We need real solutions to plastic pollution: Q&A with Jen Fela

Abstract

Jen Fela, vice president of Programs & Communications at Plastic Pollution Coalition, has worked to address the plastics crisis for many years, including as a journalist and as the Global Engagement Lead for the Greenpeace global plastics campaign. We recently spoke with her about the complexities of the plastics crisis and what it will take to transition industry and society away from unsustainable plastic use. The views of Ms. Fela are hers only and do not necessarily reflect those of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. Jen Fela, vice president of Programs & Communications at Plastic Pollution Coalition, has worked to address the plastics crisis for many years, including as a journalist and as the Global Engagement Lead for the Greenpeace global plastics campaign. We recently spoke with her about the complexities of the plastics crisis and what it will take to transition industry and society away from unsustainable plastic use. The views of Ms. Fela are hers only and do not necessarily reflect those of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. I was just a child when I realized something was wrong with single-use plastic. I started a petition in my elementary school to ban styrofoam trays from the cafeteria; it felt intuitively wrong to me to use something that would last forever for just a few minutes to hold my lunch. Fast forward a couple decades and I heard more and more about plastic in the oceans. I wrote about that topic and a few others as a journalist, yet increasingly my attention focused on plastic. I remember key people who were my go-tos for interviews: Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres, Dianna Cohen of Plastic Pollution Coalition, and Maria Westerbos of Plastic Soup Foundation—all of whom were inspired by Captain Charles Moore of Algalita, known for bringing attention to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Learning from them reignited my passion for the issue, and soon I couldn’t write about plastic pollution in an unbiased way anymore, so I shifted into advocacy work. It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come in our understanding of plastic pollution. I began working on this topic because I was an ocean lover and cared about polluted beaches as well as seagulls, sea turtles, and whales with bellies full of plastic. And now I know that plastic pollutes at every stage of its existence, including its production and use. Fracking is underway in the community where I grew up in rural Pennsylvania to produce plastic’s raw fossil fuel ingredients; I see single-use plastics pushed intensely on the population there (particularly the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes), and a petrochemical refinery is planned to be built just a few miles from my family home. So, it has all come full circle and I see the numerous ways that plastic is harming my own family and community. I still care about the oceans and marine life, but I now know this work is about protecting people, too. It’s important to remember that not so long ago, humans lived without plastic. So, although the plastic pollution crisis seems dire now, it’s still possible to course correct. However, we are currently in a tough spot. Without sweeping changes and serious action, plastic production is on track to increase exponentially in the coming decade. More than 10 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced globally to date, and plastic production has increased by more than 18,300 percent in the last 65 years alone. More than 400 million metric tons of new plastic are produced globally each year, and that number is increasing year after year. Without urgent action to end plastic pollution by addressing its production, use, and fate, it’s projected that industries will produce more than 1.2 billion metric tons of plastic in the year 2060. This is completely unsustainable and a real threat to all living things on this planet. Plastics pollute throughout their entire existence, from extraction of their fossil fuel ingredients to their ultimate disposal in landfills, incinerators, and the environment. They don’t go away, because there is no “away”—instead they release toxic particles and chemicals into the environment and our bodies. Scientists have found plastic in people’s blood, veins, lungs, placentas, feces, testes/semen, and breast milk, with more research sure to come. The petrochemical and fossil fuel industries have formed numerous trade industry associations as well as green-sounding nonprofits that work to lobby against legislation that would require accountability and transparency, as well as a serious reduction in plastics production. They advocate for false solutions such as “advanced recycling” and “plastic credits,” which delay and distract from real solutions. They also have engaged in communications campaigns that wrongly put the onus of plastic pollution on the public—even though it’s these industries that have created and continue to fuel the plastic pollution crisis. To help expose the extent of the damage done, in 2022, California’s Department of Justice launched a historic investigation into the role of fossil fuel and petrochemical industries in a “decades-long campaign of deception” about the harmful impacts of plastic pollution, and how this has fueled and exacerbated the global plastic pollution crisis. Instead of reducing production of plastic, a material that was not designed to truly be recycled, industries have long spread messages calling for better consumer “recycling” habits, less “littering,” and cleanups to solve the problem. As vehicle emissions standards improve and the energy sector shifts to becoming more efficient, the fossil fuel industry is turning to plastics to stay profitable. The industry is building up its toxic plastic-making infrastructure, particularly of ethane cracker plants that turn fracked gas into plastics. The industries are also focused on overselling the environmental benefits of using plastics in a warming world, claiming the reduced weight of products that would hypothetically require less fuel to transport. However, the reality is that plastics are major emitters of greenhouse gases from extraction to transportation, use, and disposal. If plastic production and use are to grow as predicted, emissions of climate-warming gases could reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030, which is equivalent to the emissions released by more than 295 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants. By 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could surpass 56 gigatons: 10–13 percent of the entire remaining carbon budget. Ultimately, moving away from plastics is essential for companies that have committed to divest from fossil fuels and lower their carbon footprint. The cost of convenience is incredibly high; it just depends on whose perspective you are considering. For example, for communities in the Global South who are on the receiving end of massive amounts of plastic pollution from the Global North, single-use plastics are incredibly problematic and expensive. One of the most powerful tools we have now to hold corporations accountable for the plastic pollution they create is Break Free From Plastic brand audits. A brand audit is simply noting the brands who created the pieces of plastic you find in a cleanup. People have good intentions when they do cleanups—but we wouldn’t have to do cleanups in a system that worked. Brand audits provide a wealth of data on which corporations have produced the plastics found in our environment. Not surprisingly, the same handful of multinational companies—The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestle, and Unilever— have been named as the biggest plastic polluter for 5 years and counting. These fast-moving consumer goods companies need to feel consumer pressure to change how they deliver their products. They need to work together with retailers to create new reuse/refill systems; one of my favorite video projects from my time at Greenpeace shows how this “Reuse Revolution” could happen. New research guided by members of the Break Free From Plastic movement describes how global systems must shift to accommodate and implement reuse, and how such reuse systems will best enable us to eliminate single-use plastics. And for companies that want to do better with their packaging, the UP Scorecard (a collaborative project with Plastic Pollution Coalition, Food Packaging Forum, and many others) is a great tool to help them do that. When plastics were first mass produced, they were heavily marketed for convenience: simply use and throw “away.” But there is no “away,” and when plastic pollution first began piling up across the planet, people began to notice and call for change. Industries and governments reacted by identifying plastics recycling as a way to reduce waste. But plastic is a low-value material that cannot be easily melted down for reuse without losing its useful qualities and requires the need for additional inputs of water, energy, chemicals, and yet more plastic. It’s extremely expensive, time-consuming, and a logistical nightmare, requiring separation of all the various types of plastics and plastic products made from multiple types of plastics in their components. People generally want to do what’s “right” for the environment and their health, and they’ve been told that’s recycling. And yet this is far from the truth: plastic recycling is essentially just another form of industry greenwashing, as historically less than 10% of all plastic ever made has been mechanically recycled. Plastic recycling facilities generate huge quantities of tiny plastic particles that pollute the planet and our bodies. There are systems in place such as municipal recycling bins, and home recycling collection, that make plastics recycling seem accessible and easy—though in reality your plastic recycling is more likely to be landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas to be dumped than be reprocessed for continued use. What’s more, recycled plastics are notoriously contaminated, as plastics’ toxic chemical ingredients seem to magnify with each round of recycling. What we need are systems that enable us to engage in real solutions—that is, the plastic-free principles of reuse, refill, share, repair, and refuse single-use. Plastic may seem like it is impossible to avoid, as the material has been used by virtually every industry to make cheaper, more disposable products available faster and more widely available than ever before. From clothing and accessories to food packaging, beverage containers, and construction supplies, plastic is everywhere. And yet, until about a century ago, plastic did not exist. We need to shift our culture, and we can do this by changing what we value and taking action to show that we care more about people and nature than about accumulating (mostly plastic) stuff. At Plastic Pollution Coalition, we launched our Flip the Script on Plastics initiative to help the entertainment industry model real solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, both on set and in storylines. We know that life imitates art, and by showing package-free and reusable and refillable systems in popular television shows and movies, we influence culture and change the perception of toxic throwaway plastic as being normal—because it’s not. We encourage members of the entertainment industry to commit to modeling solutions to plastic pollution by taking our pledge. Flip the Script on Plastics is just the latest initiative in Plastic Pollution Coalition’s ongoing work to change culture around single-use plastics, including at concert venues and festivals, conferences, and events, in schools and offices, and more. Enactment and enforcement of strong policies is a key part of solutions to end plastic pollution. Key legislative and regulatory solutions need to address the plastic pollution crisis at the source with reduction of plastic production and use, a focus on environmental justice, actions that hold corporations accountable for pollution, and support and incentives for increasing equitable access to the reuse, refill, repair, and share systems needed to eliminate wasteful single-use plastic. Right now, we are advocating for world leaders and civil society to create a strong and ambitious Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution. It’s critical that governing bodies—international, national, regional, municipal, and tribal—agree to work together to regulate and hold accountable the plastic and fossil fuels industries by requiring significant cuts in production of petrochemicals and plastics, and enforcement of stricter pollution standards that protect people and the environment. Additionally, as we turn off the tap on plastics, stakeholders must incentivize and support real solutions: we need plastic-free reuse, refill, repair, and share systems to be implemented in all communities to prevent pollution of all kinds. We need the voices of those harmed by plastic pollution, especially those people who live in underserved low-income, rural, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities on the frontlines of the crisis, to be heard and helped in this transition. The United Nations recently held the second of five meetings to negotiate the treaty, which will be finalized over the next two years. With the Global Plastics Treaty, as with all other legislation designed to end plastic pollution, the plastics industry is lobbying strongly against serious regulatory action being taken to enable continued plastics production (and ensure their continued generation of profits). Simply put, our planet and people cannot afford more plastic pollution. We must act now to ensure the treaty is focused on stopping plastic pollution at the source by turning off the tap. The author declares no competing interests.