Green Maynard is a volunteer-led community group that aims to protect, preserve, and celebrate our connection to the natural environment. To learn more, visit Green Maynard at  greenmaynard.org  or on Facebook and Instagram. In this second part of its series on waste reduction, Green Maynard shares more on composting.

Plastic is widely used for its durability, flexibility, and low cost, but excessive production and disposal have sparked a global pollution crisis. Most single-use plastics end up in landfills, incinerators (Maynard’s trash goes to an incinerator in Millbury), or in the environment, where they persist for hundreds of years, harming ecosystems on land and in waterways. Massachusetts alone disposed of 900,000 tons of plastic waste in 2022! Plastic production relies on fossil fuels, contributing significantly to the climate crisis, and with a growing body of evidence showing plastic’s harmful effects on human health, finding ways to reduce it is urgent work.

In 2021, residents in Maynard voted overwhelmingly to pass two bylaws to eliminate the use of single-use plastic checkout bags and to prohibit the use and distribution of expanded and clear or rigid polystyrene in food service ware and packaging material. Proposed by Green Maynard, the bylaws aim to reduce plastic pollution in the town of Maynard and minimize its associated environmental and health harms (more on that below).  

Why Can’t We Just Recycle It? While recycling is better than throwing plastic in the trash, it still consumes energy (and often water) to collect, transport, and process the collected plastic to manufacture a new product. In many cases, manufacturers still need to add new raw material.

And just because a plastic item has a number on it doesn’t mean it’s recyclable. (The number within the chasing arrows just identifies the type of plastic.) Also, while many things, in theory, could be recycled—meaning that we know how to do it and have the technology to do so—it’s often too expensive or too difficult to dismantle the various materials that make up a particular item, such as plastic-coated paper coffee cups.

Some plastic simply doesn’t make it to the recycling bin because people don’t know it can be recycled or don’t know where it’s collected (plastic bags, for instance, can’t go in curbside bins, but many grocery stores collect them). And sometimes the item is just too dirty to recycle.

Any plastic that makes it past these hurdles is considered highly recyclable. Plastics #1, #2, #4 (polyethylene) and #5 (polypropylene) are among these, but still, they can only be recycled a limited number of times before the material degrades and becomes unusable.

Then there’s unrecyclable plastic, which includes #6 (polystyrene) and #3 (polyvinyl chloride or PVC). There’s really no life for these plastics beyond their original use.

Note: Be wary of “bioplastics” that claim to “degrade faster in the environment,” “are made from safer materials,” and/or “have smaller climate change impacts.” There are no federal standards defining or regulating these terms, so companies have free rein to label whatever they want as “biodegradable” and “compostable.”

Why is plastic so harmful? As plastic products break down over time, they create microplastics, tiny plastic bits that have been found in human placenta, lungs, intestine, liver, spleen, veins, breast milk, testes, and the heart. More recently, a study found plastic in the brain. Microplastics have been linked to heart attack, stroke, and death.

There are more than 16,000 chemical additives used in plastic, nearly a quarter of which is hazardous and half of which has no safety data. Many plastics contain a host of hazardous endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because these chemicals are not bonded to the plastic molecule, they leach out at every stage of plastics’ use and lifecycle—including as food packaging. Mounting evidence shows that EDCs affect the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism, causing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. 

But the consequences of EDCs land most heavily on the very young, because children have an increased metabolic rate and are still laying down developmental pathways. In the early weeks of pregnancy, hormones guide everything—we have no other system—so tiny doses of EDCs can affect development in many ways, including disrupting brain development.

How can we reduce plastic? Enacting and enforcing policies that reduce plastic production and consumption—such as the bylaws passed in Maynard in 2021—can help. This includes advocating and voting for laws that ban or restrict single-use plastics, impose producer responsibility for plastic waste, and/or encourage the use of alternative materials. 

On an individual level, opt for reusable metal straws, coffee mugs, food containers, cloth bags, and glass or stainless-steel bottles. Support businesses and restaurants that prioritize truly sustainable packaging solutions. Consider shopping at stores that offer bulk options and bring your reusable containers. And when you do need to purchase something in plastic, recycle it properly. To learn more, visit Beyond Plastics.