Plastic – Life in Plastic – Is it that Fantastic?

You may remember the evergreen piece Barbie Girl by Aqua, where the chipmunk like voice tells that life in plastic is fantastic. But is it so? Over eight billion (8 000 000 000) tons of plastic has been produced since the 1950’s. It weighs roughly as much as 800 000 Eiffel towers. Is it much? It depends, but plastic has gathered a lot of attention lately. Some of the attention is well-earned, some of it not. As in most things, plastic has both good and bad aspects.

It for example helps to reduce food waste and provides affordable goods for us. But why all the disrespect towards plastic then? Most of the blame is deserved and the cause can be seen in the mirror. If all of us would put our waste in the bin instead of throwing it on the ground, it would be a good start. Even better would be if waste management around the world would work properly, instead of land filling or dumping waste in the ocean.

Fishing plastic instead of fish

Millions of tons of plastic floats in the garbage patches of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Roughly 10 % of the plastic produced annually ends up in the ocean and it is estimated that in a few decades there might be more plastic than fish in our seas. And getting rid of the plastic in the ocean isn’t easy.

There is hope left

All is still not lost. Companies are starting to address this issue and consumers are also becoming more and more aware. Recycling of plastic is in its infancy, but develops all the time, even though the low price of virgin plastic makes it difficult to do recycling economically feasible. Substitutive bio-based materials for plastic are also researched and developed. 

TT Gaskets also plans to do our deed for the environment and reduce the use of materials and find substitutive bio-based alternatives where possible. The quantities are not that significant, but we think that leading by example is more influential than the absolute volume reduced.

With that said, we at TT Gaskets wish you a less plastic filled new numerical decade!

plastic, waste, ocean, recycling
Large amount of plastic ends up in our oceans because we are inconsiderate