Solutions may bring new problems

Editor:
A response to the June 14 editorial, Plastics ban will spur innovation:
This countrywide shift away from plastics will certainly spur innovation, let’s just hope in the right direction. This single use plastics ban feels like a long time coming, and now fresh in our laps the possibilities are vast. If we are not savvy consumers, alternatives that seem to be an environmentally conscious solution now could reveal to us a new and entirely different problem years down the road, as alluded to by the editor.
A study from Dalhousie University (Reducing marine pollution from single use plastics (SUPs): A review) outlines that paper seems to be the go to when plastics are no longer available; but they are not a sustainable option, “Paper bags are heavier than plastic bags, generating more GHG emissions during transportation and may produce atmospheric and effluent pollution during pulping… Bans on plastic bags result in 35 per cent increase in paper bag use, which may lead to more environmental harm.”
Importing sustainably grown products like bamboo also has a heavy carbon footprint, and introducing a non-indigenous, fast growing plant to cut the emissions could prove to be invasive.
Plant based plastic alternatives (see EnviGreen) that break down easily would eliminate plastics from finding their way into our water table and our bodies, however would take up valuable farmlands.
While there are many solutions for potential plastic substitutes (not exhausted by what is stated above), I agree with what the editor has mentioned in her last few words. What the real concern here is our buying habits. Plastic after all is an inanimate object that we invented for convenience. It has now become a target for our scrutiny, and rightfully so, but plastic didn’t put itself into the ocean, or into the bodies of animals and humans, we did that. It is our need for convenience and lack of concern that is set to fill the ocean with more plastic than fish if our consumption continues unchecked. Let’s take this opportunity to not just replace, but to rethink. Here’s to innovation and a future that looks much greener!
(The study from Dalhousie can be found at www.researchgate.net/publication/327989798_Reducing_marine_pollution_from_single-use_plastics_SUPs_A_review)
Erika Stephens,
Creemore.