Our first car as a married couple was a 1966 Opel Kadette. Ours was a two-door model. It was 7 years old when we got it, but it had low mileage. We owned the car for a little over five years, and during that time, it took us back and forth from Montana to Chicago. One winter trip was especially memorable as temperatures were below zero, and the car's defroster and heater couldn’t keep up—the heater problem we solved by wearing layers of heavy clothing and wrapping blankets around our legs. The defroster problem was a bit bigger as we had to scrape ice off the inside of the windshield occasionally. The car only abandoned us on the road twice. One time, it wasn’t the fault of the car. Debris in the road hit and bent the camshaft pulley, and the car had to be towed to a shop to replace the pulley. The other time, a U-joint failed, and again, we had to have the car towed. At that time, we had to wait a couple of days to find the part before we got our car back. At least twice during the time we owned the car, the starter failed. However, the car was light enough that we learned to push it to start it, and we made one trip from Chicago to Montana without a starter, parking on hills when we were able and pushing it by hand when no hills were available.

I purchased the car from my great-uncle, so I knew its complete history. He kept records of every maintenance item. He paid $1,700 for the car and sold it to me for less than half that amount. He used to brag that the car cost $1 per pound, as it weighed about 1,700 pounds. The car's lightweight contributed to its good gas mileage.

In the early 1970s, two maintenance items differed significantly from the cars we drive today. The exhaust system was made of lightweight steel that rusted quickly. I don’t know how many mufflers I put on the car, but if a muffler lasted more than a year, I saw it as a success. The car had bias-ply tires with fiberglass. They would develop flat spots when the car sat. Once the tires warmed up, the bumps stopped. And if I got a set of tires to last 10,000 miles, I thought it would be a big victory.

Our current car is 14 years old and has about 140,000 miles. It still sports its original stainless steel exhaust, and its third set of tires is in great shape. If I didn’t get 60,000 miles out of a set of tires, I would think there was a problem. Modern steel-belted radial tires last longer and perform better on wet and slippery roads than the tires of decades ago.

While I appreciate some of the features that enable our cars to last longer than was the case decades ago, I know that not every advance in automotive technology is without cost. And the cost of our cars is higher than the purchase price, the cost of fuel, and the cost of maintenance. The tires on our car are a good example. One of the chemicals that helps the tires on our car to last longer is called 6PPD. Some of that chemical is left behind on the highway from normal wear and tear on vehicle tires. The dust from our tires combines with that from thousands of other vehicles traveling on the roads. The dust and the chemicals it contains make their way into stormwater drainage systems and, from there, into the rivers, streams, and ocean.

6PPD has reached levels in the waters of the Salish Sea that are toxic to coho salmon. High levels of 6PPD can lead to the death of a coho within a day. It has been determined to be the leading cause of pre-spawn mortality as the salmon return from their journey in the ocean and back to freshwater. Local efforts to restore salmon habitat have been successful. Removing dams and replacing culverts with bridges have removed barriers to salmon returning to spawn. However, unless the levels of 6PPD are reduced, salmon populations cannot return to their previous levels.

Washington legislators are working to reduce the use of 6PPD in vehicle tires. However, the chemical is only one source of pollution that threatens salmon. At any given moment, it is estimated that six tons of plastic are washed up on the beaches of the Salish Sea. Most salmon have microplastics in their stomachs, and we who eat salmon also have microplastics in our systems.

Plastics have contributed to the affordability of many everyday household items, from toys to tablecloths. The material is valuable and popular. But there are things that we can do to reduce plastic waste. Here in Washington, the legislature has passed laws prohibiting single-use plastic carryout bags and charging a fee for acceptable bags. The reduction in single-use plastics affects the amount of plastic waste that gets into the environment. Although much plastic gathered for recycling is never recycled and ends up in landfills, more transparent recycling efforts have led to increased recycling. We can now recycle several types of plastic that, until recently, were not being recycled in our area.

An estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic are in our oceans, with an additional 8 to 12 million tons entering each year. Over 80% of plastics in the ocean start their life as land-based products. Plastic is a long-lasting product that takes hundreds of years to break down. As it breaks down, micro and nanoparticles remain in the environment. That means that even if we were to stop plastic production, additional plastic pollution would continue to enter the environment for many decades. The effects of micro and nano plastic particles are not fully understood, but studies targeting the impact of plastics on specific species are ongoing.

Negotiations on a Global Plastics Treaty are ongoing. Other countries are taking the lead and setting ambitious goals. With progress on such legislation blocked at the federal level for the next four years, it falls on states and international partners to continue necessary research and action to reduce chemical and plastic pollution that threatens the health of our food supply.