“There needs to be a change”

There are materials and substances in our world, that maybe have created progress in our technologies but have a fatal drawback: Plastics are destroying our oceans. And to change that we have to rethink our patterns and try to listen to voices that maybe are not as loud as the one in the advertisements, but know their business. Voices, that know what the future could hold, if we keep polluting our oceans.

Dr. Dimitri Deheyn is a leading marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California and he answered in an expert interview a couple of question regarding the current situation and if there is still hope.

Dr. Deheyn, what are your main activities as a marine biologist?

Dr. Deheyn: Well, I have many activities, but my focal area is on biomimicry, so what can we learn from nature to design better technology that will have less impact on our oceans. We do research to find new compounds that can help with assisting activities to be more sustainable for the environment

I consider myself as an expert generalist, meaning that I have a lot of different fields of research and I try to connect them together. I work a lot with engineers, physicists, other scientists and sometimes the industry as well.

Which are the greatest polluters in our oceans? Why are they harmful?

Dr. Deheyn: If I look on what is impacting the environment it is clear based on what we observe, that material that are not degrading are the most important polluters because people can see them and they are enraged about them. So, a lot of effort goes in to avoiding the single use plastics, plastic bags and straws and all the packaging of creams and lotions. Because these plastic materials do not degrade. There are, however, other polluters, of course, that are invisible, like microfibers, but the public has a hard time associating with them.

We usually can see plastic and we choose to use it. And when it ends up in the ocean, we can see it. The straw you use today will end in the ocean tomorrow and ends up in a sea turtle or a dolphin. I think that link has brought up a social movement of taking care of the oceans. Fossil-based plastic is the major source of pollution – it is not the only one, but the major one.

We can see this clearly in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic. People are using more wipes, which often contain a high percentage of non-biodegradable fossil-based plastic and, unfortunately, they dispose of them as if they were degradable. There are already reports of huge amounts of wipes seen in the oceans. Think about how many people are using wipes per day. We cannot afford having these single use materials just trashed in the environment. The impact on the oceans from this pandemic will be tremendous and last for a long time if we don’t take actions promptly.

You heard about the EU wanting to label single use plastics as part of the “single use plastics directive”. Do you think this will change something in the consumers mind?

Dr. Deheyn: Labeling is important. We need to make sure that people can make a conscious choice. If you use a cream that has plastic in it, you need to know. If you use a wipe with fossil-based material you should know there is a wood-based alternative and have the choice. People tend to assume things. If people use a wipe on their baby, most of them assume the wipe is “paper-like” while it might be entirely made out of fossil-based plastic. And so they dispose it like tissue paper. Labeling becomes crucial for educating people.

What are the difficulties about the new labeling?

Dr. Deheyn: The move from the EU and US to reduce the negative environmental impact of single use plastic is important. We need to reuse materials and we need biodegradable alternatives. The issue comes from “What is plastic” – they are still far from finding a right definition for it. I understand the definitions are hard for the makers but it should be easy for the consumer, with clear distinctions between cellulose-based materials versus fossil-based ones. 

In my laboratory, we have compared the degradation from plastics with the alternatives, under realistic ocean settings, directly in the seawater. We clearly saw that fossil-based fabrics do not degrade, while cotton or wood-based fabrics do. A piece of plastic has a surface that isn’t a good home for the ecosystem. Cellulose-based alternatives will be covered with microorganism very soon: algae, bacteria and so on. And that is the difference.

Way too often we are making policies without seeing the big picture: What is part of this circular movement of carbon? If you step back and look at the definition of plastic you should consider that. We cannot add something that is not part of the cycle over and over again without putting our ecosystem in danger.

So you don’t think we need to renounce, we just need to use alternatives?

Dr. Deheyn: Definitely, and it need to be an incentive for the consumer. And the incentive needs to be coming from a fair and honest disclosing about the impact. People see plastic bags in the ocean and say “that is gross” but that goes beyond what we are interested in as marine biologists. Those fossil-based plastic bags stay there for hundred and hundred of years. If you keep adding them, they are going at the bottom of the ocean or in the digestive tract of whales. They are not part of the entire system and so I think it’s important we reflect on that and the consumer should be informed. If it’s non-degradable fossil-based plastic, use it for something you can use over and over again. And when you dispose of it, do it in a smart way. Many environmentally-driven or recycling projects reuse plastics as construction materials, bricks and so on, that is okay. It has to come to the mindset of the consumer, that if you use plastic, you should use it like glass: wash it and reuse it until it cannot be used anymore. And then you need to dispose of it properly and not just throw it in the environment. This mindset is not there yet. Single-use plastic it anchored since the 70’s because it’s easy, it’s fast. If people can reuse plastic smartly, then okay, but is the way how you do it, that matters.

What alternatives do consumers have when they want to avoid plastic?

Dr. Deheyn: Well, cellulose materials. Materials that are in the ecosystem like wood for example. If you use wipes, that are made from wood-based cellulose fibers like viscose or lyocell, that is good opposed to plastic ones.

But you need to know, that there is plastic – used for instance for cars and household appliances – which does not end up in the ocean because there are very strict laws on how to recycle those big plastics. In contrast to that, the textile industry is a major contributor of plastic in the ocean. It’s because people don’t realize what they wear. People see the plastic bags and straws, but every time we wash fossil-based textiles we contribute to pollute the ocean in a major way with microplastic, and microfibers. With wipes it is even worse: Until now producers only need to disclose ingredients of the lotion they put on the wipes. This is why consumers hardly have a chance to differentiate between fossil-based wipes and cellulose alternatives.

But how do we make people realize that?

Dr. Deheyn: Now we are talking about a pollutant that is not visible. And we have to change that. We have to make that visible and bring awareness to the people. Because the likelihood that fossil-based fibers will end up at the North Pole is pretty high, even if you live in the Southern hemisphere. This global aspect needs to be seen by the public. Consumers need to have a choice knowing the global effects of micro-pollutants and know that we are all active contributors to generating them… you cannot blame your neighbor here. And if you purchase synthetics you should know the impact you are having on the environment. Plastics are not only straws but are also wipes and clothing. Polyester has good performances, which is great but cellulose alternatives have good performances as well, and they are biodegradable.

And why aren’t they as popular?

Dr. Deheyn: First the labeling. I don’t think that people may know that what they buy contains polyester aka plastic. For wipes, there currently is no need to disclose fiber ingredients at all. There needs to be a push from the governments to label what is part of what we buy. Like for our food. Big brands need to label properly. I think it has to be talked about more often and communicated about the alternatives. Also we need to keep words simple and avoid acronyms. People know what plastics are, not necessarily PPE or PPS. Similarly, we need to use wood-based or other simple words, if people want to understand what viscose or lyocell are.

Better PR?

Dr. Deheyn: Oh yes, much better PR to complete your previous question. The world for “alternative-to-plastics” is happening, but at a very small scale. Alternative materials have a different financial impact on the global economy (and thus they appear less important) and the biodegradable aspect of these materials still need to be perfected. But if you don’t have the consumer base it’s difficult to move on all those fronts. I see myself having a difficult time finding something that has no plastic in it, and I am very conscious about it.

It's good to see, that also the upcoming EU Single-use Plastics Directive will contribute to more transparency in wipes and feminine hygiene since producers will need to mark single-use plastics by mid of July 2021. I just hope we will use this momentum as consumers to have more transparencies on these materials and their alternatives.

How has the plastic situation developed during the last 10 years? What will happen in the next 10 years?

Dr. Deheyn: The last 10 years have been great. Social media have had a huge impact on how people see pollution. I think that the last 10 years have brought to the forefront the issues we have. The next ten years we need to use the same tools to reverse the process of excessive production, excessive consumption, and excessive waste, and emphasize conscious purchase and smart recycling. That would be the perfect use for social media, I think.

Is there still hope for our oceans?

Dr. Deheyn: We need to have hope. I am here talking to you to give hope. I want to make people think and act responsibly. Think about how you dispose of the single use wipes. You live in an ecosystem and if that collapses – now or when your children grow up – it’s gonna be our collective responsibility. We need to be aware that there are things that need to be changed. There are many small businesses that have many great alternatives of biodegradable materials, we need to give them the opportunity to rise. And that’s where we are now. There are people with clever ideas and good alternatives. And we need to make the consumer feel responsible and respect the ecosystem. If we don’t do that, we are living above nature and pressing down the ecosystem. Making our ecosystem one difficult to live in, with challenges to host our growing society.