Los Angeles Times - 07.03.2020

R. MCGUIRE

was only half-

right when he

told Benjamin

Braddock,

“There’s a great future in plas-

tics.”

That was but one of the

sardonic cinematic moments in

“The Graduate,” the now-classic

1967 movie starring Dustin

Hoffman in his breakthrough

role as Benjamin. Mr. McGuire

(played by Walter Brooke) may

have been a little overblown in

his career advice, but he was

right about the future of plas-

tics.

He was wrong that it would

be great.

In fact, many say it’s a disas-

ter. “Single-use plastics account

for 40% of the plastic produced

every year,” Laura Parker wrote

in a National Geographic

explainer on the scope of the

problem.

Discarded bottles don’t

break down — not quickly, any-

way, and Parker said 8 million

tons of that junk ends up in the

oceans each year, killing and

sickening the denizens of the

deep.

But surely we aren’t the

culprits in this. Must be other

countries where recycling isn’t

so hot. Sure we each ditch about

185 pounds of plastic each year,

EcoWatch.com said. But if we

recycle, that makes us part of

the 9% who do, Parker wrote in

another NatGeo story. Nine

percent? If the world were get-

ting graded on this, that would

be, well, what’s lower than “F”?

As the universe starts to

awaken to an issue that’s taking

on increased urgency, we won-

der what can be done.

Plastic straws are a source of

shame. San Francisco Interna-

tional Airport no longer allows

water in plastic bottles to be

sold at the airport.

And hotels are beginning to

reconsider those plastic sham-

poo, conditioner and shower gel

bottles (in coming years — in

California, their use will be

associated with fines).

These are small things in

light of the enormousness of the

problem. Even if an organization

takes action, does it matter?

“It matters and it doesn’t

matter,” said David Downie, a

professor and chair of politics

and environmental studies at

Fairfield University in Connecti-

cut.

“It doesn’t matter if I turn off

my lights. But if everyone’s car

were a hybrid, it would matter a

lot.”

Although one person isn’t a

parade, if 20 others join, that’s a

decent start.

CARRY A CONTAINER

Who among us has not grabbed

a plastic bottle of water in the

airport in a desperate attempt

to hydrate before getting on a

desert-dry plane?

Answer: None of the people

who now race through San

Francisco International Airport.

In August, the airport

banned the sale of water in plas-

tic bottles. (You can still buy a

flavored drink in a plastic bot-

tle.) You’ll need to bring a reus-

able bottle to fill at one of the

airport’s 100 hydration stations if

you’d like a drink of water.

“By now, we estimate we’ve

eliminated about 1.5 million

plastic water bottles from enter-

ing the waste stream by replac-

ing them with recyclable alumi-

num or glass,” Doug Yakel,

public information officer for the

airport, said in an email.

The next target is those

flavored drinks “such as sodas,

teas and juices.”

“No set timeline on this,”

Yakel said, “but ... we want to [be

sure] there are cost-effective

alternatives available to our

retailers.”

And what of LAX? It’s “ac-

tively looking at ways to reduce

or eliminate single-use plastic

water bottles,” said Heath

Montgomery, an LAX spokes-

man. He could not elaborate.

Some companies face larger

issues that one wouldn’t find,

say, in an airport. MT Sobek, an

adventure company, planned to

go plastic-free by the end of this

year.

Jessica Jones, senior director

of operations and partnerships

for MT Sobek, said the company

Matthew RichardsonFor The Times

ON THE SPOT

Plastic

needn’t

travel

with you

AIRPORTS AND

HOTELS ARE

BEGINNING TO

FORGO SINGLE-USE

PACKAGING

BY CATHARINE HAMM

had made huge strides in elimi-

nating plastics in its travel pro-

grams. Travelers bring their

own reusable bottles, and the

contents of its lunchboxes are

not wrapped in plastic.

Because some of their trips

are off the beaten track, keeping

a refillable bottle cold for the

thirsty trekker in the Iraqi

desert sometimes strains the

bounds of what is environmen-

tally desirable. But they’re

working on that, she said.

NO MORE TINY BOTTLES

OK, admit it. Those plastic

bottles in hotel bathrooms

contain products that are cute,

small, easily transported in a

carry-on and a big problem for

the environment.

In October, California Gov.

Gavin Newsom signed a bill that

bans use of those small bottles

by hotels with more than 50

rooms beginning in 2023, and all

hotels starting the next year.

California is the first state to do

this. Many hotels will switch to

bulk toiletries accessed through

dispensers in the bath or

shower. Easy to use, not so easy

to steal.

Marriott International and

IHG (Holiday Inn, Kimpton and

Intercontinental are among the

brands the latter represents)

will break the plastic bottle

habit before any law mandates it

— Marriott by the end of this

year and IHG the following.

Hotels are being good stew-

ards of Earth, although the

motivation is not necessarily

100% noble. Think back to the

days when hotels said you could

reuse your towels and sheets to

save the planet. In that case and

the bottle ban, they are saving

money too.

Downie of Fairfield Uni-

versity put that in perspective:

“If I have to occasionally bribe

my children to eat vegetables,

does that somehow make their

vegetable eating any less impor-

tant?”

We’ll drink to that — but only

out of glass and aluminum.

Have a travel problem, question

or dilemma? Write to

[email protected]. We regret

we cannot answer every inquiry.

M

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