There is too much plastic in the world. Yet, the production rate of new plastic products keeps accelerating. Why? Because the demand for new, pristine plastic products keeps growing.
This demand for new plastic needs to fall. We have plenty of available material to recycle or reuse in some form, so why is it not used more? The simple answer is economics. It is cheaper to produce new material than it is to recycle it. But what if there was a “new plastic” tax? Could that tip the financial model in favour of recycled alternatives?
The other key factor is consumer demand for it. What if we as a society began to look at pristine, new plastic parts in the same way most of us now view ivory? Would our demand for recycled material slow the demand for the production of new plastic parts?
While only a few individuals can make the significant changes in policy and industry that are required to affect the financial viability quickly, all of us can play a small role in slowly shifting the consumer desirability of new plastic. Rather than wait for the rapid change to be mandated, we can take responsibility for slowing the demand for new plastic production by the consumer choices we make.