Social Systems Map Analysis

Looking at the social causes and impacts of plastic pollution, an immediate connection is that the economic and social causes of plastic pollution are very closely related. Dr. Kristin McDermott, who has studied the societal influence on plastic consumption, has coined the term “global throwaway culture” to reflect the cavalier attitudes in first world countries. [1] In fact, 80% of all plastic that enters the ocean each year is single-use and yet each year, annual consumption and production increases exponentially. McDermott notes that similar to ambivalence concerning climate change, the main polluters of plastic are not the ones who feel the negative effects of it; thus, polluters feel no need to change their attitudes. This mindset pervades into other aspects of life, where consumers feel that their actions have no consequences in nature at all.

In fact, consumers have an incentive to support the use of single-use plastic; plastic packaging is cheaper in the short-term. Given the current state of affairs with coronavirus, as well, single-use plastic is actually encouraged over reusable materials in most states. In grocery stores and college campuses throughout the country, consumers are prohibited from bringing their own materials and must use new single-use plastic bags each time they visit. This eagerness to use plastic translates to the corporate world as well. In a 2020 report by As You Sow, the fifty top companies in the food retail and packaging industry were rated on an A-F scale for plastic pollution. Out of all fifty companies, the highest score was a singular B minus, with 74% of companies receiving a D or lower. [2] Whole Foods Market, for example, has a huge social media presence on its environmental stewardship and its recycling policies, yet received an F on the As You Sow report. Because consumers are not educated properly in the topic of plastic consumption, they are satisfied with the shallow and deceptive public media efforts to seem ecologically sustainable. As a result, on the political level, plastic reform attempts are often very unpopular. One study from Argentina has found statistically significant evidence that implementing a plastic bag tax reduces plastic consumption and increases personal bag use, but 58% of the survey population disagreed with the policy. [3]

There are not too many explicitly social impacts from plastic pollution, which is why public opinion is mostly apathetic. However, macro-plastic pollution’s effects are most visibly seen in the defacing of beaches and other natural tourist attractions. In the US, in particular, beaches over Florida and California occasionally close due to garbage pollution. One beach in Hawaii, nicknamed Trash Beach, has fully closed down and is constantly covered with plastic from all over the world due to its proximity to the Pacific Garbage Patch’s currents.

Figure 1: Kamilo Beach. [Gabriella Levine on Flickr, Creative Commons]

Throwaway culture encourages single-use plastic with no regard to the waste footprint; economically, there is a short-term benefit to favoring single-use plastic; and corporations are manipulating consumers into believing that the status quo of plastic pollution is being dealt with. In order to tackle this problem, public support would be a great help, but there are currently many obstacles in doing so.

Citations

[1]: Kristin L. McDermott. (2016). Plastic Pollution and the Global Throwaway Culture: Environmental Injustices of Single-use Plastic. https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/env434_justice/7/

[2]: As You Sow. (2020). Waste and Opportunity 2020: Searching for Corporate Leadership. http://www.asyousow.org/report-page/waste-and-opportunity-2020-searching-corporate-leadership

[3]: Adriana Jakovcevic, Linda Steg, Nadia Mazzeo, Romina Caballero, Paul Franco, Natalia Putrino, Jesica Favara. (2014). Charges for plastic bags: Motivational and behavioral effects. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494414000863