RWM Digital Spotlight and Plastiphobia (FREE)

RWM Digital Spotlight

Last week I was invited to speak on “Making Plastic Better” at the RWM Digital Spotlight on Packaging.  I am told that my contribution was listened to by people from industry, government, and consultancies, from as far afield as Brazil, Jordan, and Singapore as well as the UK. 

Plastiphobia

I have often wondered why the western world is in the grip of an almost hysterical crusade against plastic, and I found it interesting to read a paper by Dr. Chris de Armitt, a polymer scientist. How the Environmentalists are Killing our Planet

He says “It’s caring and smart to want to protect the planet and preserve it for future generations. In fact, there’s a group of very active people working toward that goal now. They have a loud voice and politicians are acting on their demands. Those people are known as environmentalists. They probably feel good about what they are doing and who can fault them for fighting for a good cause? I can…and here’s why…”

“In order to protect the planet, we first have to know what is helpful and what is harmful. Only then can we make wise decisions and be a force for good. Unfortunately, too many environmentalists, in their excitement to do good, have not done their homework and as a result, they are harming our planet. That’s a fact and I’m going to prove it. How will I do that? Rather than giving my opinions, I will cite the studies” – which he then proceeds to do.

He finds for example that the 26 Life-cycle Assessments on plastic shopping bags, all show that the environmental credentials of plastic are better than the alternative materials. “So when campaigners and politicians pressurise or require us to use other materials they are harming the environment.  In most cases this will increase the consumption of energy and fossil fuels, and the emission of greenhouse gases.”

How is it then that the anti-plastic campaign has been so successful?  Dr. Armitt has studied the environmentalist’s modus operandi and says “Find an environmental problem, which sounds plausible. Provide anecdotal evidence to support your claims, with emotionally powerful imagery.  Invent a simple solution which sounds appealing.  Pick an enemy and blame them for obstructing the solution.  Imply that anyone who disagrees is probably working for this enemy.  Dismiss any alternative solutions as completely inadequate.”

He notes that this method has been so successful in extracting money from the public that many of the pressure groups are multi-million dollar businesses, who can afford to pay very high salaries.

He then says “it is dangerous to allow green groups to mislead the public and the politicians, because that leads companies to use solutions which cause more harm, and it leads the teachers to mislead the children.”

He notes that on 9th January 2020 the Independent Newspaper (UK) reported  “Supermarkets bringing in even more damaging packaging in rush to ditch plastic.”  Also, in 2018 CNN featured the world’s first supermarket-aisle free of plastic packaging, on which he comments “They touted the move to new compostable bio-materials as well as traditional materials such as glass, metal and cardboard. That sounds admirable enough, but they presented no evidence that what they had done was actually green. So, is their idea environmentally sound or just a publicity stunt? The only way to be sure is not to rely on the pressure groups, but to look for the evidence.”

Michael Stephen

Michael Stephen is a lawyer and was a member of the United Kingdom Parliament, where he served on the Environment Select Committee. When he left Parliament Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc. attracted his attention because of his interest in the environment. He is now Deputy Chairman of Symphony, which is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, and is the founder and Chairman of the Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association.

Earlier Postings in this Column

• 1/ 1/ 20 – Plastiphobia, Microplastics and A Throw-Away Society
• 7/ 1/ 20 – Recycling, Lab Testing, Bangladesh and the Right Bioplastic
• 14/1/20 – Plastiphobia and Bioplastics Definitions
• 21/1/20 – Composting, the European Union and Unemployment
• 30/1/20 – Plastiphobia, Malaysia and a Case Against Compostables and Paper
• 7/02/20 – Coronavirus, MPs Letter, Montreal, Australia and the Dominican Republic
• 14/02/20 – Oman, MacArthur Foundation, Stifling Innovation, South Africa and Compostable Plastics
• 24/02/20 – Serbia, India, Pakistan and European Bioplastics
• 03/03/20 – Plastic To Protect Health and Common Sense on Plastic
• 10/03/20 – Plastiphobia, Singapore, Compostable Plastics, Doorknobs and Carbios
• 17/03/20 – Greening our Way to Infection, Defra Warns Against Bioplastics and Montreal
• 24/03/20 – Ditch the Plastic Bag Ban and Inn-Probio
• 01/04/20 – The Come Back of Plastic Bags, Compostable Plastic Not Wanted and EASAC
• 16/04/20 – Coronavirus and Agricultural Plastics
• 11/05/20 – Coronavirus, Peru, Barbados and Recycling
• 18/05/20 – Say No to Plastiphobia, False Descriptions and the Recycling Myth
• 02/06/20 – Definitions and More Setbacks for Plastiphobia
• 11/06/20 – BBIA, Food Waste and Testing of OXO-Biodegradable Plastic
• 19/06/20 – Oxo Biodegradation, Independent Reports and Precautionary Principle
• 29/06/20 – Banana Republic, Why Turn Plastic into CO2 and Plastic Waste from Ships
• 13/07/20 – Running Scared, The Daily Telegraph and Market Report
• 20/07/202 – Tipa, Plastics Today and The American Genius
• 27/07/20 – Coronavirus, Plastic Litter, Bahrain and Polymateria
• 17/08/20 – Plastics Europe, Confusing Issues and Paper
• 25/08/20 – Professor Emo Chiellini, Plastics Today, Greenwashing and Coronavirus
• 28/09/20 – Kill the Virus, Marine Degradation, Airports, Brazil Retail, Plastic Growth and Face Mask
• 08/10/20 – Compostable vs Biodegradable, Covid 19 and New British Bioplastic Standard
• 27/10/20 – Power of Lobbying, Paper and Cotton Worse than Plastic
• 02/11/20 – Covid 19 and Five Myths About Plastic
• 09/11/20 – Support for OXO BIO, Westminster Forum, Euractiv and Covid
• 23/11/20 – Toxicity of Bio-based and Biodegradable Plastics, and Covid Scaremongering
• 15/12/20 – Recycling and An Article from Austria
• 21/12/20 – EU Scientific Advisers, China Chose Wrong Bioplastics and Covid Nonsense
• 05/01/20 – EU, Covid Lockdowns, WRAP, British Standards Institution and Polymateria
• 12/01/21 – Intertek and Composting
• 19/01/21 – Recycling and Exporting Plastic Waste
• 22/02/21 – Seaweed Plastic, Orange Peel and Xampla
• 02/03/31 – OXO Biodegradable Plastic
• 08/03/21 – EU Scientific Reports and Paper vs Plastic
• 15/03/21 – India, Australia and Dow Chemicals
• 14/04/21 – Oxomar, UK Government and Microplastics
• 26/04/21 – Plastic to the Rescue of Covid and More News from Brazil
• 04/05/21 – Packaging Digest
• 07/06/21 – Minderoo Report and Korea Herald
• 30/06/21 – Recycling, Is the Use of Biobased Plastics Increasing, Confused Australians and Biodegradable Future
• 12/07/21 – EU Flawed Directive, Thailand and Pakistan
• 21/07/21 – Directors Talk, Confusion, Stir Magazine and Dumping Plastic Waste
• 02/08/21 – Angry Farmers, DEFRA and Substitutes for Plastic
• 06/09/21 – Microplastics
• 13/09/21 – UK Government, Defra and David Newman
• 20/09/21 – Michael Stephen Video Interview on Antimicrobial and Biodegradable Packaging
• 05/10/21 – Freedom of Information and Plastic Waste Solutions
• 14/10/21 – Michael Stephen at Pack4Change Summit
• 22/10/21 – Plastic from Algae and Carbon Dioxide
• 15/11/21 – Defra
• 22/11/21 – Defra, India, Food Service Footprint Magazine and Waste 360

Interview with Michael Stephen

• Questions and Answers on OXO-Biodegradability

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here by Michael Stephen and other columnists are their own, not those of Bioplasticsnews.com.