By Shanelle Maksud

Plastic, once celebrated as a miracle material in post-war New York City, has now become one of the city’s biggest environmental threats. How did our love for single-use plastic turn into a crisis? In a city that’s as active as New York, small choices add up leading to a plastic pollution problem decades in the making. Today, the overuse of single-use plastics has left New York’s waterways, streets, and landfills overloaded with waste, posting a major challenge to city officials and citizens.

Early Use of Plastics in NYC

Initially, plastic was seen as an innovation that allowed people to enjoy convenience in a city where time and resources can be limited. By the 1960s and 70s, plastic products, such as bags, bottles, and food containers had become essential items in New Yorker’s lives. During this time, “plastic surpassed all other materials to become the most used in the world” (The History of Plastics Part II: 1935 through 1980, 2024, para. 11). The use of single-use plastics increased, helping busy New Yorkers save time by reducing the need for washing and reusing items. Advanced Plastiform Inc., a plastic manufacturing corporation had stated, “Lighter, less expensive, and much more convenient, these single use plastics became incredibly popular with consumers” (The History of Plastics Part II: 1935 through 1980, 2024, para. 11). Local restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses began using plastic as a cheap disposable option, making it a staple across the city. However, as plastic use became more widespread, not many citizens would realize the lasting environmental consequences of such disposable convenience.

So Much Waste Displayed in the City

As plastic waste accumulated over the decades, its impact on New York City’s environment has become noticeable. Currently, “New York City is home to over eight million residents who produce overwhelming amounts of plastic waste… New York City produces 12,000 tons of waste everyday—only 17% of which is recycled” (Zhu, 2023, p. 502). Plenty of the waste is displayed in public spaces and it creates a sense of neglect and pollution that affects the quality of life, especially in densely populated neighborhoods. This is also seen in low-income neighborhoods, where there is a significant amount of single-use plastic waste laid out on the streets or shown near the sides of buildings. In the prior years, more than 23 billion plastic bags were used in the city and often ended up dangling in trees (Bruggers, 2024, para 16).

Impacts of Single-use Plastic on Marine Ecosystems

There is an excessive amount of plastic pollution in waterways like the Hudson and East Rivers. The Riverkeeper Sweep is an annual day of service that brings volunteers to clean up the Hudson River. The Riverkeep Sweep in May of 2019, volunteers counted and classified that plastic bottles, “… were found by the hundreds… Plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, and single-use plastic bags were also found in great numbers” (Mitch, 2019, para 4,6). This data was found at just 12 of the 122 locations. Having a significant amount of single-use plastic pollution in the Hudson and East Rivers has disrupted marine ecosystems, harming fish, birds, and other wildlife that mistake plastics for food. Although single-use plastic endures for centuries, it deteriorates into small pieces. These fragments infect wildlife and attract industrial pollutants, leading our waterways to degrade (Mitch, 2019).

How Single-use Plastics Affect Human Health

As we know, there is a lot of single-use plastic in New York City and so plastic particles are around us everywhere. Chemicals can leach from our single-use plastic waste to enter our bodies by ingesting or inhaling them. There are indications that breathing plastic particles causes damage to the lungs. Studies from past decades have shown, “plastic particles found in the lung specimens of patients with cancer and chronic lung disease” (Editorial Staff, 2022, para 4). While scientists are still working to learn about what long term exposure could mean for health, people should not wait for evidence of lung health harm to make changes in their everyday life. Think about it: plastic that has touched New York City streets has then degraded into small pieces and now you or a loved one is breathing the waste on a daily basis.

The chemicals in single-use plastics also negatively impact fertility in both men and women. Many of these plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals, like phthalates and bisphenols, which interfere with the body’s hormone systems. These chemicals lower testosterone levels and interfere with estrogen. When there’s interference, there’s disruption on the production and balance of hormones, many of which are significant for reproductive health. Overtime, this interference can lead to reduced sperm count in men and altered menstrual cycles in women. Studies have shown a concerning trend: “the same rate of decline, one percent per year, is what we see for the declining sperm count, what we see for the decline in testosterone, we see for the increase in miscarriage rates…” (Swan, 2021, para 10). This trend suggests that exposure to single-use plastic chemicals might be playing a role in the decline of fertility rates.

References

The History of Plastics Part II from 1935- 1980 by Advanced Plastiform. (2024, February 22). Advanced Plastiform, Inc.https://advancedplastiform.com/the-history-of-plastics-part-ii-1935-through-1980/#:~:text=Plastic%20Becomes%20a%20Part%20of,most%20used%20in%20the%20world.

Zhu, R. (2023). Trashing the chasing arrows: How New York City can solve its plastics problem. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 51(2), 501. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol51/iss2/5

Bruggers, B. J. (2024, February 20). Environmental Groups Eye a Potential Win with New York Packaging Bill – Inside Climate News. Inside Climate News. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20022024/environmental-groups-eye-potential-win-with-new-york-packaging-bill/#:~:text=The%2520state%2520cracked%2520down%2520on,single%252Duse%2520plastic%2520packaging.%E2%80%9D

Plastic pollution in the Hudson: Detailed data from Riverkeeper Sweep 2019. (n.d.). Riverkeeper – Protecting the Hudson River & Safeguarding Drinking Water. https://www.riverkeeper.org/news-and-events/news-and-updates/plastic-pollution-in-the-hudson-detailed-data-from-riverkeeper-sweep-2019

American Lung Association. (n.d.). How Plastic Waste is Hurting Your Health. https://www.lung.org/blog/plastic-waste-your-health#:~:text=There%20is%20some%20indication%20that,humans%20at%20high%20enough%20concentrations

PBS News Hour. (2021, April 26). Chemicals in plastic, electronics are lowering fertility in men and women. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/chemicals-in-plastic-electronics-are-lowering-fertility-in-men-and-women