There's a hidden environmental threat from cars that isn't taken into account when experts talk about pollutants from petrol-driven cars or the mining of lithium, cobalt and nickel for the batteries of the electric sort.
As more vehicles take to the road - petrol, electric or other - the microplastics that shear off their tires and brakes erode into tiny particles that end up in the gutter and wash out to sea in rainwater, or get carried away by wind.
According to an article in Wired magazine, "The easy transportation of these particles comes down to the dual charms - and evils - of plastics: They're both extremely lightweight and extremely tough. Car tires and brakes are meant to last, and their chemical composition means that after the particles slough off, they just break into smaller pieces as they tumble through the environment. That plastic never actually goes away - it just disintegrates."
It's hard to know what to do about these particles, but it's worth thinking about the sheer volume of plastic in our environment, particularly in the month of "Plastic Free July".
As Robyn Smith, founder of Faithful to Nature, an online shop for sustainable living, says: "The plastic pandemic is strangling the planet. We should say 'no thank you' to single-use plastic shopping bags, takeaway cups, drinking straws, disposable masks, gloves and hand sanitiser bottles that contribute to the pollution crisis."
Smith asks that South Africans opt for recycled mask options like those made by WAYSTD (double-layered masks made of 65% recycled PET bottles). She says: "Each WAYSTD mask bought off the Faithful to Nature website will mean one donated to people in need, and a R20 donation to the Sustainable Sea Trust."
OTHER WAYS TO TAKE ACTION
Opt for reusable sanitary pads; swap plastic toothbrushes for bamboo, and invest in a reusable straw, coffee cup and water bottle. Take your own bags to the supermarket; and choose reusables for food wrapping. And recycle, recycle, recycle.
PLASTIC POLLUTION BY NUMBERS
• By 2050, it's predicted there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.
• In 2018, the WWF for Nature said that, on average, South Africans use between 30 and 50kg of plastic per person per year.
• According to Plastics SA, the industry recycled 334,727 tons of plastics annually - or 43.7% - of all plastics.
• SA currently recycles around 67% of all plastic PET bottles products.
• Plastics recycling saved 246,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions - equivalent to greenhouse gases produced by 51,200 vehicles.
