PLASTIC INVISIBILITY

Why is plastic so easily ignored, it is everywhere and in a strange way, nowhere because we have stopped noticing it. 

We all live in Plasticville, “the plastic age” (Freinkel 2011, Tonkinwise 2004), it appears everywhere in our life, Freinkel wrote jotted down some of the objects in her house that contains plastic, and these can be as ordinary as a toilet seat or cellphones. “We tend to ignore or forget about plastics yet they are literally everywhere.” (Tonkinwise 2004) In another word, plastics are everywhere but why don’t notice these materials? 

< http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/living_in_bayside/recycling_plastics.htm >

viewed 12 May 2016, recycling and waste

According to Dr Cameron Tonkinwise, he listed out four main points of why he think plastics are so easily ignored, these are: transparency, uniformity, lightweight and cheapness. From my perspective, I think ‘transparency’ and ‘cheapness’ are the main reasons why we ignored plastics easily. “Firstly, Plastics can be transparent.” (Tonkinwise 2004) The success as a type of packaging that is made out from plastics have been used among on a large amount of products. "About 250 billion pounds of raw plastic pellets are produced annually worldwide and turned into a tremendous variety of products, from cars and computers to packaging and pens."  (Wired News, June 5, 2004). From this we can see how much plastics have been produced by 2004, and it’s not hard to think how much it have increased till today. 

Tonkinwise then continues “Most significantly in these economically driven times, plastic does not attract attention because it is so inexpensive.” The design of plastics are widely used in now a days world, because its cheap and everyone can afford it. Even though some supermarkets doesn’t offer free plastic bags, customers can still afford buying one or two that only cost $1 each. Tonkinwise explained the reason why plastics are so cheap by “…because the cheapness of the former allows them to be consumed at rates that are blowing out the cost of the latter.” (Tonkinwise 2004) 

< https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/27/41/82/274182b5e85b761604b3e95fe82f15d3.jpg >

viewed 12 May 2016

Plastics are also recyclable, it helps to reduce the amount of plastics that are thrown into the ocean. “ It is absurd that a plastic with even a 5 year life gets used only once as  packaging.” (Tonkinwise 20014) With that long lifespan of one single plastic, why do they only get used once? Tonkinwise suggested all plastic products should be like washable milk bottle, that kind of design need to be applied to every plastic therefore they are ‘recyclable’. 

< http://ibhangarwala.com/recycling.html >

viewed 12 May 2016

Tonkinwise concluded his perspective on plastics by stating “Once we developed that habit, we began to apply it to all materials.” In another word, once we start ignoring plastics, we will start to ignore other materials even though they don’t have a harm on our life. We need to re-value the importance of plastic. 

References:

• Cameron Tonkinwise, November 2004, Everywhere and Nowhere: An Introduction to Plastics, Australia, EDF, viewed 12 May 2016
• < http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-21/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-oceans-by-2050-report-warns/7105936 > ABC news, 21 Jan 2016, More Plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, report warns, viewed 12 May 2016
• < https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics?utm_content=buffer528b9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer > World economic forum, 19 Jan 2016, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics, viewed 12 May 2016
• < http://www.culturechange.org/e-letter-plastics_enemy.html > Jan Lundberg, Plastics: Your Formidable Enemy, viewed on 12 May 2016