The Impact of Plastic: An 8th-Grade Project

“The light seeps in from your curtains, and you open your eyes and wake up hungry.  You walk to your cabinet and get out oatmeal that has plastic packaging.  After you are finished eating, you brush your teeth using a plastic toothbrush.  You fill up your plastic water bottle.  You pack your lunch in a plastic container with a plastic fork.  This is how much plastic you're using just in the morning, imagine in the whole day.” – Luna Mueller

Luna Mueller is a student at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua.  She chose plastic and recycling as the focus of her 8th-grade project.  Luna’s mentor was Vicki Ramsay, a teacher at Youth Initiative High School and a member of Viroqua Plastic Free.  Here is Luna’s story:

“One of the big reasons I chose to study plastic and recycling for my project was because I wanted to do something that impacts others - not just myself.  My main interest for my project was the lifecycle of plastic and understanding recycling and where recycled items go. 

Plastic Fact:  99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and coal.

“I contacted Southwest Sanitation (now Green for Life) and scheduled a tour with Bill Meeks.  At Southwest Sanitation they accept paper, cardboard, cartons, metal, glass, and plastic containers.  Glass, plastic containers, and metal items need to be rinsed, and plastic lids should be taken off and put in the garbage.  If you were not aware, plastic garbage bags should not be put in your recycling bin.  No mirrors, windows, ceramics, light bulbs, E-waste, TVs, computer items, plastic bags/film, Styrofoam, or syringes should be in the recycling.

“When Southwest Sanitation receives our recycling, they take out all of the garbage and then take the recycling to a 62-acre recycling center in Horicon, Wisconsin.  Many recycling centers like ours take their recycling to Horicon.  The comingled recycling is separated using magnets, fans, and people who handpick things out of the stream.  Horicon then sells the recycling to companies to be repurposed.

Plastic Fact:  Only 5%-10% of plastic is recycled in the U.S.

“I also visited two other recycling centers: Hilltopper Recycling in Onalaska, and Vernon County Landfill & Recycling Center in Viroqua.  Hilltopper takes much of its waste products that would otherwise end up in the landfill and sends them to Xcel Energy’s French Island Generating Plant where it gets burned for fuel.

“The Vernon County Landfill is run by Stacie Sanborn.  She works hard to keep a source-separated recycling center, which means all of the materials that are brought to the recycling center are separated into specific bins like milk jugs, #1 plastics, and #2 plastics, etc.  All of the plastic that she can’t make a profit from goes into the landfill.

“Plastic is not only bad for the ecosystem and our planet, but it is also bad for our health. Plastics break down into microplastics from our clothes, plastic sponges, and from recycled plastic.  That is why it is important to try and not use plastic, and use alternatives to reduce the amount of microplastics that you ingest every day from the plastic items that you buy.

Plastic Fact: Plastic is made from a mixture of thousands of chemicals.

Most have not been tested to ensure they are safe for human use and consumption.

“Single-use plastic is made to save time, but there are alternatives you can use instead. Glass jars are a great way to not use plastic containers.  Wooden or metal forks and spoons and cloth towels and bags are easy ways not to use plastic in your home.

“My friend Frances and I planned and made 100% cotton cloth utensil kits and tote bags to inspire people to not use plastic and to buy or make cloth items at home.

“I also participated in “It Ain’t Easy Being Green,” a Viroqua Plastic Free detective game about greenwashing.  What is greenwashing, you may ask?  It's when companies are misleading or vague on their labels and advertise their product as eco-friendly because they want more profits.  The product isn't actually plastic free or necessarily good for the environment, but they want you to think it is.  

“The goal of the game is to decide who is the most egregious “greenwasher” from products that you can choose from a box.  You figure out which is the worst product and then the group signs a letter and sends it to the company.  I invited a couple of my classmates to play the game and I got to see how impactful the game really was.  My friends started to see what companies were doing and how we should not just accept a vague statement.

“The amount of plastic in the world is way bigger than I expected.  But it makes me want to change and educate other people and make a difference in our society.”

Plastic Fact:  Annual plastic production is expected to double or triple

in the next few decades.