Many environmentalists, such as myself, justifiably have it out for single-use plastics. They are a plague to our planet and unnecessary in daily life. But single-use has a time and a place. And this is it.
The Convenience of Plastics
Much of the appeal of plastics is that they are cheap and easy to make and use. Most of the time this is an issue because it prevents more sustainable alternatives from gaining an economic edge. But right now it’s a blessing.
Big oil and plastics companies have put a lot of time and effort into making plastics the cheapest and easiest materials to manufacture. We’ve figured out how to take prehistoric goo and turn it into bottles and bags and fabrics and forks. Just writing that makes me cringe.
The convenience of plastics is why we have entire rivers filled with the stuff. Why we’re finding it in the deepest parts of the ocean. Why our planet is suffocating under the burden of our ‘convenient’ pollution.
But there’s a silver lining to all this destruction. Most of the time it’s so small it’s easy to ignore. But in times of crisis, many of the things that make plastic so bad suddenly become the things that make plastic so good.
Testing Kits
Any medical professional will tell you that one of the most important steps in responding to a serious outbreak is an effective testing strategy to determine, out of the whole population, who has the illness.
Testing kits are all about plastic. From the swabs to the tubes to the sterile bags they are sealed in, the ability to cheaply and easily collect samples and send them to a different location for evaluation is entirely dependent on plastic.
Imagine what testing would look like without plastics. We’d need natural materials, like fibers and wood, to collect samples. Metal and glass to store them. Transport would be less efficient, both in space and weight. Then the kits would either have to be sterilized or disposed of, and manufacturing glass and metal is generally a more expensive and time-intensive process than manufacturing plastic.
It’s true that it would be incredible if we could develop a standard system of mostly reusable testing kits (I really can’t think of any good way to create reusable swabs) but even if we had a system in place, it would be overwhelmed in a public health crisis, where millions more tests than the normal load would be needed.
Basically, we have single-use plastics to thank for our ability to test huge numbers of people.
Personal Protective Equipment
We’ve all heard the news. N-95 masks are more valuable than gold right now. Masks and other personal protective equipment are in such high demand dozens of businesses have redirected manufacturing resources to create more.
And guess what? Nearly all PPE that’s used today is plastic. Masks? Plastic. Gloves? Plastic. Face shields and goggles? Plastic. Full body protective suits and even some standard scrubs? Plastic.
In general, I stand by the belief that our obsession with polyester fibers is dangerous to society. I still stand by that. But I cannot ignore the fact that it is polyester and other plastics that produce the fibers and fabrics that make up N-95 masks and protective clothing. I cannot ignore how privileged we are to live in a time where we have an excess amount of the resource (oil) needed to manufacture lifesaving equipment.
We are completely reliant on plastics to protect people fighting valiantly on the front lines of the outbreak. It pains me to think about the massive waste that’s generated during times like this. But I and 99.99% of people agree that environmentalism and sustainability should never, ever, come at the cost of human health, and especially human life.
That doesn’t mean I’m not brainstorming ways to handle waste, and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look into how we can make PPE less wasteful. We absolutely should. But right now we cannot be willing to compromise safety.
3D Printing
What only 5 years ago was a novelty is now a rapidly growing part of manufacturing. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the easiest and fastest way to create complicated parts.
With 3D printing, an engineer can create a design on a computer program, and with just a few clicks can send it to the 3D printer, which will immediately begin to build the part. This can take as little as a few hours and can be very cheap. If the part has a flaw? Minor issue. Make a few adjustments and print it again.
Compare that to traditional manufacturing. In traditional manufacturing, a part is designed for function and for manufacture. Certain shapes are very difficult to produce, so many more pieces might be needed. Then the machine to create the part has to be set up. For injection-molded plastics (many of the plastics we use today), the mold can cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce and has to be just right.
To be fair, once it is set up, traditional manufacturing is much more efficient in producing millions of parts. But that takes time and money. Two things we’re rather short on at the moment.
So 3D printing is coming to the rescue. Engineering firms are 3D printing pieces of medical equipment that hospitals are running out of and desperately need. One pioneer of this is an Italian engineering company that produced a critical part for ventilators.
This would be impossible without plastic. The ability to rapidly produce complex parts of practically any shape at the drop of a hat seems like just a cool thing that might become mainstream one day. And then we realize we can build life-saving equipment with it.
So is Single Use Good After All?
Short answer: For medicine, yes. For society in general, no.
Single-use plastics don’t belong in our day to day lives. There’s no reason we can’t eliminate them. And I have no plans on stopping my battle against everyday plastics. I’m still bringing my own bags to the store despite ridiculous attacks on reusable bags for ‘health reasons’. Seriously. They pose much less risk than any of the people walking around the store. And I still encourage people to find ways to cut down on plastics even as we’re all stocking up and hunkering down.
BUT
For all the fighting that we do against plastic, we have to stop and realize that it is truly incredible that we live in an age where rapid manufacturing of testing kits, PPE, and even medical devices is possible- all thanks to plastic. Today, plastic is saving lives.
