Happy Plastic-free July! But What Are the Alternatives?Happy Plastic-free July! But What Are the Alternatives?

July! What a wonderful month it is. Here in the United States, it’s National Hot Dog Month, National Anti-Boredom Month, National Doghouse Repair Month, and National Cellphone Courtesy Month. (Yes, those are all legitimate celebrations.) Worldwide, it’s also Plastic-Free July. So, a belated Happy Plastic-Free July to you all!

Wait — what about plastic insulation?

I hope you’re (somehow!) enjoying this entire month without any plastics. (Let me know how removing all the plastic insulation on the electrical wires in your house works out for you.) Oops, I jumped too quickly to a conclusion. If you look at the official website more closely, you'll see that it doesn’t really advocate for a Plastic-Free July, but instead a Single-Use Plastic-Free July. (Hopefully you procrastinated on removing the dashboard and foam from the seats in your car.)

(Single-Use Plastic Free July could be shortened to SUP-Free July, but then some people might think that we can’t go texting “Sup.” Hmm, that’s not such a bad idea…)

Assigning responsibility.

While I do take issue with the broad concept of avoiding single-use plastics (to be discussed shortly), I am in agreement with individuals taking responsibility for handling plastics properly. You and I, as consumers, are responsible for choosing to use them and for making sure that we dispose of the containers and packaging properly.

Related:Glass vs. Plastic: BBC Article Makes Surprising Call

Contrast this with the approach taken in the lawsuit recently filed by the City of Baltimore. In that suit, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and others are being asked to pay for the costs of cleaning up plastic pollution. (I discussed the lawsuit in my last column.) The individual consumers who are actually polluting are not being asked to pay, but rather the manufacturers of the packaging are being told to pony up.

So which way are we going to go on this? You can’t have it both ways. Plastic-Free July says that individuals are responsible, and that companies will respond to the preferences of consumers. The Baltimore lawsuit says companies are responsible and that consumers will respond to the demands placed on the companies.

Life-cycle choices.

Whichever path we choose — and I’m sure there are some who will say, “Choose both!” — the fallout of the decision extends far beyond the immediate reduction in the amount of plastic in front of us.

Get rid of plastic soda and water bottles? You can replace them with aluminum cans, but aluminum mines form a tremendous amount of caustic waste that just sits around. I’ve also previously written here how aluminum cans are not the plastic-free option that people think they are, and how they are not 100% and infinitely recyclable.

If aluminum is out, the other option is glass, which is much heavier. The truck hauling the bottles will generate more emissions, recycling glass is economical only if there is a local market for it — and in many cases there isn’t — and broken glass can hurt you in ways that broken plastic never can.

Plastic-Free July? Take some time to think about it, being sure to focus not just on the here-and-now, but what is involved in the alternatives.