Blog 7

                When MacBride was talking about why textile recycling would be more beneficial both economically and environmentally than glass recycling, she mentioned the slight problem that synthetic fabrics can pose to textile recycling. It got me thinking about synthetic materials in general and some of the problems they cause, and after one of our class discussions this was more specifically with regard to plastic synthetics. What bothered me most about these problems was that we ever let synthetics become such an integral part of our lifestyles that they are so hard to get rid of, even now that we know some of the issues with them.

                Synthetic fibers are artificial fibers manufactured from chemicals, typically petroleum-based, into long polymer chains. Because of the ways in which they are manufactured, synthetic fibers have various qualities that make them ideal for consumer products in our society (durability, waterproof, stretching, etc.), but they are also usually a larger environmental hazard (both in production and disposal) than natural fibers as a result. Production usually involves a lot of carbon emissions and often many virgin resources, and the durability and composition of these compound typically makes it more difficult for them to break down at the end of their life cycles. Some synthetic fibers, like PLA (polylactic acid), are produced from more natural materials (like corn starch or agricultural byproducts) rather than petroleum-based chemicals and are called bioplastic because they come from biological materials. They are frequently hailed as more biodegradable (and thus less environmentally harmful) than petroleum-based plastics, but often, even under optimal conditions, the time frame required for the material to degrade is ridiculously long.

                Since 1931, over 21 different synthetic fibers have been created (like Rayon, Nylon, Vinyon, PVC, etc.), one of the most recent of which is PLA, created in 2002. Considering this time frame and the currently rapid rate of innovation and technological advancement, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me to think that even more new synthetics (plastics or otherwise) may be created in the near or distant future. I think it is important to consider this possibility and to establish regulations for testing the environmental or health hazards that would be associated with such synthetics before they were allowed to be manufactured or used in any products. There are many problems associated with current synthetics, like Styrofoam, of which we have only realized the severity now that products involving such materials are widespread and almost a necessary part of our culture and lives. It is a great effort now to try to eliminate such materials after they have already taken such a large role in our day-to-day products. Had we not allowed them to be used in the first place, then society and industries would have developed and grown without them and would have had to find other ways to produce and sell products.  If there were a system to investigate new kinds of materials and types of synthetics before they became widespread in any way, we wouldn’t have to face such challenging consequences down the road and could in the future avoid problems similar to those we are already facing.