Manufacturing of plastic is toxic

“The amount of polyethylene produced in America each year is nearly equal to the combined mass of every man, woman and child living in the US” says Susan Freinkel in Plastic: A toxic love story. For every pound of trash put out by a household, another seventy pounds is generated in the manufacture and production of the source materials

Styrene (Styrofoam): “Studies of workers exposed to high levels of styrene have found increased risks of leukemia and lymphoma and genetic damage to white blood cells. There is also some evidence that styrene increases the risks of cancer of the pancreas and esophagus among styrene workers, the [official Report on Carcinogens] report found.” (June 10, 2011 New York Times) The story went on to describe how it took years to add this, and formaldehyde, to the federal carcinogen list due to lobbying by the largest chemical companies. Because chemical companies have been collaborating with oil companies from the beginning of both industries, they have a very tight bonds. This allows them to wield incredible influence on regulations.

Europeans treat chemicals as harmful until proven safe, whereas in the US chemicals are considered safe until proven harmful. Europeans have found the bulk of new chemicals are hazardous in some way, either to humans or the environment. American manufacturers have already changed the chemical content of their products to comply with stricter European standards, but do not use that content for their plastics produced for US markets.

Solutions
Instead of focusing on what to do with the waste of plastic, we should start addressing this problem at the source by holding manufactures responsible for the full life of their products, as well as the impacts their products are having on our health.

Consumer demand and federal oversight could have a strong influence in demanding more research on the dangers of chemicals which fill our lives before they are approved for manufacture and consumption.