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You know that oft-repeated story of government and corporate greed that the tobacco industry represents? Of how evidence of health fall-out from tobacco use was first hidden, then outright disguised with the use of adverts with doctors as ‘smoker models’ and women smoking ‘menthol’ cigarettes, giving the impression of safety and non-tobacco use?
All this to collect huge revenue from tobacco tax – until the world woke up to the fact that the revenue was being spent on treating the very sick who got into hospitals because of tobacco use.
Well, as we mark Earth day with a flurry of resolutions to stop plastics use and segregate our waste and reduce use of unnecessary water and electricity, we are dangerously treading the same path – only this time, it’s about the environment instead of our health.
When we went through the pandemic, the world’s economy shrunk significantly and so did plastics use – largely because packaging material was not needed as the retail industry slumped. Conversely, the pandemic led to an increased demand for single-use plastic especially for medical purposes – disposable masks, gloves, syringes, etc., – intensifying pressure on this already out-of-control problem. The Big Lie we are being told is that the plastic we use in Bahrain is recyclable. It’s a nuanced statement. Is that shopping bag handed out by your local grocer recyclable? Yes. But we need to follow it up with the question: Does it get recycled? The answer is no.
According to waste management experts, the problem with plastic is that it is getting increasingly expensive to collect and sort. There are now thousands of different types of plastic, and none of them can be melted down together. Plastic also degrades after one or two uses. Greenpeace found that the more plastic is reused the more toxic it becomes.
Like the tobacco industry, oil and gas companies who manufacture plastic have long known that less than 10 per cent of the plastic we use can be or is recycled. However, for the past 40 years, vast PR resources have been spent on promoting the idea of recyclable and recycled plastic.
The waste management and plastics industry lets the illusion continue to gain traction that plastic is like food waste – bury it in soil and it will decompose. The truth is that recycling plastic is expensive and requires a specialised plant with heat treatment equipment – high-density plastics (HDPE) which is used for construction industry pipes, etc., melts at 130C while low-density polyethylenes – ( LDPE) which is used for household packaging, grocery bags, etc., melts at 120C.
A 2022 EcoMENA study found that only 13pc of the waste produced in Bahrain is recyclable and that the kingdom is one of the highest per capita waste generators globally – up to 1.80kg per person per day!
Bahrain simply does not have a large enough recycling facility. So every time you take the trouble to segregate your plastics – your milk jugs and detergent bottles from your yoghurt cups and shopping bags – it’s all just going to end up in landfills as separate bundles of plastic waste.
Plastic trash has few markets – a reality the public has not wanted to hear. Meanwhile, the industry plans to triple plastic production by 2050. Where does that leave our ambitious national goals of net zero carbon emissions by 2060? Are plastics the new smokin’ gun, then?
meeraresponse@gmail.com
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