by Colin Eldridge
In Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez River Watershed, and worldwide, plastic pollution poses a serious threat to both people and wildlife through ingestion, entangling animals, disrupting habitats, and introducing harmful chemicals into the environment.
In 2022, over 1,853 deteriorated plastic milk crates, originally installed during the mid 1980s as artificial fish habitat, were removed with other trash from the dry Cachuma lakebed by volunteers and park staff. The “Clean Streets, Clean Seas” program, which received $1.26 million in funding in 2023, also aims to address microplastic research and cleanup in the Santa Barbara region in its waterways and streets.
These local initiatives reflect many necessary global efforts to clean up plastic, but these efforts don’t address the root of the problem. Where does all that plastic litter go after it is cleaned up? Much of it ends up in landfills or back in the ocean, and even after it’s cleaned up it is soon replaced with more plastic waste.
Once plastic is exposed to the elements, it gets broken down into tiny pieces of “Microplastic,” that are very persistent and hard to remove from the environment. These microplastics spread far and wide through waterways, into our food system and beyond. According to a study commissioned by WWF, the average person could be ingesting an average of 5 grams of plastic per week. An estimated 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, where it wreaks havoc on marine wildlife and birds. These plastics contain harmful carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting chemicals, that leech into the environment and our bodies.
A local and global shift is required to address the plastic pollution crisis, and it requires tackling the issue from many angles. Unfortunately, the plastic problem is a complex political and economic issue that won’t go away any time soon. With many competing forces that want to keep cheap and readily available plastic on the market, legislation would need to be passed to reduce plastic production and provide incentives and research to find ways to break down plastics and/or develop more sustainable alternatives like biodegradable plant-based plastics.
Only about 5 to 6% of household plastics in the United States are recycled, and only 9% worldwide. Many recycling systems lack the infrastructure to recycle certain types of plastics. Much of the plastic in our recycle bins ends up being incinerated or sorted into landfills anyway. While recycling programs have had some positive environmental effects, the way they have been implemented and marketed, particularly by large companies, has been questioned. The concept of recycling was initially promoted as a way to reduce waste and conserve resources, but some corporations have used it as part of their “greenwashing” marketing efforts to mitigate criticism around their environmental impact.
Corporate accountability, legislation changes, large-scale shifts in consumer behavior, and public awareness and education are all necessary steps towards cleaning up our planet’s big plastic problem. You can do your part by replacing single-use plastic with reusable containers, buying staple groceries in bulk instead of in individual plastic packages, and encouraging communities, corporations, and governments to reduce or eliminate plastic production and pollution.
Colin Eldridge
Colin is an avid naturalist and writer. He has volunteered at the Neal Taylor Nature Center as a docent, web designer, and photographer. He has also worked on co-creating and updating multiple Nature Center exhibits, such as the plant room, the “Going Batty” presentation and more.
