This year’s Earth Day theme, planet vs. plastic, calls for “the end of plastics for the sake of human and planetary health.” Is this achievable?

Jennifer McDermott and Michael Hill wrote about how Judith Enck avoids “pointless plastic” (Enterprise, April 22, 2024).

In our modern society, plastic cannot be completely avoided. In some places, like hospitals where everything is disposable for sanitary reasons, it’s ubiquitous. Plastics have many medical uses; polyethylene is used in artificial joints, ostomy bags and disposable pipettes. In the building industry, plastic pipes have replaced copper. Synthetic rubber, used in tires for bicycles and cars, was developed in the 1940s. Natural rubber from trees in Asia could never supply enough material for our tires, gaskets and other implements, so synthetic rubber is essential.

But in other places, plastic is not needed; it could be substituted with different materials. The packaging industry has come to love plastic because it allows consumers to see what they’re buying. Almost everything in the store — from spinach to dinner napkins to a package of pens — comes wrapped in pointless plastic. Even paper straws come wrapped in — you guessed it — plastic.

Plastic is a modern invention. The creation of synthetic plastics was revolutionary for the chemical industry. Bakelite, the world’s first commercial synthetic plastic, was patented on Dec. 7, 1909. One of the first uses for Bakelite were early telephones. Synthetic fibers, like rayon, nylon, acrylic and polyester were developed in the 1940s and 1950s. Today, we’re finding that they’re a major contributor to microplastics in wastewater.

My mom majored in polymer chemistry in the 1950s and worked in the synthetic rubber industry before coming to the U.S. She recalls how when plastic first came on the market it was hailed as progress. It was indestructible. Well, now we know indestructible is not good.

She regrets that she was one of the scientists who helped develop modern plastic. At 93, my mother talks about how, when she was little, you would bring your own glass jar to the store to buy yogurt or sour cream. Pickles were sold from a barrel. A milkman delivered milk in returnable glass bottles to your door. She wants to return to those days.

Like Judith Enck, I’ve shunned the plastic bags provided in the produce aisle for a long time. I use a reusable water bottle. I don’t use drinking straws. I buy shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo, and locally-made laundry soap that comes in paper or glass. I carry a coffee cup in my car so I don’t have to use disposable ones. I have brought my own dishes and silverware to picnics and other events. I buy an ice cream cone rather than a dish of ice cream — not because I enjoy the cone, but because it produces less waste. I buy fresh whenever possible and avoid pre-packaged products at the supermarket. In summer, I buy produce directly from the grower at farm stands or the farmers market — but even the market vendors use plastic to wrap their products. They say it keeps stuff fresher longer.

My actions are a drop in the bucket. We are inundated with plastic everywhere. Most of my household garbage is plastic packaging because I compost and try to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Our individual actions — the drops in the bucket — are not enough. It must start with manufacturers — and with government regulation.

One type of plastic, polystyrene or Styrofoam, was once widely used in restaurant takeout containers and for packaging fragile goods like electronics or glassware. Due to environmental concerns, polystyrene has been banned in the European Union since 1921 and Canada since 1922. As of March 2024, 11 U.S. states (including New York) have banned polystyrene products, but national legislation is still lacking.

There is no good reason toilet paper or pens require plastic packaging. It’s not just pointless — it’s detrimental and unsustainable.

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Yvona Fast is a poet, cookbook author and cooking columnist for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. She lives in Lake Clear.