As plastic waste soars despite recycling efforts, author highlights industry's role

Plastic WasteAll this week for the "Sound of Ideas" Earth Week series, we've talked about things that people can do to help the environment. We've discussed planting and maintaining trees to improve our region's tree canopy, to rethinking how you buy and wash clothes to combat pollution from the fashion industry, to changing your outdoor lighting to protect migrating birds. We'll end the series by talking about the major issue of plastic waste. For decades, there's been this emphasis on the individual. You know the phrase: "Reduce, reuse, recycle." But though there have been major efforts to curb single use plastic on an individual level, by bringing reusable shopping bags to the grocery store or carrying around your own steel water bottle, and even on a citywide level, through city recycling programs, we're not seeing that reduction in plastic pollution. It's quite the opposite. A December Pew Charitable Trust report found that without action, plastic pollution will more than double over the next 15 years, driven by increases in production that are rising twice as fast as waste management. And microplastic pollution will grow by more than 50% through 2040. In a new book, "Plastic, Inc," environmental journalist Beth Gardiner turns the spotlight on the industry that is driving this production and explains how it is going to take much more than reusable water bottles to change our trajectory. On Thursday's "Sound of Ideas" we'll talk to Gardiner and also hear from two Ohio experts who can talk about efforts to study and combat plastic waste. Guests:- Beth Gardiner, Author, Plastic, Inc- Mark Warman, Emerging Contaminants Specialist, Ohio Sea Grant, The Ohio State University- James Eagan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Polymer Science, University of Akron "Shuffle"A Cleveland musician built a global following online with viral street drumming and layered cover songs. But her sound is rooted in the churches that shaped her. On this week's Shuffle, we hear from Lacretia "TT" Bolden, known online as "The Cover Girl." Guests:- Amanda Rabinowitz, Host and Producer, "Shuffle" and "All Things Considered"- Lacretia "TT" Bolden, Musician