Plastic In Your Veggies?!
I know plastic weed block is popular, but I use several layers of newspaper or even card- board covered in leaf mulch. This makes an effective barrier that also feeds the soil. And, because it natural- ly breaks down, there’s no cleanup when the season is over. — Amanda What can we do to use less plastic in one of our most favorite activities — gardening? We asked our Food & Water Watch team who love gardening, for ideas.
“I’ve been growing as many veggies as I can from seed. Last year, I didn’t bring home any plastic pots from the nursery.” — Miho
Growing up, many of us were taught to cut the plastic rings around soda cans so they wouldn’t entangle fish or turtles. But the modern plastic pollution crisis has expanded beyond worry- ing about harming sea creatures or overwhelming our landfills — it’s entered a new phase in the form of microplastics . Microplastics are so widespread now that they’ve even gotten into our fruits and vegetables. How did this happen? One of the main ways is through sewage sludge used as fertilizer. Plastic can get very, very tiny As plastic degrades, it fragments into tiny pieces called microplastics. Countless microplastics flow into wastewater treatment facilities through various sources. It can be from every time we do our laundry since about two-thirds of our clothing is now made of plastics such as polyester and nylon. It can be from every time rain washes tire fragments off roads into sewer drains. About 90% of microplastics that enter waste treatment facili- ties get trapped in a byproduct called sludge. And this sludge is widely used as crop fertilizer. The microplastics in sludge are so tiny that plants absorb them through their roots. When we eat a carrot grown in a field fertilized with plastic-laden sludge, we unknowingly eat plastic — and that’s not healthy. You can lessen plastic pollution in what we grow at home Together, we’re doing the necessary work to combat plastic pollution systemically. We’re building support for legislation like the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act and fighting the fossil fuel industry, which supplies the feedstock for most plastics. But in thinking about how plastic can make its way into the things we grow in our soil, Livable Future NOW got curious...
I compost my food scraps, compostable packaging, and yard waste to avoid purchasing bagged compost. I also recycle old Food & Water Watch posters to smother invasive plants in my yard. — Brooke
I order mulch in bulk from a
local nursery, and while it takes us a
few weeks to redistribute "mulch mountain" to areas in my yard, it’s definitely cheaper, avoids plastic, and does wonders for keeping the weeds at bay! — Kate
FOOD & WATER WATCH / ACTION — LIVABLE FUTURE NOW | 4
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