TIMES EVOKE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

NEW DELHI

‘Plastics now have global ecological impacts —

we need green intelligence to address this’
O John P. Wargo teaches at Yale University. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke,
nce, plastic was considered a
miracle material, its synthetic
polymers giving it astonishing
durability. Its spread became a modern
Wargo discusses why the use of plastics must become far more transparent and regulated: Over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic
Photo: iStock

epic — the World Economic Forum finds
the use of plastics increased twenty-fold
over the last fifty years. But plastic also
poses a massive challenge. Currently, 400
million tonnes of plastic are produced
annually. But, as the UN finds, only nine
percent of all plastic waste has ever been
recycled. The rest — over 6.3 billion tonnes
What is the core of your research? have been produced since the 1950s
I research the relationship between AN UNENDING DELUGE — only 9% of all plastic waste has
environmental quality and human Cumulative plastic waste generation and disposal projections till 2050 show a constant rise been recycled while 60% has reached
health, especially focusing on women a landfill or percolated into nature
and children’s exposure to chemicals 25,000
We now produce over 300 million
that can induce disease or Primary waste generated
tonnes of plastic waste annually —
interrupt normal growth. All waste discarded
20,000 that’s almost equal to the weight of
I study the types of expo- All waste incinerated

Million metric tons

— is buried or cast off into nature, leaching
into rivers carrying this to the seas. The
World Bank finds eight million tonnes of
plastic waste enter the seas each year — by
2050, the world’s oceans could contain more
plastic than fish. Already, the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of
debris the size of Texas, has created a
lifeless zone in the Pacific. Microplastics
have polluted coral atolls, mighty peaks,
Arctic snows and the soil beneath our feet.
Worryingly, plastics are now travelling
through water, sediments and air back to
their point of origin — us.
The implications are profound. Plastic,
which degrades over centuries, derives
from fossil fuels, increasing global
warming. Plastic threatens over 700
species, disrupting nature’s ecosystem
the entire human population
sures people experience All waste recycled
and the health risks 15,000 Globally, one million plastic
associated with these. I drinking bottles are purchased every
research what shortfalls minute. Five trillion single-use plastic
in the private and public 10,000 bags are used worldwide every year.
sectors are allowing these Cigarette butts, whose filters have
exposures to happen, generating
5000 small plastic fibres, are one of the
conclusions about what can be done. most common pollutants globally
— food wrappers, packets, lids and
Why do you call the global spread of 0 straws are also mostly discarded
plastics ‘the quiet revolution’? 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
Most plastic items never disappear
The use of plastics in our lives has Data Courtesy: 'Production, use and fate of all plastics ever made', Geyer, Jambeck & Law, Science Advances, 2017
— they just get smaller and smaller.
grown to an enormous scale. But along-
Plastic microfibres are swallowed by
side, there’s been a presumption about ingredient chemicals can disrupt human heavier vehicles. Plastics were also helplessness, an inability to control
the benefits of plastics, without concern health. Some can be oestrogenic while introduced into the food sector because plastics in our world and misunderstand- plankton, birds, animals and fish and
for their environmental fate or their some are carcinogens. Further, there are they have a preservation effect, resulting ings of the long-term ecological, travel through multiple ecosystems
effects on human health. There’s been a nearly 4,000 different chemicals involved in less food waste. Such benefits are clear climatological and health consequences. to arrive back in the human food
supposition of their being benign. But in plastics. We are exposed daily to mixes — but what is also clear is that consumers chain and the water we drink
now, scientists studying the long life cycle which have not been fully studied for never know enough about either the Can your concept of ‘green intelligence’ Research: Harvard Medical School, UNEP, ScienceHistory.org

benefits — UNEP finds the natural capital
cost of plastic use is $75 billion annually.
Alongside, scientists find certain
chemicals from plastics making their way
into the food and water humans consume,
estimating we could be ingesting over
50,000 microplastic particles a year.
However, solutions are possible.
Recycling is the most effective way to
reduce plastic discards. Importantly, with
billions lacking recycling services, a Pew
Centre study finds closing the collection
gap means connecting 5,00,000 people a day
upto 2040 — the livelihoods prospects are
enormous. Industry also holds keys. In the
1980s, industry created the breakthrough
solution of recycling. Today, it could
manage end-of-life plastic products. Mean-
while, scientists are working on biodegrad-
able plastics. Alongside, as Times Evoke’s
global experts emphasise, we can all make
a difference by educating ourselves about
the plastics in our lives. Join Times Evoke
on an exploration of the world’s plastic
challenge — and its solutions.
Photos: iStock
of multiple plastics have found through their impacts. environmental trajectory or the health help people address this?
human tissue testing that many of their impacts of such plastics to make The idea of green intelligence is that fewer plastics, we could also recycle more.
How would you analyse plastic contamina- rational, self-protective decisions. we need to build fundamental knowledge
tion in the environment? about the environmental fate and effects What other remedial actions could help?
WHAT WE DISCARD The scale of environmental plastic of different kinds of technologies. Peo- Industries using plastics should be
Global Waste Composition contamination is global now. Plastics PLASTIC PROLIFERATION ple should think about the products and much more transparent about what’s in
are found in the air, rain, soil, plants and chemicals they bring to their everyday the products they make. The absence of
animals and in the human food chain. Authorities in many countries looked the environments and their own selves. This information makes it very difficult for
14%
Significantly, they are used in some forms other way even when it was evident that is a very different way of thinking, of consumers to protect the environment or
2% of agriculture and aquaculture while the plastics were har ming both the being inquisitive and planning ration- themselves. Second, we need an
2% food packaging industry is largely environment and people. They kept ally to reduce harmful exposures. It isn’t independent body responsible for testing
4% unregulated over the migration of giving licenses to chemical companies to impossible — you can stop ingesting the safety of these chemicals. Next,
5% 44% plastics from packaging to foods. Plastics use plastics in cosmetics, foods and chemicals in plastic packaging by switch- industries should take producer
are also used to convey our drinking drinking water conveyance without ing to foods in more natural packaging. responsibility for plastic products at the
water — again, there is a presumption of prior testing. Compare this to pesticides With water, it’s harder because few people end of their life cycles. We also need a
12% no transfer of chemicals occurring from where, following the 1960s, there has been can buy water filters capable of removing body of consumers making the effort to
the pipes to the water. a presumption of danger. As a result, all environmental contaminants. become more knowledgeable about these
pesticides are much better tested. This disparity in the capacity to products and more thoughtful about the
17%
Does this reflect on consumer behaviour? Supporters of America’s vast plastic manage risks is a serious issue. But living implications of our daily purchases.
Consumers aren’t at fault here — they industry argue over the absence of a simpler life, trying to avoid more Every year, I challenge my students
Food/green Metal
are looking at the benefits of plastics and evidence of risks — but the absence of plastics in your world and demanding to spend one full day without touching a
Paper/cardboard Rubber/leather indeed, many plastics have advantages. evidence doesn’t prove evidence of that these ingredients be identified will plastic product. I’ve promised to take the
Plastic Wood For example, they reduce the weight of absence. That is the irony here. help. Ideally, we should have a world winner out for dinner. Of the thousands
Glass Others transport vehicles like aircraft, which Plastic’s environmental legacy also where only two or three plastics are of students I’ve taught over the years, I’ve
Data Courtesy: 'What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of means they use less fuel and have lower doesn’t reflect an absence of concern allowed upon being found to be safe and not yet had to buy that celebratory dinner.
Solid Waste Management to 2050', World Bank, 2018
carbon emissions compared to older, from consumers — it reflects a sense of capable of breaking down quickly. With I hope a day comes when I can do this.

The mighty Indian elephant, found The Hawaiian monk seal, with only 1,400 Several bird species are highly vulnerable to plastic
Paying across Asia, is frequently migratory,
using rivers, fields and streams for food
individuals left, is one of the world’s most
endangered species. Found in the Hawaiian
pollution — in Korea, birds picking up discarded plastics to
build nests with led to a blackfaced spoonbill chick found
For Our and water as it travels — it is defenceless
against plastic. Ecologists have found
archipelago, once relentlessly hunted for
its skin, the monk seal now faces one of the
with plastic rope entangled around its legs. Fishing lines
and plastic kite strings also threaten water birds and
Plastic wild elephants from Kerala to Thailand
perishing from ingesting plastic bags and
highest plastic entanglement rates of any
pinniped or marine mammal species, its pups
land avian species — over a million birds perish each
year after ingesting plastic bottle caps, clips, etc.
other trash polluting forests and lakes often trapped in nets and other plastic debris Research: UNEP, National Geographic, WWF

‘Phthalates in plastics can ‘Our lab discovered ambient fluid flows like rain
impact adult and child health’ transport microplastics across large distances’
Russ Hauser teaches at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Sujit S. Datta teaches chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University. Sharing
Health. Discussing his insights with Times Evoke, Hauser outlines the his research findings with Times Evoke, Datta discusses his lab’s discovery of how
health implications of one kind of chemical found in multiple plastics: microplastics travel huge distances within land and water — and what they carry along:

I W
Photo Courtesy: S. Datta

focus my research on
exposure to a variety of
chemicals called endocrine
disruptors. These include
phthalates, phenols, flame
retardants, dioxins, pesticides,
etc. I study
the impact of
these chemi-
cals on the
health of hu-
mans, includ-
ing fertility,
pre gnancy
outcomes and children’s health.
I primarily study the chemi-
cals used in plastics — we’ve
found health effects from
exposure to some chemicals
found in plastics, including
reduced fertility. This has been
linked to exposure to chemicals
called ortho-phthalates. Other
groups containing one to ten or
more carbons. ‘Ortho’ refers to
the arrangement of the alkyl
groups on the aromatic ring, so
the two chemical chains are right
next to each other. There are
varied phthalates — some plastic
bottles are made with terephtha-
lates which are different from
ortho-phthalates. Ortho-phtha-
lates themselves have a very
specific structure which enables
their extremely wide use.
I was part of a group which
recently published a paper in the
American Journal of Public
Health, reviewing the studies
androgenic phthalates — how- y research is properties could be a helpful
ever, manufacturers’ use of these called squishy intervention. We are now
chemicals in other products, like engineering — realising that micro- and
food packaging materials, is cur- I focus on the nanoplastics are all around us
rently not regulated in the US. scientific principles underly- and they spread very easily. It
The Toxic Substance Control Act ing soft materials, including is incredibly important to
does have plans to review seven suspensions of particles such study how to control this,
different phthalates for potential as nanoplastics and micro- given the consequences of
health effects. The EPA is in plastics, polymer solutions in their prevalence in our
the process of doing this review. gels and biological materials. environment, our water
Meanwhile, it’s difficult to We use tools and ideas from sources and our food chain.
reduce our use of plastics with- physics, mathematics, materi- We are at the very begin-
out industry developing other als science and engineering to ning of that process but with
materials to replace these. I understand what determines the tools we have developed,
would suggest that people try to the properties of these HOW THEY SPREAD: Datta's lab found microplastic particles (in red) moving swiftly through an we can start to answer
reduce consuming food and materials, how they behave in earth-like material (grey), pushed forward by fluid flows important questions like what
beverages stored in plastic. industrial settings and factors determine the move-
iStock natural environments and ing question to answer since By being able to see what they pick up other contami- ment of micro- and nanoplas-
how we can develop principles it’s very difficult to watch the individual particles were nants. When these particles tics and how to inform
to control their behaviour. what goes on inside soil. doing inside the complex spread, they carry those pol- decision-makers of strategies
Soft materials describes Sediments and soil act like a porous media, we saw the lutants with them. Plastic to curb these processes.
fluids, gels and anything that black box — we know what’s particles did accumulate but particles are thus modified by An enormous amount of
is runny or squishy in consist- going in and what’s coming as fluids flowed through the Data Courtesy: UNEP

researchers have found impacts
of phthalates on reproductive
tract development and there are
also epidemiologic studies on the
effects of phthalates on chil-
dren’s behaviour and cognition.
These are observational studies,
measuring exposure from every-
day sources in expectant
mothers and assessing their
child’s neurodevelopment after
birth and into adolescence. Also,
certain hormones, like testoster-
one, are called androgenic. Some
phthalates have been found to
alter the production of testoster-
one, leading to a reduction in the
body. This quality makes them
anti-androgenic.
Such chemicals themselves
are called ‘everyday, everywhere’
chemicals because they’re found
in so many different products.
Phthalates are frequently used to
s o f t e n P VC
plastic or vinyl
plastic. Phtha- IN OUR SELVES
lates can be found
in children’s toys, building mate-
rials, personal care products like
cosmetics, nail polish, colognes
and soaps. They are sometimes
used in pharmaceuticals, in the
coating of medicines. Depending
on the country and economy,
researchers find there is nearly
ubiquitous exposure to phtha-
lates. In the US, Canada and
Europe, studies show nearly
100% of the population has been
exposed to these chemicals.
Ortho-phthalates is a struc-
ture of the phthalate which has
an aromatic ring and two alkyl
O
O—R
O — R'
O Data Courtesy: Phthalates Action Plan, US EPA (2012)
THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK: Like toys and personal care products,
plastic straws can also contain phthalates added as a softener
looking at maternal exposure
during pregnancy to ortho-
phthalates in relation to chil-
dren’s behaviour and cognition.
Ortho-phthalate exposure has
been linked to ef-
fects on these
outcomes — 30
studies exam-
ined how exposure of an expect-
ant mother can lead to
detrimental effects on children.
Currently, the EU has taken
steps through its REACH system
to regulate or reduce the use of
phthalates, even banning some.
The US has done less. Over five
years ago, I was part of the
Consumer Products Safety
Commission panel (CPSC) where
we reviewed the effects of
phthalates in children’s toys and
childcare articles. We made
recommendations to ban or
restrict the use of several anti-
ency. Microplastics and nano- out but we don’t know what porous material, rather like
plastics come within this happened inside. Hence, we water seeping into earth, that
category. Most studies focus don’t know flow pushed
on these materials in homog- what physical the microplas-
enous environments — but we and chemical IN OUR PLANET tic particles
wanted to know how micro- processes ac- through the
plastics and nanoplastics be- tually determine the move- pores. That process kept re-
have in complex settings, like ment of microplastics. peating itself and the parti-
the ground beneath our feet. One of the techniques we cles spread over large distanc-
Soil is literally packings of developed in my lab was figur- es. The finding came as a
(R, R' groups can be linear, solid particles which house a ing out how to make our own shock because it suggests that
branched, or linear/ tight, porous space. One of the model medium that in many perhaps in nature, ambient
branched or cyclic ring) most important questions we ways preserved the same fluid flows, like rainfall and
focused on was — how do properties and structures as groundwater movement,
fluids and suspensions of soil — but was completely transport micro- and nano- WATER WAYS: Transported from soil and coasts, these ten rivers
microplastics and nanoplas- transparent. So, we could plastics over much larger now carry 90% of the plastic waste that reaches the oceans
tics navigate through these watch what happened as distances than thought. This
complex materials? suspensions of these particles explains why these materials the environment, other research is needed. But people
The answer really took us moved through the porous are so ubiquitous and also, pollutants getting stuck to can inform themselves much
Limit using plastics in heating by surprise. Microplastics are material. Considering the size how they can travel across them and plastic particles more about the sources of
food items and reduce the use of micrometre-scale plastic and chemistry of the micro- great distances. enabling these pollutants to micro- and nanoplastics in
children’s toys made of vinyl particles while nanoplastics plastic particles we were We also found that while spread over large distances. their environment. We can
plastic because a small child are even smaller versions in working with, one expected plastics change our environ- Our research is geared to rethink many personal
could put this in their mouth and nanometre-scale, nearly a that they would likely get ment, the environment also now help remedial action by practices — to drink water, do
the phthalates may leach out, million times smaller than stuck in the porous material, chang es plastics. One industry and governments. If we really need a new plastic
leading to exposure. human beings. We posited clogging it and not spreading. example came from our obser- we find that certain fluid flows bottle or can we carry a
Other remedies are possible. having a suspension of these But, to our surprise, we found vation that micro- and nano- push ahead microplastics, reusable bottle? These might
Substitutes for phthalates, like particles floating in water — the particles were able to plastics aren’t just inert pe rh aps ch an gin g th e seem like small steps but they
citrates, can be used to soften how would they move through spread and move over much particles simply spreading structure of porous materials, make a significant difference
vinyl plastic. Industry is also a porous material like soil? larger distances than we through our environment — introducing a barrier or in saving our planet’s health
moving in that direction, trying That is an extremely challeng- had expected. due to their surface chemistry, altering the plastic’s chemical and, by extension, our own.
to use substitutes when possible.
Of course, phthalates are one
group of chemicals causing READERS WRITE I really like wonderful Times Evoke by the Times Group. I greatly appreciated the Times Evoke is so commendable.
Through expert articles on ecology and sustainable beautiful Times Evoke article on In today’s world, climate change
concern about impacts on living, you make us aware of urgent aspects in our Cantor’s giant softshell turtles. is the biggest issue but it’s often
human health. But there are Dear Times Evoke,
planet’s health. Ayushi Jain’s article was very thought- Such efforts by ecologists remind overlooked. TE highlights this
others, like phenols, including I love your enlightening and aesthetic us that human beings are not the in-depth. We never even knew
provoking. Thanks, TE, and keep up the good work.
bisphenol A, and flame retard- articles! Times Evoke is my favourite ultimate species on Earth. This that the Cantor’s giant softshell
—Rachna Babel, Indore
ants, to be concerned about. part of the Times of India. The article planet belongs to all species and turtle exists in our country. Kudos
Importantly, people must ensure about Cantor’s giant softshell turtles Ayushi Jain’s article highlighting the importance of others are evolved beings too. to TE’s team! Such efforts make
they and their children consume (18th September) was thrilling. Kudos Cantor’s giant softshell turtles in freshwater ecosystems —C Trivikrama Raju, executive this world a better place to live.
foods and beverages containing to conservationist Ayushi Jain. I hope was excellent. This rare species has existed since the engineer, Ibrahimpatnam —Sumanta Ghosh, Panchkula
fewer chemicals from packaging those six turtle hatchlings are fine! dinosaur era. Nature enthusiasts should protect it.
and processing materials. —NA Mukesh, Ooty —Atul Sharma, environmental engineer, Gandhinagar Share your thoughts at: timesevoke@timesgroup.com