Tsunami of Plastic

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson

Stiv Wilson, Co-Founder, Peak Plastic Foundation & Producer, The Story of Plastic

We were going to watch the Equinox sunrise while seated in the sand between the paws of the Great Sphinx up there on the Giza plateau. Our guide assured us that it would be a most mystical experience. It being very early, I grabbed a large to-go cup of coffee on the way out the door to sip along the way.

Our progress to the Sphinx was halted at the plateau by an armed guard who had been posted to prevent such adventuring. Not one to be deterred, our guide led us around the block, then over a fence into graveyard that was covered knee deep in litter. As we waded along in the dark, the snowdrift of litter swished about our knees. Finally, we made it up onto the plateau, only to be halted again by the same armed guard.

We did get to see the equinox sunrise that morning, but not while seated between the paws of the Great Sphinx. The sun came up as we waded back through drifts of litter that covered that graveyard. But then, while walking back along the avenue toward our hotel, I did have my mystical experience. Right there, in my hand, was the same to-go coffee cup I began the adventure with early that morning! For some reason, I had not tossed the cup where everyone else in Cairo had apparently tossed theirs.

Cairo did not do a very good job of picking up after itself. Maybe it’s doing better now. I hope so!

But in thinking about the matter for the past few years I came to believe that the Egyptians probably do not make any more litter than do we Americans. In fact, given how much litter costs before it becomes litter, I’ll bet the Egyptians make less litter per capita, then do we Americans.

But unlike Egyptians who leave their litter to float about the graveyard, we Americans sweep ours under the rug of mother earth’s topsoil. And though we are a lot better at hiding our littler, I am not at all certain we are any better at disposing it. In fact, when it comes to plastics, the likes of which make to-go coffee cups, we are told by our own Environmental Protection Agency, that we only recycle 14 percent, which means we throw 86 percent of the plastics we use into the trash. All that plastic being hidden under Mother Earth’s rug is building up into a giant tsunami that, if left unmanaged, will someday subsume us. And that thought leads us to ask…

Do you think we can eat without plastic?