On TWIST, This Week in Sustainability, we discuss the green pros and cons of the entire range of consumer products and everything in them, to help you choose the right stuff to buy and recycle. We’ll discuss: Appliances, Batteries, Buildings, Carpet, Cleaning Products, Clothing, Computers, Disinfectants, Food, Flame Retardants, Fuels, Medicine, Packaging, Paint, Pesticides, Plastic, Personal Care products, Phones, Photovoltaics, and maybe even tilt at Windmills. We’d love to have your suggestions for topics or guests: twist.sustainability@gmail.com! Hosted by Felicia Etzkorn, Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Tech (https://chem.vt.edu/people/faculty/teaching-and-research/fetzkorn.html) and author of Green Chemistry: Principles and Case Studies, with co-host Jamie Ferguson, Professor of Chemistry at Emory & Henry College (https://www.ehc.edu/live/profiles/341-jamie-ferguson). Music was created and performed by Wendy Godley.
In which Beth Gardiner and Felicia have a conversation about Beth’s recent book, Plastic Inc. In particular, we discussed health effects of microplastics and endocrine disrupters, the burgeoning of single-use plastics driven by the plastic industry, and the industry’s shocking campaign to put the responsibility for plastic waste on consumers and municipalities. We also discuss possible solutions, including bottle, bag, and tire deposit laws, the California law called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and the use of renewable feedstocks to supplant petroleum feedstocks.
- Gardiner, B. (2026) Plastic Inc. : the secret history and shocking future of Big Oil’s biggest bet, New York, NY : Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York (State), United States.