The recent pellet crisis in Galicia is being forgotten. But the media attention that it aroused in recent weeks has served, although it was not a catastrophe comparable to that of the 'Prestige' crash, to remind us that there is also a serious problem of plastic pollution on the planet. This is how Ethel Eljarrat, research scientist and current director of the Institute of Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies (Idaea), dependent on the CSIC, sees it. “We breathe, drink and eat plastics,” defends Eljarrat, one of the great experts in this type of material, whose waste we have not yet learned to properly treat.
Does cleaning the sea of plastics seem impossible anymore?
It would be very interesting to be able to eliminate plastic waste from the sea, but then we have to see what we do with it when we bring it to land. Shall we burn them? Because only 10% of plastic is recycled. So much so that we talk about the circular economy and recycling and only 10% of the 400 million tons manufactured annually are recycled. Of the rest, a large part is incinerated, and this must be done appropriately to avoid emissions of toxic gases, and another large part goes to landfills. It is estimated that since plastics began to be produced, more than 8,000 million tons have been manufactured, of which about 6,000 million are distributed around the planet as waste.
Do we live in a world of plastic and we are not aware?
I think people are aware, especially when it comes to food packaging, we see it every day when we go to the supermarket. But plastic is in many more things that we are not so aware of. For example, 70% of the clothes we wear are made of plastic material and I am convinced that people do not know it. Also, car tires. If we look around us, everything has plastic.
And why doesn't the message get through?
Sometimes it's a little difficult to understand the concept. When you see smoke coming out of a chimney, you understand that it can pollute and since scientists tell you that this is bad, you believe it. But, for example, it is difficult for us to assimilate that now, in this office, we are breathing microplastics that cannot be seen.
Do we breathe plastic everywhere?
Everything made with plastic material releases tiny particles, which float in the air and which we breathe involuntarily.
Do all plastics pollute the same?
No, we differentiate between two types of pollution. But first you have to know what plastic is. It is a material that is made with a polymer that is usually extracted mainly from petroleum, such as, for example, polyethylene, PVC, etc. But then a large amount of chemical substances must be added to that polymer to be able to give it the shape and application we want. Certain compounds are added that make it more malleable or harder, flame retardants, sunscreens, biocides... In short, more than 10,000 different chemical compounds can be added.
And which ones pollute the most?
When there is plastic waste we are aware that it is, but many people are unaware that much of that waste is made of toxic chemical compounds. That's why there is a type of pollution that can be caused by the little piece of plastic from the polymer that you breathe or eat, and then there is that caused by those chemical substances that that little piece of plastic contains. The highest levels of pollution are found in means of transport, but since we spend little time during the day compared to what we spend in the office or at home, it contributes a small part to the general calculation of your daily dose. Another thing is the people who work as taxi drivers, bus drivers. They do receive a higher dose of pollution.
Is the smallest plastic the most problematic?
Smaller plastic is easier for you to breathe in or eat involuntarily, and once it enters your body, it is able to enter the bloodstream and distribute throughout the body. The smaller, the more capable of passing through cell membranes. The toxicity of the piece of plastic depends on many aspects such as size, shape and chemical composition, and the chemical additives it has.
And once you have entered...?
It is difficult for it to leave the human body. Yes, it is true that there are studies that have shown microplastic particles in human feces, that is, we are eliminating part of it, but other studies have found microplastics in human samples of blood, lungs, placenta, breast milk, which is the most critical because then you are transferring it to the fetus.
Why is it so difficult to act?
We all know that the power of the oil industry is very strong. But also because it is very difficult to make people aware of the plastic problem and that is related to what our current consumer society is. We do not demonize plastic because it is a material that has many advantages, it gives you many possibilities to make countless materials at a very affordable price. And, furthermore, it is very stable, and the good part of that stability is the negative part when it becomes waste, since it takes a long time to degrade. As a material you manufacture, it is ideal and the problem is more excessive consumption, far above the needs we really have.
Reducing plastic would make products more expensive.
A world without plastics would be more expensive, yes. Clothing without plastics, for example, would be more expensive. The problem is that, even if it is 100% cotton, it contains chemicals. The issue is to reduce the consumption of clothes that we usually make because it would be better.
And recycling doesn't work?
The circular economy and recycling do not seem like the great solution to waste problems. I mean that if we think that we can produce everything we want because our economy is circular, we are wrong. First because the reality is that we do not recycle as much as we should and, second, because you cannot recycle plastic material a thousand times. Every time you recycle it, the plastic loses its properties and each time you have to add more chemicals. In other words, you are making the situation worse. And another problem is that virgin plastic is now cheaper and of better quality than recycled plastic. And that is where the different legislations should come in. The plastic problem cannot be solved with citizen awareness alone; It has to go hand in hand with legislative measures. And it is not enough to make a law, we must verify that it is complied with. For example, the new Waste Law that came out a couple of years ago prohibits single-use materials such as plates, glasses, cutlery, etc., and I still go to supermarkets and I still see plastic plates: instead of saying that They are disposable, it says they are reusable three times.
As in the case of Bisphenol A?
This law also included for the first time the prohibition of certain toxic substances, such as bisphenol A, which the scientific community has known to be toxic for more than 50 years. Now it has finally been banned, but who verifies it? At first glance, in a supermarket, I am unable to know if a container contains bisphenol A. Analysis would have to be done and, of course, not everything can be analyzed, but governments should carry out a type of random controls to verify if it really is. He is complying with that law. With the speed limits in the car they also tell us that we cannot go faster than 80, but they put the radar on you to verify if you are going 80 or not.
What measures should be taken?
The most important thing about the problem is that, despite the fact that there is a lot of talk about recycling and alternative plastics, year after year the global production of virgin plastic continues to grow. No matter how many measures are being taken, we are getting worse and worse. And there are simple measures. For example, if we manage to package food without so much plastic, the problem would be reduced. 40% of the world's plastic manufactured is used for packaging, and it is true that packaging includes many things, not just food, but it would be an important measure.
Do we drink plastic, whether in bottled or tap water?
At Idaea we have seen that there are almost the same levels of microplastics in bottled water as in tap water. Because? Because the tap water passes through a pipe from the water treatment plant that is made of plastic material and through pipes that are usually made of PVC and becomes contaminated with microplastics and chemical additives. That is why it is difficult to make the problem of plastic pollution evident, which goes far beyond what we can imagine. Look, we also studied the presence of plasticizers in different types of drinks and found that, surprisingly, sugary drinks with added sugar had much higher levels than those without it. And we analyzed the sugar to find out why and we found that the sugar has high levels of plasticizer and the only explanation is that this type of contamination is occurring in the refining process, for a reason that we still do not know. As we have plastic material everywhere, it is easy for these microplastics and chemical additives to be everywhere as well.
Are we exposed at all?
Basically because of what we eat and what we breathe. And then it is about trying to minimize these routes of exposure so that the total sum does not exceed the advisable daily levels. Because you can say, for example, that you eat fish despite the pellets because with that you do not reach the recommended daily limit, but if you add to the fish the sugary drink, the tap or bottle water, the air you breathe in the car and you add up... all of that can reach a minimum.
May be a problem?
They are habits that we have very instilled. The solution is not to say 'I don't eat mussels', the solution is to decide that I do not pollute the sea so that the mussel is not contaminated. But it's difficult, we are not in that dynamic. The level of microplastics in the seas would be reduced simply by throwing less plastic waste into the sea. And how is that achieved? Well, manufacturing less and consuming less.
