A Man With a Truck Full of Carpet Rolls
Several years ago, I met a man with a truck full of carpet rolls at a storage depot up in Michigan. I was there to pick up some luxury vinyl flooring. I watched intently as the fork lift driver working there put five very large rolls of carpet on top of four other large rolls of carpet in the man’s truck.
I asked the man, “What are you going to do with all that carpet?” He explained that he puts the carpet down only one time for wedding receptions, exhibitons,
and other types large gatherings. When the event is over, he returns, rolls up the carpet, puts it in his warehouse.
He then asked me, “You want some?” He proceeded to try to sell me some of his warehoused carpet for a very good price. Although tempted, I did not buy any.
Most of Our Homes Have Indoor Carpet
On the way home, I thought to myself, I wonder if carpet, which is primarily made of plastics, increases the amount of plastic pollution in our home? It even got me thinking of artificial turf fields. What happens to all of those artificial turf fields that are replaced with new artificial turf. I would think that the most common place for the old artificial fields is a landfill.
You see, typical carpet in our hoimes is made from a variety of materials, including polypropylene, nylon, PVC, polyester, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from recycled materials.
Research studies have reported that homes with carpet have almost double the amount of microplastic plastic fibers compared to homes without carpet. Children are particularly exposed to microplastics from carpet because they tend to spend time crawling and playing on the floor.
Plastic Pollution is Everywhere
Stop and go through your home and garage (if you have a garage) for a few minutes. I’ll wait. Do you see the pervasive use of plastics?
Plastics are ubiquitous in daily life. They are so common in daily life that we do not even realize the harm that we are causing.
Millenials born between 1981 and 1996 and Generation Alpha born between 2013 and 2025 know nothing of paper or glass milk cartons, glass pop bottles, and paper grocery bags.
Plastics were a great invention yet they are also a curse. Most household plastics are not biodegradable and can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill. I wonder about carpet. I wonder about artificial turf fields. Yikes!
Go ahead. Count the plastics in and around your house. Tires, plastics on and in cars, toys, deck boxes, sea salt, kitchen sponges, cans, plastic spray bottles, plastic bags, packages of chewing gum, candy, plastic diapers, milk and juice containers, tupperware, rubbermaid, large spoons, plastic forks, spoons, and knives, straws, coffee filters, Keurig coffee boxes, disposable paper coffee cups, garbage cans, cutting board, glass jar lids, potato chip bags, teabags, drink cartons, produce stickers, and wet wipes . . . just to name a few.
Facts About Plastic Pollution
Synthetic polymers appeared in the late 19th century around the 1860s, but it wasn’t until after World War II that the “plastics boom” really began. Plastic has become one of the most widespread materials since its beginnings. At its core, plastic was designed to improve human living conditions, but today it has become a real danger to the environment and the safety of our planet.
Plastic production has grown faster than any other material since 1970. Much of it is produced for single use purposes.
The world produces about 430 million tons of plastic waste each year. Let me break that big number down for you. That is equivalent to dumping 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes every day!
Less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled. At least 80% of plastic ends up in landfills where it will lay in the soil for up to 1,000 years. Nice!
The average liter of bottled water contains around 240,000 detectable plastic fragments. Drink up! That plastic has to be good for you! Researchers published this study in 2024 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Experts estimate that 8 million pieces of plastic enter the ocean every day. The number of plastic particles in the sea doubles every six years.
Plastic pollution is a serious problem for marine animals. It harms 100,000 marine animals and turtles each year and about 1 million sea birds per year are killed by marine plastic pollution.
The Differences Between Micro and Nano Plastics
You hear a lot these days about microplastics and nano plastics. Therefore, let’s get educated about them. Microplastics are plastic particles between 1 nanometer (nm) and 5 millimeters (mm) in size. In contrast, nano plastics are a type of microplastic but much smaller. Nano plastics are particles between 1 and 1,000 nanometers across. They are so small that they are not visible to the naked eye or an ordinary optical microscope. Both plastic particles come from larger pieces of plastic as they break down.
Nano plastics are also more toxic to living organisms than microplastics because they are more likely to be absorbed through the walls of digestive tracts.
Nano plastics also have a higher surface area to volume ratio than larger plastic particles, which allows them to absorb and carry higher concentrations of hazardous chemicals.
Plastic Pollution is All Around Us and In Us
As I described previously, both microplastics and nano plastics come from the degradation of larger plastics. These particles can be found everywhere . . . in trash, soil, dust, water, fabric, cosmetics, laundry, rain, air, seafood, produce, cleaning products, and in living organisms, including humans.
Steps That You Can Take to Reduce Plastic Pollution and Your Exposure
You can do the following things to reduce plastic pollution and your exposure to it:
- Avoid single-use plastics and choose products with less plastic packaging.
- Reuse items like water bottles, canvas shopping bags, cloth napkins, reusable dishes, glasses, cups, and silverware.
- Support a ban or tax on plastic bags. Support businesses that are working to reduce plastic waste.
- Use environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic. For example, you can use a cotton scrubber instead of a plastic sponge.
- Do not microwave food in plastic.
- Drink filtered tap water. Use a reusable glass or a stainless steel bottle.
- Do not purchase or drink water in a plastic bottle.
- Purchase a water filter for your drinking water.
- Eliminate plastic take out containers and cups.
- Avoid plastic product with recycling codes 3, 6, and 7. These are really bad!
- Install a fiber-catching filter in your washing machine. Keep in mind that 60% of all clothing is made of nylon, polyester, acrylic, and other synthetic fibers.
- Use plastic free cosmetics and microbead free beauty products.
- Limit seafood consumption. Eat a vegan diet instead.
- Replace tea bags with loose-leaf tea.
- Dust and vacuum regularly.
- Support politicians that care about our environment and policies that seek to limit single-use plastics.
The 1795 Group Can Help
I am very sad about this. Plastic pollution will be the legacy that we adults leave our children, grandchildren, and the next seven generations of descendants. We are leaving those that follow in our footsteps a “plastic pollution disaster.”
I agree with the Iroquois native Americans – “We should consider the results of our decisions on seven generations of those that follow us.”
We have an obligation to those that follow in our footsteps to be better stewards of our environmental resources.
The 1795 Group believes in being part of solutions. Let’s work together at the grass roots level to help solve this problem!
Perhaps you would like a guest speaker or a presentation on this topic. Perhaps you would like to have your students, learners, or employees enjoy an in-person or virtual professional development workshop in this topical area. Perhaps you need a course to be written for your learners. Whatever your need, the 1795 Group can help. Call us and let’s brainstorm ways to work together.
Resources:
- Podcast, Episode 26: Plastic Pollution is All Around Us. Should I Care? An Interview with Dr. Janice Brahney, Utah State University.
- Podcast, Episode 23: The Challenges Faced by Lake Erie. An Interview with Sandy Bihn. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-23-the-challenges-faced-by-lake-erie-an-interview-with-sandy-bihn/
- Podcast, Episode 19: The Oceans are Hotter Than They Have Been Since the 1970’s. Should I care? An Interview with Annalisa Bracco, Ph.D. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-19-the-oceans-are-hotter-than-they-have-been-since-the-1970s-should-i-care-an-interview-with-annalisa-bracco-ph-d/
- Podcast, Episode 17: What’s in Our Water May Be Killing Us. An Interview with Jamie DeWitt, Ph.D. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-17-whats-in-our-water-may-be-killing-us-an-interview-with-dr-jamie-dewitt/
Contact me today:
Phone: (440) 296-9709 (text first)
Email: tjordan@1795group.com
Website: www.1795group.com
Blogs: https://1795group.com/blog/Podcasts: https://1795group.com/podcast/
