low economic status were much more likely to be exposed to negative environmental conditions such as the dumping of hazardous waste. The first protest march was in Warren County where chemical laden soil was dumped against locals’ wishes and today, chemical laden plastic has taken its place. Therefore, these unwilling populations are expected to carry the majority of the consequences of pollution for which they are not responsible in the first place. The movement fights for environmental burdens and benefits to be equally shared amongst society.

‘Cancer alley’ is the modern nickname for St James in Louisiana as polluting, dangerous and hazardous activities are being pushed into poorer communities in the South with health traded for profit as industry follows the path of less resistance; or at least, where people have the least ability to resist. In America, zoning is used to determine whether patches of land are residential, commercial or industrial, however in the case of St James, officials decided to repurpose residential land to industrial land, allowing 15 petrochemical centres to be set up amongst the local people. These businesses transform fossil fuels, such as oil, into our heavily desired plastic but not without releasing air pollutants like carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide; even cancer-causing carcinogens are released in smoky tendrils.

Yet as many of us know, the onslaught of problems associated with plastic often comes after its use as plastic flows into certain countries and landscapes as freely as it does the ocean. Many of the richer nations around our globe export our uncontrollable heaps of rubbish to poorer countries which happily accept this load in return for cash and cheap, reusable materials. In fact, Bangladesh fiercely relies on the shipbreaking industry to gain valuable steel for urban expansion despite the toxic oil and fuel leaks that come with it. Yet in 2018, China famously put an end to this charade by halting its intake of foreign waste, resulting in the 45% of global plastic waste which was previously sent to the growing nation being redirected. In swift succession, Vietnam and Thailand have also put caps on the amount of plastic we can dump on their land as richer nations hurriedly find more and more desperate countries who can live amongst our rubbish instead of us. After developing countries have taken every last useful scrap of material, they often lack the facilities to properly dispose of the overflowing mounds of plastic bags, cups and bottles, leaving plastic to wilt in the sun into microplastics while toxic chemicals leak into agricultural soil and drinking water. Even when management is attempted, it is often in the form of burning, releasing toxic gases which then cloak villages, causing higher rates of heart disease, emphysema, asthma and nausea. Here lies the environmental justice issue as our comfy consumption of a seemingly harmless takeaway coffee may lead to a struggling rural community suffering contaminated food, loss of both fish and livestock as plastic is mistakenly ingested and avoidable illness. As our waste heap grows and we run out of precious land, certain communities closer to home may be forced to bear the burden as this injustice occurs not only on a global scale but a national and even regional one too.

All this sounds terribly depressing. What can we, mere individuals, do about such a huge issue when we can’t control where our binbags wind up? E-waste, our outdated electricals and electronics, is increasing year on year and now summing 70% of total toxic waste. Powerful fossil fuel companies are desperately trying to keep single-use plastic as society’s status quo as they profit too greatly from plastic’s endeavours. 32% of the 78 million tonnes of plastic produced each year is leaking into our environment. What can we really do?

For a start, recycling cannot keep up with the amount of waste we produce. While a lot of our materials can now technically be recycled, our limited capacity to do so means only the most profitable items are rematerialized into something new, the rest lying abandoned in landfills or burned. With plastic urged by many to be labelled as hazardous waste due to its never-ending list of problems, this seems a more urgent justice issue than ever as three-quarters of U.S. hazardous landfills are already located in predominantly African American communities. If recycling is not the answer, then cutting down on our waste is. By choosing biodegradable or reusable products, or simply eliminating certain unnecessary objects altogether, you can make a statement as a consumer about the type of world you want to live in whilst reducing the unfair burden placed on many. You can see our three-part guide to shopping sustainably for ideas on how to achieve this, taking one step closer to becoming both an eco and social champion.

While we fill our homes with Tupperware and bamboo alternatives, the laws are changing, although often this is coming from community driven outrage. Viewing plastic pollution as a breach of human rights may sound a little extreme but the notion of environmental rights has been discussed by United Nations members since the early 1970s. In short, missing out the confusing details, thick documents and curly barrister wigs, we all have the right to a quality environment which allows a life of dignity and wellbeing while many countries’ law states explicitly that we all have a right to life, something the unfair dumping of plastic and its consequences may threaten or shorten. Therefore, the use of human rights in court to fight against excessive environmental pollution such as air quality and plastic is slowly but surely increasing and could form a new way to radically shift the way we see this issue. We can no longer see it as simply an ocean issue when it impacts almost every aspect of our life, from the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we grow food on. Every case that enters the court sets an example for the future, with judges able to look at the growing surge of environmental uproar and make more informed decisions as this demand for our rights moves from obscure to everyday. Let’s hope that by shining the spotlight on unjust, polluting actions, we make businesses and governments sit up in uneasy shock whilst poorly treated individuals are given the chance to achieve justice.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood