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I met Jane Dow at the Great Lakes Collaborative Retreat at Cedar Valley Retreat Center. Jane did a presentation on plastics. She has great insight and knowledge about this subject. I’m hoping Jane will give us regular articles on what we can do do help mitigate the harm plastics cause. Here is an interview by Susan Webb, Editor, Kairos Newsletter
Tell me a little about yourself - where you live, church, work history.
I live in Mankato Minnesota, a city 90 miles south of Minneapolis. Although this city has a population of 40,000 and is considered small, it has a progressive base of nonprofit groups working on sustainable measures for our city and pushing the government to enact a climate energy plan.
I belong to First Congregational UCC Mankato. We are a very progressive church and early on became open and affirming as well as immigrant welcoming.
When I graduated from college, I joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in Afghanistan where I treated Tuberculosis patients in a rural Northern town called Baghlan.
What started your plastic journey? And where has it led you?
We moved to Mankato from Duluth so that my husband could return to school to get his masters in humanistic economics, I worked for the post office. My first volunteer experience in Mankato was working with a British man who had a lot of experience in the Fair Trade movement in England. We started a Fair Trade group that eventually led to Mankato becoming the first Fair Trade town in Minnesota with the first K-12 grade fair Trade school in the country.
In the process of working with Fair Trade and also a few housing advocacy groups, I met people who were interested in organizing a community visioning event. At that event, I asked people who were interested in working to reduce waste and landfills to form a zero waste group. Many people were interested in this topic so we started a group called Mankato Area Zero Waste.
In the process of learning about waste and pollution, I read more and more research about the existential threat plastic is causing our planet and all the terrible harm it is causing our health. I became passionate about reducing plastic harm in our community and started a sub group to the Zero Waste group called Beyond Plastics Greater Mankato Area. We affiliated with the national Beyond Plastics organization.
Give us some facts about plastic.
Microplastics and the added chemicals are causing existential threat to our planet and all living things. The microplastics never break down so the 8 to 9 billion tons we have produced since the 1950s are still in our water, soil and air. Production of plastics went from 200 million metric tons in the 1950’s to 400 million metric tons of plastic now annually and is expected to triple by 2060 according to a new report from the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health. If current production stays on track, yearly plastic production could reach 1.1 billion metric tons by 2050. The whole chain of production emitted 1.8 billion tons of CO2 in 2015. By 2050, greenhouse gas emissions could reach over 56 gigatons, 10 to 13% of the remaining carbon budget. In the U.S. the plastic industry emits 232 million tons a year equal to CO2 emissions from 50 million cars and predicted to outpace coal emissions by 2030
Does recycling work?
No, recycling doesn’t’ work. Less than 10% of plastics are recycled and only 2 kinds are even recyclable. Recycling cannot work because plastic products are so full of toxic chemical additives that can’t be removed from plastic material, making recycled plastic unsafe for later uses.
What are the most dangerous plastics?
Plastics with the #3 symbol have PVC in them. Products with PVC are vinyl flooring and siding, water pipes, furniture, clothing, toys and shower curtains. PVC is a toxic chemical that the EPA is examining with the purpose of banning it. It is a known carcinogen. Polystyrene #6 (Styrofoam) such as packaging foam, Styrofoam drink cups and food containers, insulation, DVD cases, packing peanuts, is also toxic and listed as a carcinogen. PET #1 pop and water bottles are the most commonly used plastics and intended for single use only. Repeated use increases the risk of leaching and bacteria with the release the 250,000 to 500,000 microplastics per liter.
Where do you find hope?
There are so many legislative bills being introduced now all over the country. 5 extended producer responsibility bills, making producers of plastic responsible for reducing and redesigning their packaging, have been passed and many more are being introduced. Representative Jeff Brand passed the Minnesota PFAS ban that will keep this toxic chemical out of our water. Clean Water is working on a bill to ban the most toxic chemicals in plastic. That would go a long way to cleaning up the worst chemical pollution. 175 countries voted to adopt a legally binding treaty to reduce plastic pollution. The treaty aims to hold countries to a common standard on plastic consumption and create a path to a future without plastic pollution. California and several environmental non-profits filed a lawsuit against Exxon/Mobile for lying about recycling and causing terrible pollution.
This is a very edited interview. Jane gave me much more information. Read the whole interview here.
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