Plastic - Can we live without it?

Plastic, we use it everyday and most of us don't even think about it. By typing on my computer I'm using plastic right now and had never really even given that a bit of thought. Plastic waste has become a huge problem in our society. The EPA's 2006 report on Plastic Waste Statistics included the following information:

• The total amount of plastic in the municipal solid waste stream in 2006 was almost 30 million tons (a.k.a. nearly 60 billion pounds).
  

• In 2006, the United States generated 14 million tons of plastic through containers and packaging.

• The amount of plastic consumed as a percentage of total waste has increased from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 11.7 percent in 2006.

As noted by Alan Weisman, in his book "The World Without Us", "this is a problem because plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic has been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years." In some cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants. There has been research done on biodegradable plastics but many of these plastics need to be in direct sunlight to decompose and this will not work in the average landfill, thereby keeping the plastic from degrading completely.

In surfing the web I found a couple of great "green" blogs that focus on how to try to live as plastic free a life as possible. I'm going to start trying to follow their advice and see how much plastic I can quit using on a daily basis. These two sites are full of great hints, ideas and daily thoughts on their plastic free journeys. While I may not be able to bring myself to be as devoted to this subject as they are I know I've learned valuable information by reading their sites and have learned easy day to day things I can do to use less plastic. For more information on their quests to go plastic free, visit Life Less Plastic and Fake Plastic Fish.