Plastics: Just a Load of Rubbish

by Alicia Chrysostomou

Are plastics really the enemy in our fight to save the planet? Encouraged by media stories and government targets, many of us are making well-meaning attempts to forgo the use of plastics in a bid to save the environment. But are we inadvertently at risk of doing more harm than good? Are there other factors in play needing equal consideration? Just a Load of Rubbish? examines the history and usage of the multi-faceted material that is plastic and asks some challenging questions both of the material and of ourselves. Could it be that our push for materials that are anything but plastic can actually cause more harm to the planet? Do we in fact need a paradigm shift in our outlook? Can plastics in fact further our desire to become better environmentally protective citizens? Along the way this book seeks to enlighten and entertain with fascinating facts about this much maligned material. So if you’ve ever wondered what exactly is a bioplastic, why some but not all plastics can be recycled and the role a clumsy cat played in the development of early plastics, then read on. Just how much do we really know about this material? Maybe now it’s time to learn more.

Genres: Audiobook

320 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2023

Reviews

[Popup-ch]

Dr Chrysostomou is a senior lecturer on polymers, and knows a thing or two about plastics. Here she sets out to describe the wonderful world of polymers to a lay public.
Unfortunately, and as is so common when experts talk about their favourite topic, she struggles to find the correct level. Sometimes it feels like she's dumbing things down to a kindergarten level, and on the next page she refers to the subtleties of PVAc vs PVA and PVOH.

There are some chapters where she describes the origin of various materials - but does a book about plastics really need to go into the details about the production of concrete and paper? It's here to give a reasonable comparison for plastics, and as such it's understandable, but could have been in an appendix.

The best is where she describes the tortured reasoning of some so-called environmentalists, who have managed to ban plastic straws (made from eminently recyclable polypropylene) in favour of paper straws, that have to be impregnated with loads of polymer glues, that make them almost impossible to recycle.

She also discusses the so-called bio-plastics, which can mean a lot of different things - but rarely means that the resulting products are biodegradable, except under certain very specific conditions. Often it just means that the base material was agricultural rather than petrochemical - but today it's possible to make e.g. polyethylene teraphtalate (PET) from agricultural products - but the end result is not biodegradable. Similarly it's possible to make Polyvinyl alcohol (a biodegradable plastic) from petrochemical precursors. Also - beware that when it says that a product can be compostable - it des not mean that it will decompose if left in the pile of leaves at the end of the garden. Typically it requires elevated temperature and mechanical agitation.

The chapter on microplastics is also very good. In short - most studies show no harm from microplastics, but that is not to say that they're harmless. It definitely needs more research.

All in all, a very informative book - but it could have done with another round of editing.

[Alonso]

thought provoking