Looking back, no one, except my parents, educated me on the dangers of plastics. My plastic literacy was homeschooled since most people treated it as a luxury, a miniscule concern compared to the notorious effects of smokes, drugs, malnutrition, and inertness. Andover is no exception: while the school provides resources and classes on substance, nutrition, and physical exercise, we rarely get any information on the potential side effects of using plastics. In fact, our freshly-cooked daily meals are served in plastic dishes, the very dishes students use to heat up food in the Paresky Commons (Commons) microwave. Hot and cold beverages are filled in plastic cups, and plastic utensils are provided for special desserts like ice creams or cakes. Even outside of Commons, students are frequently exposed to plastics from DoorDashing their meals or microwaving food in their dorms.
Unless thoroughly educated on the topic, people generally believe that plastics are safe to use because it’s so readily available and widely applied. They might have minor knowledge on relatively well-known topics like microplastics, but it’s difficult to fathom the full extent of plastic-induced harms on human health, especially as new research about the health effects of plastics continues to emerge. For instance, in October 2024, a study from Toxic-Free Future and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam discovered high levels of carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals in black plastic products, including kitchen utensils, sushi packagings, electronics, and toys used by children. The toxic chemicals had come from the flame retardants used to strengthen the durability of black plastics, which even included a high concentration of a banned substance deca-BDE. However, just a couple days ago, I received black plastic utensils from my Uber delivery order. On my Sunday dinner at Commons, I was given the option to eat ice cream with black plastic spoons. If I hadn’t randomly come across the study results of black plastics, I would have used those plastics habitually and ignorantly.
We are often encouraged to assume that plastic products out in the market are tested by credible agencies, and thus safe. However, a CNN report in March 2024 found that out of 16,000 known chemicals mixed to produce plastic, at least 4,200 are known to be “highly hazardous,” with only 980 of them being regulated by global agencies. This means that we are exposed to over 3000 “highly hazardous” chemicals freely roaming around the plastic products we use. Why are we not sufficiently informed of such a common health hazard? It’s troubling how we have little assurance on the safety of a chemical we’ve been using day-to-day for more than a century.
We gratefully have campus initiatives such as the Phillips Academy Sustainability Coalition and the ongoing Green Cup Challenge that encourage us to reflect upon human impacts on the ecosystem, but we currently lack recognition of how we are poisoning ourselves along with the rest of nature. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of plastics as a whole, and Andover most definitely cannot and should not force students to shun every plastic use from their lives. The problem lies in how we are unadvised to avoid using black plastic utensils, microwaving food in plastic dishes, and DoorDashing hot foods in plastic containers. We have not been told that microwaving food releases millions and even a billion plastic particles per square centimeter, even while using a microwaveable plastic container. We have not been told that those miniscule particles can flow into our blood system and mimic our hormones, disrupting our endocrine system, metabolism, and brain development. We have not been told that even BPA-free plastics — used to avoid the regulated carcinogenic and disease-inducing chemical — may use substitutes that have similar harmful effects on the human body.
Due to the ubiquity and familiarity of plastics, many people might not recognize it as a candidate for significant health harms. However, as a home away from home, Andover needs to be more responsive to the consequences of plastic use. Plastic literacy is not a luxury for student wellbeing.
