Plastic: A Toxic Love Story—Book Review

Susan Freinkel delivers a stunning portrait of our world through a plastic lens. The information she shares is as relevant today as it was when originally published in 2010 and I would argue that it grows in importance as time goes on—as plastic manufacturing continues to accelerate.

The author takes us on an incredibly informative journey through the history of the plastics industry and our transition towards a single use society. Organized after eight common plastic products, we come to learn of the history and evolution of the plastic chair, comb, lighter, grocery bag, IV bag, soda bottle, and the frisbee. Oh, and also the infamous credit card, which has arguably helped to shape our disposable consumer culture more than anything else. We’ll get to that later.

Plasticville, USA

First you are introduced to Plasticville, USA, the actual name of a model train kit created in Pennsylvania in 1950 with snap together plastic pieces that could be used to make a little city complete with fire station, school house, police station, little homes, and even little people. I could think of no better way to begin a book about plastic than with Plasticville, USA, which grew bigger and more popular—the company manufacturing more and more plastic trains, people, and buildings for our amusement. Through the course of the book it becomes clear that we, ourselves, have become the residents of Plasticville, USA.

Take the disposable lighter, for example. Freinkel writes “The disposable lighter is an icon of the throwaway mentality that began to take shape in the years following WWII, when the technology that helped the Allies win the war took aim at the domestic front.” She goes on to explain that “such products were a tough sell—at least to the generation that had come through the Depression and wartime scrap drives with the mantra “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” The ethos of reuse was so deeply ingrained that in the mid-1950’s when vending machines began dispensing coffee in plastic cups, people saved and reused them. They had to learn—and be taught—to throw away.”

Now we have to re-learn—and be taught—the concept of reuse. We have to tap in to the idea of wearing something out. We have to remember the value in long lasting, durable, reusable items. The convenience of the throwaway mindset has profited big oil and gas and severely damaged our environment. In 2013, on Bic’s 40th anniversary, they had sold over 30 billion lighters.

Humans Are Just a Little Plastic Now

The author then takes us into the medical field in her chapter entitled “Humans Are Just a Little Plastic Now.” I imagined this chapter would focus on the myriad ways in which we consume little bits of microplastics on a daily basis, which it does, however the focus of this chapter had more to do with how plastic has revolutionized the medical field, for better and for worse.

Just after WWII, the IV bag was invented for collecting and storing blood. The rubber tubes and glass bottle that were originally used damaged red blood cells during the drawing process and allowed bacteria and air bubbles in. A plastic called polyvinyl chloride or PVC seemed a promising solution to this problem of blood collection. The plastic was sterile, inert, and non-toxic—obvious requirements for something that would be widely used in medicine. Unfortunately, the assumption of PVC’s inert, non-toxic nature proved to be wrong. By the late 1960’s and early 1970’s studies were showing PVC to be carcinogenic.

By the late 1980’s more evidence was accruing of the deleterious effects of plastics and in 1991 a group of twenty experts from a wide range of fields convened at the Wingspread Conference Center where they identified as many as thirty distinct chemicals as causing what they called “endocrine disruption.” These chemicals are used in plastic manufacturing, leach out of plastics, and are released when plastics degrade. That was in 1991 and according to Freinkel “today that number could be anywhere from seventy to a thousand, depending on who is doing the counting.”

The endocrine system regulates hormones, so endocrine disruption manifests as birth defects, reproductive failure, abnormal growth and development, immune problems, and more. Bisphenol A or BPA is one of the most famous plastic culprits responsible for endocrine disruption. While BPA is still in use today, the FDA has banned it from being used in baby bottles and infant formula packaging. This is wise as developing babies and children are most susceptible to the effects of hormone disruption.

The Meaning of Green

In the final chapter the author writes “The greening of Plasticville will require more than just technological fixes. It also requires us to address the careless, and sometimes ravenous, habits of consumption that were enabled by the arrival of plastic and plastic money—a condition for which there is surely no better symbol than the maxed-out credit card.” A cultural shift away from cheap disposable goods is surely approaching as more and more people become aware of the urgency needed to combat the issues at stake “whether the task is stopping the plasticization of our oceans, protecting our children from endocrine disruptors, or curbing the carbon emissions that fuel global warming.”

The author is quite aware of her place in time and she writes with a fervor that acknowledges that this problem of plastic pollution is only going to get worse, much worse, before it begins to get better. Although this book is now more than ten years old, it is a valuable and worthwhile read for anyone who uses plastic, which is everyone. It is incredibly thorough and detailed while at the same time retaining a necessary and harrowing big picture feel.

Freinkel is a realist. In her chapter entitled “Closing the Loop” she writes, “In today’s world, there are no perfect choices; all we can do is be aware of the tradeoffs.” As for sustainable materials, there’s no such thing. “Only an ongoing journey to improved sustainability.” By reading this book we can be informed on where our products come from, what effect they have on our bodies and our environment, and we can begin to shift our attitude away from the culture of disposable plastics towards a healthier future, but we must act now.