The Link Between Big Oil and Plastic

My quest for a Plastic Free July led me to troubling research on the link between big oil and plastic. In particular the amount of money spent on deceiving the public about plastic. – Guest post by my sister Tina, who lives in the USA.

In America? Check out Life Without Plastic. They sell a whole range of household items for those looking to live plastic free.

This year I decided to take part in Plastic Free July. My initial focus was going to be on replacing all the plastic bottles in my bathroom. First things first – shampoo!

My Quest To Go Plastic Free

What I discovered when I started to research plastic free shampoos was shocking. Prior to undertaking my research, I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea how intrinsically interwoven plastic products were in my world. I set about looking to replace plastic bottles and single use plastic items in my home and ended up noticing plastic everywhere. I discovered plastic in my clothing, plastic on my food wrappings, plastic tops on everything else made of paper, cardboard, metal or glass. It was overwhelming. (Read 25 Ways To Use Reduce Plastic!)

• More than 400 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced around the world each year – equal to the weight of 1,000 Empire State Buildings. (forbes.com)

I already knew that it took years for plastic to degrade. That various forms of it were entering into our oceans and rivers and destroying our wildlife and delicate ecosystems. But most shocking to me was the discovery that most of our consumer plastic is created by the oil and gas industry; that recycling was invented by these companies in order to make consumers feel more comfortable consuming plastic; and that the industry was investing in increasing plastic production.

Big Oil and Plastic Recycling

“NPR and PBS Frontline spent months digging into internal industry documents and interviewing top former officials. We found that the industry sold the public on an idea it knew wouldn’t work – that the majority of plastic could be, and would be, recycled – all while making billions of dollars selling the world new plastic.

The industry’s awareness that recycling wouldn’t keep plastic out of landfills and the environment dates to the program’s earliest days, we found. “There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis,” one industry insider wrote in a 1974 speech.

Yet the industry spent millions telling people to recycle, because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn’t true.

“If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment,” Larry Thomas, former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, known today as the Plastics Industry Association and one of the industry’s most powerful trade groups in Washington, D.C., told NPR.” – How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled

Indeed, plastic and petrochemical production is quickly becoming Big Oil’s biggest investment. As world governments slowly reduce our reliance on burning fossil fuels to reduce our ecological footprints and slow down climate change, the oil and gas industry are hedging their bets on plastics and petroleum products.

• Oil companies plan to invest $400 billion into new petrochemical plants, betting that demand for plastic will keep growing. (forbes.com)

British Petroleum and Their Quest for Oil

Many years ago, I met a wonderful indigenous Aleut woman from Alaska who on learning that I was British became hellbent on regaling all the terrible things that my country had done to her indigenous land.

I was well aware of many of England’s atrocities throughout the ages; but this particular woman, speaking up for her people, told me was that it was BP (British Petroleum) that had thrown them all off their land and destroyed it in their quest for oil. I was horrified and disgusted, yet I had to point out that it was a corporation not my country that was responsible. Still, she persisted, and in fact raged at me, informing me that we, as Brits, has allowed atrocities like this to occur because we continued investing in them. As we kept consuming oil, we kept their businesses going. I told her that I did not even know this was happening until she had just told me, and there, our short but incredible friendship ended.

This was ten years ago and still her words and her passion run under my skin and remind me not to invest in British Petroleum; indeed to avoid as many petroleum products as I humanly can. But I had no idea, until going plastic free this July that there were petroleum products in my shampoo.

Petrochemicals

Petrochemicals are now considered the biggest driver of oil consumption in the United States, and are major features of our everyday lives. Today, you can find petroleum products or byproducts in hair care, skin care, cosmetics, nail polishes, household cleaners, detergents, medicine cabinets, sanitation products and diapers.

We all know why plastics are bad for the environment (and if you don’t where the @#$% have you been?) But what’s the big fuss about petroleum products and byproducts being in our hair anyway?

A Short History of Petroleum Products

Mineral oil has been around since 1771. It started out as a cheap and efficient lamp oil and ended up in our first aid cabinets. Vaseline, first made in 1872, a happy byproduct of the petroleum industry, is now a comforting balm in many of our households. I suppose it was only a matter of time before various manifestations of refined petroleum waste ended up in other body care products. The first petroleum based ingredients in a shampoo occurred in Proctor and Gamble’s Drene shampoo in the mid 1930s.

Why Natural Hair Care is Best For Us and For The Environment

But while many may still tout the benefits of vaseline and mineral oil, there are petrochemicals in our hair care products that have known links to cancer, disrupt our fertility and reproductive organs and even cause hair loss! (https://greatist.com/health/parabens)

Parabens

Parabens are preservatives that extend the shelf life of a product and inhibit growths of bacteria, mold and fungi. They are often used in high water content products like shampoos and conditioners and have been in our products since the 1920s. However, numerous studies have since proven that parabens enter our systems and are linked to breast cancer, skin cancer and a decreased sperm count.

Parabens such as butyl, isobutyl, isopropyl, propylparaben should not be in our products. Yet, in the US, the FDA does not consider them harmful and they remain in 75% of products in the UK.

(Should you be worried about your foundation containing parabens)

Sodium Hydroxide

Sodium hydroxide, is a common ingredient in shampoos and conditioners and was even in our family staple Timotei. It is a caustic substance often found in commercial drain and oven cleaners. It has been proven to cause “temporary” hair loss!!

Sulfates

Sulfates are fatty oils that strip the hair… Some sulfates are petroleum based and some are made from palm kernel or coconut oils. The problem with sulfates is that the more you use them, the more you need to use them. (I wonder if  big oil knew that putting their products on our hair meant we would need to keep putting their products on our hair to keep our hair clean?)

Natural hair care advocates swear they can go a whole week or more without needing to wash their hair after they lose the store bought shampoo. This anecdotal evidence was not a sufficient argument for me to go sulfate free! I actually enjoy washing my hair! However, it also turns out that sulfates in shampoo cause hair to become dry and brittle and long, fine hair, such as mine, apparently suffers the most breakage.

To research your own skin and hair care ingredients, try reading this)

Conclusion

It seems we are a long way from being able to go entirely plastic free. Plastic and other petroleum byproducts are insidiously interwoven into our daily lives. It’s going to take a concerted effort for us all to eke these products out of our systems and households and landscapes. But the more conscious we become as consumers the more each of us can do to effect positive change. Knowing about the link between Big Oil and plastic has certainly made me a lot more aware of what I’m buying; and putting on my hair and face!