There are those who push public opinion and governments into this crusade

There are manoeuvrers, adepts, theorists, financiers, tax-hungry governments, all-rounders, haters, network cannibals, fake environmentalists, greenwashing men, social rude, opportunistic and ignorant. All together they think that speculating on plastic is a fair crusade.

In 1095, Pope Urban II, during the Council of Clermont, gave an explicit speech in which he encouraged the faithful to join militarily emperor Emperor Alexios I who was fighting against the Turks in Anatolia.

The Pope’s official intention was to ensure the free access of the Christian faithful to the Holy Land, but scholars attribute to Urban II a broader and secret design,that of being able to annex the eastern church with the western one, after the great schism of 1054, under its rule.

Never anything big is as you see it from the outside, who hides behind the crusade against plastic?

The world of plastics has been suffering for some years attacks of great hardness,attributing to the element itself, in the form of raw material or finished product, the bubble of an environmental infector.

Let us immediately clear the field of any doubt, openly declaring that the invention of plastic is to be counted among the greatest discoveries of the last century,with a daily contribution so tangible, to an attentive observer, but that can also easily escape ordinary people as it is part of our life as the air we breathe.

What game are the troublemakers of the theory of “plastic free” and for what purpose, no one with reason can understand it and you can not even guess how easy it was, through the media, to exaggerate a hatred towards a product indispensable to our lives.

There are no spaces in this article to list the benefits of using plastic in the production of millions of products that we use every day, in terms of cost, functionality, CO2 savings during production and transportation of finished products, in terms of hygiene, insulation, protective, recyclable, waterproof, durable and many other things.

It would take a whole book to do this,but I would like to focus on the reason, visible to our eyes, for which the whole world has been unleashed against the plastics sector and I would like to introduce myself into the mazes of the reasons that we do not see, which are under trace.

What we see is the dispersion of plastic waste (not just those) in rivers, seas and oceans, which are creating environmental havoc and a threat to fish and humans through the food chain. A real problem, of which, every person who rationally thinks about his own survival, should, not only indignantly, but take responsibility and act to change this absurd state of affairs, according to the laws.

But I would not dwell on this much on this subject, even though it is the only engine of the popular protests that are being exploited, because a person of normal intelligence understands that in rivers, seas and oceans, plastic does not go there alone and, therefore, it is ridiculous to blame her as the cause of the problem, easily forgetting human responsibility.

The thing that interests me the most is to understand what recondite motivations there may be behind this hatred of the plastics supply chain.

Let’s look at some behaviors of active individuals in these campaigns that everyone can think about on their own:

• The Media. Phenomenal tool of dissemination of information (and fake news), where it often does not count to analyze in a technical and scientific way the problem of pollution, but make news end in itself, increase likes. Writing on a “plasticfree” post, accompanied by a photo representing water bottles floating in the sea or a fish trapped in a piece of plastic, you only get to exponentially multiply the misinformation without proposing anything to solve it, except through a utopian vision of plastic renunciation. Those who sow this hatred, indiscriminate, should have a clear conscience and begin a life by renouncing plastic, starting from his home and his habits. In addition, there are leading television stations that create high-impact commercials, using strong images, raising funds, it is not well known for what purpose, carrying out their crusade. All this has the taste of greenwashing. Why?

• The Disclosures. We have all become scientists, every communication space is manned by so-called experts who jump from one transmission to another, from one newspaper to another, from one book to another, from one social to another, talking, talking, talking. About what? Of what they all see and almost never inserting the problem in a wider framework, to understand if there are different opinions, to hear their proposals improve or making themselves available for a direct comparison with scientists and trained technicians. What do they want to achieve? Doesn’t it taste like an advertising instrument? Standing at the window and earning on the pains of others?

• Governments. They are responsible for our health and the environment in which we live and too often, almost always, they have been active, in their institutional tasks, after they have been urged by the public. Certainly people are right to worry about seeing the seas fill with plastic or have the doubt that the fish that ends up on their boards is full of micro and nano plastics. But it is government agencies that need to be activated to create an appropriate regulatory system to handle the waste problem, turning an ear to people and the other to scientists. Too many delays, too little investment and little competence govern this world, which should regulate and above all enforce the laws, for everyone. Why over-tax the vital sectors of our economy rather than rewarding, from a tax point of view, the recycling and production of materials that have a lower environmental impact than others? What are the real political and financial objectives? If in many countries there is a public health, which cures our diseases, why should there not be a public circular economy, on which no government should do business, but invest to protect, indirectly, our health and our lives?

• Education. Without knowledge we do not have the ability to do correct autonomous analyses of the problems that surround us. Why do schools not invest in the training of students in the environmental field, in the knowledge of the circular economy and alternative energies, so as to create a conscience that can safeguard their future? Why do young people participate in social life through environmental demonstrations by sharing slogans without having a deeper understanding of the problems? What role do governments want to play in education? Is culture just notionism or a push to accompany kids in the complicated world that awaits them, giving them a critical reason?

• Packaging Companies. Those who pull the ranks of the world of plastic packaging are the multinationals of soft drinks, detergents and personal care products. They have always used millions of tons of virgin raw material, for decades, to produce their packaging, knowing that plastic is durable, for better or for worse. They always thought about their business without understanding that their products were being disposed of incorrectly and let the public turn against their packaging. Why didn’t they interpret people’s malaise many years ago and, today, spend on green countryside confusing consumers, competing with those who are more friendly to the environment? Doesn’t it taste like greenwhasing here, too?

• The Petroleum. As with the multinational packaging companies, the production of virgin plastic polymers was booming, while the world was filled with plastic waste. Why were they so short-sighted that they were not representing a product that would conflict with the end user? Why did they find the most hasty solution of acquiring manufacturers and recyclers of recycled plastics to give a new ecological look to their business? Why did they not support the plastics industry, their customers, through concrete initiatives that would avoid, together with governments, the ecological collapse of our seas with the real possibility of jeopardizing their business?

The world cannot give up the plastics supply chain despite the fact that many mistakes and many speculations have been made, of which we know only a few aspects, but much can be done to improve things. We can no longer afford, that such a precious resource for our planet in the form of waste,is dispersed in the environment by the unconscious and ignorant who, by their actions, endanger the ecosite and the life of all.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.