Singling Out Single-Use Plastic

Did you know that humans buy around one million plastic bottles per minute? In the United States, less than 25% of those bottles end up being recycled. Single-use plastic production and waste is damaging to the Earth in many ways. Here are some examples:

1. Plastics take hundreds of years to break down, and will never break down completely. This means that microplastics will stay in landfills, air, and water forever. This will harm nearby wildlife as well.
2. Plastic gives off greenhouse gases during production and during degradation. Greenhouse gas emissions from plastic make up 3.8% of global emissions. A higher level of greenhouse gases leads to a higher temperature for the Earth. This is known as “global warming,” which has a negative impact on weather patterns, wildlife, and human life as we know it.
3. Single-use plastics are made of polymers, which are produced from fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Burning fossil fuels hurts our planet by creating greenhouse gases, chemical pollutants, smog and acid rain.

The good news is that engineers are using their creativity and problem–solving skills to help create a more sustainable world, from easing climate change to ending poverty. Engineers are also helping to cut down the creation of single-use plastic, improve the recycling process, and remove plastic from nature.

Engineers are making plant-based packaging, and this will reduce new plastic in the environment. Using corn, engineers have created biodegradable plastic that includes polyatomic acid. Polyatomic acid decomposes in a maximum of 90 days when in a composting facility. This is good because it breaks down into natural elements, and the packaging won’t live in a landfill forever. Some restaurants and grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, already offer these compostable items.

A second way that engineers are helping to solve the problem of single-use plastics is by cleaning up trash from bodies of water. In Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, there is a water wheel called “Mr. Trash Wheel,” which pulls in a lot of trash. It is powered by the current of the river and solar panels. The engineer and co-creator, John Kellett, says plastic bottles are one of the most common types of trash collected.

Another example of how chemical engineers are cutting down single-use plastic waste is by using a process called chemolysis that will break down the plastic from polymers to monomers. The monomers can be used to create pure plastic, which can be recycled over and over like glass. Chemolysis helps to recycle more plastic from each piece of packaging. Chemical engineers at colleges like the University of Wisconsin-Madison are focused on this recycling process.

As a mechanical engineer, I would help by reducing the amount of plastic drink bottles in delis and convenience stores. I would create large drink machines to replace fridges with plastic drink bottles. The machinery would be a group of cooled liquid dispensers with large amounts of each beverage in them. For example, there would be a dispenser for Gatorade, soda, and even spring water. The stores would buy the drinks in bulk from beverage companies and put them in the dispensers. Customers would use a reusable drink bottle to get their drinks. They would pay based on the weight of the liquid in their bottle. This would reduce single-use plastic, as customers would be bringing a reusable bottle each time.

Almost half of all plastic waste comes from packaging so this is an important issue. Engineers play a big role in solving the problem of single-use plastic waste. Mechanical, civil, and chemical engineers are only three of the many types of engineers who can help solve this problem. With creative minds in the engineering field, we can make a real difference in the world.