Orange bags aren’t answer for plastics

Recently, a friend excitedly texted me regarding the Daily Herald article “How a New Program Will Keep Hard-to-Recycle Items Out of Landfills.” (Sept 18). While I applaud my friend as well as SWALCO for looking for innovative ways to manage plastic waste, this program is not the answer.

First, our world creates around 350 million tons of plastic waste annually. Global plastic production has doubled in the last 15 years and is expected to double again by 2030. We cannot recycle our way out of this global plastic waste problem and the burden should not be falling on consumers to do so.

Second, plastic is made from fossil fuels and chemical additives. Current research has identified that many of these additives are chemicals of concern which include known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors such as vinyl chloride, bisphenols (i.e. BPA), parabens, phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (i.e. PFAS) and more. Microplastics and the chemicals contained in them have been found in our air, water, soil and food and throughout the human body in our blood, lungs, breastmilk, arteries, brains and placentas of unborn babies. While science is racing to understand the health impacts of this level of exposure, we already know that the chemicals in plastic are linked to a variety of health risks such as reproductive, neurological and immunity dysfunction and other problems like obesity and hormone-sensitive cancers.

When we recycle plastic and make items like plastic lumber, additional microplastics are created in the process and microplastics will be shed from the products themselves. We need to find ways to reduce our plastic production, especially of single-use items.

I hate to burst the orange trash bag bubble, but this is not a program I want in DuPage County.

Jacquelyn Casazza

Glen Ellyn