This morning, I had a telephone conversation with a plastics industry insider who runs a web site dedicated to supporting plastics professionals. Greg from Plastics.com is a nice guy. Very sincere. And surprisingly, we found many more areas of agreement than probably either of us expected.

I won’t go into the details of the conversation in this post, except to tell you that I expressed to him my major concerns with plastic: non-biodegradable waste from disposable plastic containers and packaging; chemicals that can leach from plastics and the fact that those chemicals are not disclosed to consumers; harm to wildlife, etc. Greg shared with me his views and expressed that he has some of the same environmental concerns that I do.

Now we’d like your input.

What do you see as the major problems with plastic?

What uses for plastic (if any) are necessary and beneficial to society?

Would you like to see a world without any plastic at all? What would that look like?

Do you trust the plastics industry to tell you the truth about their products? Why or why not?

Do you trust the American Chemistry Council to tell you the truth?

What questions would you ask a plastics professional if you could?

What role do you think the plastics industry should play in solving the environmental problems associated with plastic?

What else would you like to share?

As you know if you’ve read this blog a long time, I’m not out to demonize anyone or any product. But I’ve seen the harm caused by the over-consumption and misuse of plastic, and while my personal environmental efforts have broadened to include other issues, reduction of harm from plastic pollution (out in the world and inside our bodies) continues to be my main passion and purpose.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m hoping we can begin a real, honest dialogue with the manufacturers and purveyors of plastic.