Plastic

“Guides readers toward the road less consumptive, offering practical advice and moral support while making a convincing case that individual actions . . . do matter.” —Elizabeth Royte, author, Garbage Land and Bottlemania Like many people, Beth Terry didn’t think an individual could have much impact on the environment. But while laid up after surgery, she read an article about the staggering amount of plastic polluting the oceans, and decided then and there to kick her plastic habit. In Plastic-Free, she shows you how you can too, providing personal anecdotes, stats about the environmental and health problems related to plastic, and individual solutions and tips on how to limit your plastic footprint. Presenting both beginner and advanced steps, Terry includes handy checklists and tables for easy reference, ways to get involved in larger community actions, and profiles of individuals—Plastic-Free Heroes—who have gone beyond personal solutions to create change on a larger scale. Fully updated for the paperback edition, Plastic-Free also includes sections on letting go of eco-guilt, strategies for coping with overwhelming problems, and ways to relate to other people who aren’t as far along on the plastic-free path. Both a practical guide and the story of a personal journey from helplessness to empowerment, Plastic-Free is a must-read for those concerned about the ongoing health and happiness of themselves, their children, and the planet.

Plastic is ubiquitous. It is in the Arctic, in the depths of the Mariana Trench, and in the high mountaintops of the Pyrenees. It is in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Nanoplastics penetrate our cell walls. Plastic is not just any material—it is emblematic of life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Plastic Matter Heather Davis traces plastic’s relations to geology, media, biology, and race to show how matter itself has come to be understood as pliable, disposable, and consumable. The invention and widespread use of plastic, Davis contends, reveals the dominance of the Western orientation to matter and its assumption that matter exists to be endlessly manipulated and controlled by humans. Plastic’s materiality and pliability reinforces these expectations of what matter should be and do. Davis charts these relations to matter by mapping the queer multispecies relationships between humans and plastic-eating bacteria and analyzing photography that documents the racialized environmental violence of plastic production. In so doing, Davis provokes readers to reexamine their relationships to matter and life in light of plastic’s saturation.

Plastics have transformed every aspect of our lives. Yet the very properties that make them attractive--they are cheap to make, light, and durable--spell disaster when trash makes its way into the environment. Plastic Soup: An Atlas of Ocean Pollution is a beautifully-illustrated survey of the plastics clogging our seas, their impacts on wildlife and people around the world, and inspirational initiatives designed to tackle the problem. With striking photography and graphics, Plastic Soup brings plastic pollution to brilliant life for readers. According to some estimates, if we continue on our current path, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by the year 2050. Created to inform and inspire readers, Plastic Soup is a critical tool in the fight to reverse this trend.

This report reviews the current use of plastics for packaging both by technology and market covering the world in consumption and growth terms as well as material and process developments.

“This eloquent, elegant book thoughtfully plumbs the . . . consequences of our dependence on plastics” (The Boston Globe, A Best Nonfiction Book of 2011). From pacemakers to disposable bags, plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this eye-opening book, we’re at a crisis point. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: a comb, a chair, a Frisbee, an IV bag, a disposable lighter, a grocery bag, a soda bottle, and a credit card. With a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis, she sifts through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. Her conclusion is severe, but not without hope. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love, hate, and can’t seem to live without. “When you write about something so ubiquitous as plastic, you must be prepared to write in several modes, and Freinkel rises to this task. . . . She manages to render the most dull chemical reaction into vigorous, breathless sentences.” —SF Gate “Freinkel’s smart, well-written analysis of this love-hate relationship is likely to make plastic lovers take pause, plastic haters reluctantly realize its value, and all of us understand the importance of individual action, political will, and technological innovation in weaning us off our addiction to synthetics.” —Publishers Weekly “A compulsively interesting story. Buy it (with cash).” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature “What a great read—rigorous, smart, inspiring, and as seductive as plastic itself.” —Karim Rashid, designer

Plastic Waste Management Comprehensive resource on innovative and breakthrough developments in plastic waste management, covering a wide range of processing techniques and applications Plastic Waste Management offers a complete guide to the best plastic waste management practices through recycling, incineration, landfill, and other processes, discusses applications of plastic waste management including energy generation, biochemical production, construction, and food packaging, covering current challenges relating to plastic waste, explaining the sources of waste and their routes into the environment, and providing systematic coverage of plastic waste treatment methods, including mechanical processing, monomerization, blast furnace feedstock, gasification, and thermal recycling. The book also discusses different biodegradation mechanisms of plastic wastes and ecotoxicity and ecological Implications of marine plastic debris. From a cultural perspective, the book provides information regarding environmental and health implications, societal issues, and current challenges associated with plastic waste management. Written by leading experts in the field and edited by two highly qualified academics, Plastic Waste Management covers specific sample topics such as: A a roadmap towards a circular economy and environmental sustainability via effective management strategies for plastic wastes Implementation of an analytical hierarchy process for developing better waste collection systems, and chemical recycling of plastic waste for sustainable development Mechanisms, perspectives, and challenges for natural biodegradation of plastic wastes, and conversion of plastic wastes into value added materials Plastic wastes management and disposal in developing countries, and challenges and strategies for plastic waste management during and post COVID-19 pandemic Plastic Waste Management is a highly valuable resource for scientists and researchers working in the fields of environmental science, environmental engineering, and plastic engineering towards the goal of developing sustainable materials, along with graduate and postgraduate students in related programs of study, and professionals and engineers in related industries.

ORGANIC REACTIONS Thought-provoking discussions of the challenges posed by—and potential solutions to—plastic and microplastic pollution In Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment: Management and Health Risks, a team of distinguished environmental researchers delivers an up-to-date exploration of plastic and microplastic environmental contamination, conventional and advanced plastics management techniques, and the policies adopted across the globe to combat the phenomenon of plastics contamination. Containing a balanced focus on both conventional plastics and microplastics, this book discusses the potential health issues related to plastic and microplastic infiltration in a variety of global environments and environmental media, including freshwater environments, oceanic environments, soil and sediment, and air. Insightful treatments of commercial and social issues, including the roles of corporate social responsibility initiatives and general education in the fight against plastic and microplastic pollution, are provided as well. Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment also includes: A thorough introduction to plastic debris in global environments, including its accumulation and disintegration Comprehensive explorations of policies for strengthening recyclable markets around the world Practical discussions of the prevalence of microplastics in the marine environment, air, soil, and other environmental media In-depth examinations of wastewater treatment plants as a potential source point of microplastics, as well as conventional and advanced microplastic particle removal technologies Perfect for academics, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates in fields related to environmental science and plastics, Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment: Management and Health Risks will also earn a place in the libraries of professionals working in the plastics industries and environmental policymakers.

Plastic is a valuable resource. It's also problematic. Since chemist Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic in 1907, and through the rapid increase of plastic production during the 1950s, we have created billions of tons of plastic. We have polluted the world's oceans and upset the balance of natural ecosystems. With this fact-packed book, readers will gain a crucial understanding about the global significance of plastic pollution. They'll study how it evolved over time and what steps governments and activists have taken to resolve it.