Plastic Is Oil

Everyone is talking about oil these days. Did you know that plastic is made from oil? Plastic, and therefore oil, is in our clothes, chewing gum, cars, computers and pretty much everything around us.

Consider this: it takes 17 million barrels of oil to produce the disposable plastic water bottles that Americans consume every year[1].  According to the EPA, only 7% of this plastic waste is recycled each year - the other 93% of plastic waste goes into the landfill or ends up in our oceans[2]. Plastic can easily be recycled into different products or even used as a fuel source – so simply tossing the water bottles into the garbage can is a waste of a potentially valuable resource.

So How are Oil and Plastic Related?

Oil is a naturally occurring substance comprised of hydrocarbons that are all mixed together. Crude oil does not come out of the ground in only one form.  It occurs in a range of quality from a denser/heavier form to lighter oils.  The oil must be refined to achieve the most uses.  It is refined into different products including gasoline, gas oil, kerosene, and solvents like benzene.  Methane and ethylene are also two by-products generated from the refining process and they provide the feedstock for the production of plastic.  Plastics were originally made from natural products like cellulose (plant material) but most plastic now is made from the petrochemicals derived from the crude oil.

While our concern is focused on the oil spilling in the gulf, our plastic use is also making an impact in the oceans.  Currently, it is estimated that the BP oil spill is gushing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico[3]. The resulting oil slick is now estimated to cover at least 2,500 square miles[4].  In comparison, the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch located within the North Pacific Gyre, where researchers have found a plastic to plankton ratio of 6:1, is conservatively estimated to be 270,000 square miles[5].  This plastic marine debris has harmful effects on our marine life and is entering the food chain.  In fact, one million seabirds die globally each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics[6]. Researchers are finding fish that have ingested more than 20 pieces of plastic.  These are other examples of the destruction occurring as a result of our dependence on oil.

So what can we do about this? One of the first things is to become aware of the plastic that surrounds us.  It is certainly eye opening to realize how prevalent it is in our society.   Then, start looking for easy ways to reduce your use of plastic.  And, as always, recycle everything you can.  Although we cannot completely cut plastics out of our lives, we can make more environmentally conscious decisions about the products we buy and use on a daily basis.

[1]  http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/bottled_water_factsheet.pdf

[2]  http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/plastics.htm

[3]  Macdonald, Ian; Amos, John; Crone, Timothy; Wereley, Steve (2010-05-21). "The Measure of an Oil Disaster". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2010-06-01.

[4] Bigg, Matthew (2010-05-03). "Progress toward Gulf oil well cap". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-05-13.

[5] Marks, Kathy (2008-02-05). "The world's rubbish dump". The Independent (London). Retrieved 2010-05-04.

[6] N. Wallace. “Debris entanglement in the marine environment: A review” (1985) pp. 259-277 in: R.S. Shomura and H.O. Yoshida (eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on the Fate and Impact of Marine Debris, U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum. NMFS, NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFC-54