Question

300-400 word memo on the push for a plastic-free society, how businesses are responding to it and commentary on the issue. Typed Please.

Answer 1

It would take more than a packaging-free row to get rid of plastic in the store and soggy recycled drinking straws in the bar. Plastic is not everywhere because it was always better than the natural materials it substituted, but because it was lighter and cheaper–so much cheaper, in fact, that throwing away was easier to justify. Customers found it convenient, and companies were happy to sell them a new plastic bottle for every drink they bought. Likewise, steel allowed new construction frontiers, plastic made possible the inexpensive and ready-to-use consumer culture we took for granted.

How quickly it has evolved is the most amazing thing about the anti-plastic campaign. Traveling back to 2015 is entering a world where almost all the things we know about plastic at the moment are already known, so people are not very mad about it. Plastic was just one of those things as recently as three years ago–such as climate change, endangered species or antibiotic resistance–that everyone accepted was terrible, but that few people considered doing a lot about.

This wasn't because researchers were deficient in commitment. Over nearly three decades, the argument against plastic had been building. Researchers noted in the early 1990s that some 60-80% of the ocean waste was non-biodegradable plastic, and the amount of plastic washing up on beaches and harbors was that. The problem with these rosy predictions was that plastic is one of the worst recycling products. To order to make new products of the same quality as the first, glass, steel and aluminum can be melted and recycled almost indefinitely. Plastic, on the other hand, degrades dramatically each time it is reused.

Alaska Airlines: In 2018, Alaska Airlines will be removing all non-recyclable plastic stir straws or citrus picks and replacing them “with sustainable, marine-friendly alternatives on all domestic and international flights, as well as in Alaska's lounges across the country.” Marine-friendly alternatives will be provided to guests who need them.

Bon Appétit Management Company: On May 31, 2018, Bon Appétit Management Company announced that in 1,000 cafés and restaurants in 33 states it would ban plastic straws and stirrers across the company. The phase-out has started and will be finished by September 2019. Bon Appétit is the first food service company to make this commitment in the world.