How corporations have locked us into a lifetime of plastic consumption

Once the world transitions away from fossil fuels for energy generation there will still be huge demand for oil. That is because of the production of plastic, which is set to become the largest demand on oil in the decades to come.

The problem with plastic goes further, with the destruction of nature through the mass littering of the global ocean, as well as the subsequent ingestion of it into our bodies via the food chain.

Plastic Unlimited, a new book by Alice Mah, takes a deep dive into how corporations perpetuate the role of plastic in our lives. Mah is professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, UK, with research interests in environmental justice and corporate power.

The author explores the world of petrochemical and plastic corporations, and shows how they have created various narratives to help solidify the role of plastic in our lives, thereby protecting their industry and profits. By downplaying the negative effects of plastic on the environment and health, and by claiming to take the circular economy seriously, corporations have managed to fend off attention around the real problem of plastic production.

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Conor Purcell interviewed Mah, speaking by video call:

What exactly is the problem with plastic?

The problem is multifaceted but essentially it is a waste issue — just think of the volumes of plastic in production that become waste. It’s also useful to think about the fact that plastics weren’t really in existence as a mass consumer product until after the second World War. Since then we’ve seen this exponential rise of plastic production and use, exemplified by some astonishing figures like the 500 billion plastic bottles produced each year. These volumes have risen exponentially and continue to do so.

In terms of why this is a problem, the most visceral and tangible aspect is that we can see the gigantic accumulation of plastic piling up across the oceans — plastic which is then getting into wildlife. The situation with plastic accumulating in fish is possibly the most alarming, not only because of the effects on the fish and their ecosystems but because we humans are consuming fish, and we know there are many health issues related to that.

Do you think the climate crisis has distracted us from the plastics problem?

I think that at one time climate scientists were definitely trying to point out that plastic, while a major issue, is a bit of a distraction from the climate crisis, which is a bigger issue. There really has been a bit of competition for bandwidth in some respects. I think there’s no question that climate is the existential threat of our times, but the point I’m trying to make in the book is that there are a number of overlapping, equally existential, kinds of threats.

Like biodiversity loss, and other kinds of toxic pollution, I think there’s increasing awareness that plastics are in fact a climate problem. It’s important to point out that the petrochemical industry which produces plastics — basically the oil and gas industry — represents a clear link between the climate and plastic issue: 99% of plastics are manufactured from fossil fuels. So, via plastic dependence, oil will still be of significance even after the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources. As highlighted by the situation with Russia, this will have economic and sociopolitical implications for decades to come.

In your book you make a direct attack on corporations. What is the key point there?

Part of the reason for writing the book is that I think there is a gap between the narrative around consumer responsibility with regards to plastic, which gets a reasonable amount of attention, especially in the global West, and the real issue which is around the role of corporations in perpetuating our reliance on plastic, while year by year exponentially increasing the volumes of the stuff in existence.

I’m not trying to say that the consumer narrative is entirely false — by being sustainable consumers we can each individually make a difference, for sure — but the way in which we are all locked into a life of plastic consumption isn’t an accident. That system has been manufactured by corporations at different stages, year by year, decade by decade.

It’s not that individuals working for companies are bad people, but I’m taking a broader look at the nature of capitalism, which is fundamentally about perpetual growth. Capitalism can no longer continue to exist without growth. So the problem in relation to what we are talking about here is that that growth is creating this enormous plastics crisis, with all sorts of negative consequences.

What tools do corporations deploy to shrug off responsibility around the issue?

It’s all about how they maintain the status quo. One of the ways in which the industry perpetuates itself is via corporations getting involved with the circular economy narrative in a really big way. The corporations have a monopoly over the situation because they are the operators — they make the plastics. They have all the polymer scientists and have bought out many of the recycling and waste management firms. They are interlinked with all the supply chain networks and delivery systems.

This means that they are capable of talking loudly, and using expensive marketing, about making moves towards sustainability and adopting new initiatives, regarding recycling or the circular economy, for example. They can claim to be transformative innovators. It’s also somehow performative, creating narratives like, “we know we have been bad in the past, and we recognise our mistakes, but now we’re going to really respond to this crisis”. So initiatives are developed claiming to help and promote circularity, but then a crisis comes along — something like the pandemic, for example — and corporations are free to roll out millions of tonnes of single-use plastics in a really short period. The global situation is essentially totally unregulated.

How can we move away from plastic and achieve environmental justice?

In March the signing of the UN global plastics pact was overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There was supposed to be a lot of media attention at the time about finally getting agreement on the need to rein in the spectre of plastic consumption. Unfortunately, as a news story, it didn’t have the same kind of front page spreads that it could have had. The pact is intended to create discussion around a proposed UN Treaty on Plastic Production, which has a targeted deadline of 2024 to establish an internationally binding agreement.

But those on the industry side will not be happy to include caps on production levels, or on absolute reductions. And there are problems even with a successful agreement: even if they do the most deep system change that they can imagine with existing technologies, it doesn’t remotely solve the decarbonisation problem. The strongest agreed commitments on plastic, assuming that they hold similarly to the climate case — the rather weak climate commitments so far — will only mildly disturb the business-as-usual scenario. So in that respect, it is very difficult to retain optimism. But this is why we do our work in creating awareness, and continue to conduct research and campaign so that the true nature of this very real crisis can be revealed.

Dr Conor Purcell writes about science, society and culture and can be found on twitter @ConorPPurcell and at cppurcell.tumblr.com

Helpful links

New book (Polity): https://www.politybooks.com/plastic-unlimited/

UN Treaty on Plastic Production: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113142