In his book “The Plastic Paradox”, Chris DeArmitt lists a number of historical forgeries about plastic. What are the most dangerous?
V.M.: We give credit to the author for having undermined many, if not all, the clichés conveyed by the media on plastic. The concept of replacing plastic with biodegradable materials (such as paper) attracted my attention, and I found the scientific approach that the author dedicated to it commendable. Paper processing has a greater impact on CO2 production. We can well understand, therefore, that the causes of world pollution are not the materials themselves, but the processes of production and disposal. As a result, the solution is to realize that human behavior is at the heart of this change. .
Moreover, it is not true that plastics are the main cause of pollution. This has been demonstrated by a histogram provided by the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), which shows us that paper, cardboard (26.0%), food waste (15.2%) and garden mowing (13.2%) are the main causes of waste in the world.
F.C.:F.C.:The merit that certainly must be given to Dr. Chris De Armitt in the book “The Plastic Paradox” (free and freely downloadable) is to have moved public opinion to refocus the discussion on plastic no longer on vague information, often fake news, but on scientifically proven facts and data. The real consumption of plastic compared to other materials, the environmental impact of plastic towards materials mistakenly considered greener by much of public opinion and the danger of plastic for mankind. These are just some of the examples that Dr. Chris DeArmitt brings to the attention of his audience, always trying to argue them in a very scientific way. In this regard, let me say that access to information via the Internet has been a great achievement of our century but at the same time extremely dangerous because it becomes difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to filter and verify them. Microplastics origins and danger , for example, are often debated. There is an extremely interesting chapter where it frees the ground from often false information and on which much of the demonizing campaign against plastic is based.