The plastic problem didn’t exist when it was accidentally invented in 1933, but since then, we’ve produced more than nine billion tonnes of it. Plastic has become one of the most used (and thrown) materials in the world, polluting our mountain tops, ocean beds, forest floors, cloudy skies, and even our own bodies. 

But how did this happen? Over time, plastic was found to be a cheaper alternative to other packaging material and therefore began to be mass-produced. This evolved into the formulation and marketing of disposable plastics or single-use plastic, which fueled the eras of convenience and consumption. 

A straw in a cold beverage, a bag full of groceries, a packet of chips, the packaging of an online order, single-use plastic now exists wherever you look, like visual clutter. 

Single-use plastic was designed to be discarded, but not designed well enough to be discarded. To break that down – it isn’t durable in your home and made to be used only once, but after it is thrown away, it’s extremely long-lasting in a landfill. That’s because plastic is a non-biodegradable material that takes thousands of years to break down into its smallest form – a micro plastic, which in and of itself is extremely toxic. This is unlike biodegradable waste, such as fruit or vegetable peels, which break down to rejoin the soil. 

The Earth was created like pieces of a puzzle where everything fits into the other in perfect harmony within multiple ecosystems. Plastic, however, doesn’t fit that mould.

The phenomenon of single-use led to a massive lifestyle change which extends to other materials and products. The affordability of plastic increased its usage and changed the mindsets of people about commodities. It altered ‘buying’ to become more thoughtless and less of a conscious choice. 

The quality-factor was thrown out the window, along with 10,000 tonnes of plastic per day. 

Everything began to seem highly replaceable because it was possible to produce it cheaply. What isn’t replaceable however is our heavily polluted air, land and water caused by this throw-away culture. There is a disappearing desire to reuse, mend or repurpose. People prefer to toss out something as quickly as they bring in something new. 

This has influenced the economy’s linear growth based model, which is designed for three steps, extraction, production, and discarding –  in other words it’s a take-make-waste model. It assumes an infinite supply of resources and therefore an unquenchable consumption habit.  

We have become such a consumption culture that ‘human beings’ have become ‘human buyers’, or in more familiar terms, ‘consumers’. Our trash cans are overflowing with stuff that could still be valuable to others. The habit of consumption has also seeped into our watching, sleeping, eating, shopping and relational habits leading to the overconsumption of everything.  

This has greatly reduced the robust identity that humans have, as those created in God’s image, those that reflect and give His love, joy, and peace to the world around us, allowing it to permeate into every aspect of our world like salt and light. 

To buy is not based on need anymore, but it has transformed our desires to receive pleasure from purchase and profit. It has further transformed our communities, where we now have shopping centres in place of community spaces like parks. In urban areas, public spaces where you can build community without having purchasing power are few and far between. 

What we desperately need is a paradigm shift. A restructuring of our economy and thought towards something more regenerative, even at an individual level.

One of the ways we can pursue this is by building a more circular economy which prioritises reusability and closing the consumption loop. We can do this by refusing single-use items, reducing the amount of stuff we buy, reusing what we have, shopping second-hand when we need something, and recycling items that can be. 

While we need to curtail our consumption, it’s also important for us to give back. To live a life that is restorative. – Plant something beautiful, rescue an injured creature, renew a street side park, look up at the sky at the drifting clouds, watch the brightly coloured sunbirds in the flowers. 

The crisis we’re in is an invitation to be more than a consumer and become a citizen of the world. The framework of citizenship indicates stewardship and responsibility, an outlook towards the long-lasting welfare of the community. It assumes relationships with people and places and encourages the protection and preservation of our home. It gives us the opportunity to look outward and make better choices. 

If we consume less, we may have more space and time to love more.

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Written by Jerusha Isaac