At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans turned to reading, baking, and spending more time outdoors. It was no different for Chris Langer and his wife, who live outside Cleveland, Ohio, when they strolled the lakefront of Lake Erie.
Langer started to notice more and more plastic pollution than he remembered when growing up in the area. He watched the 2019 film "The Story of Plastic" and wondered if anyone covered plastic pollution in freshwater.
"So it was kind of those two moments put together that kind of sparked the idea of, like, has anyone told this story about freshwater plastic pollution? And in my initial research, I kind of didn't see a film already made about it," Langer said in a phone interview with WVIK. "So one thing led to another. And I was off to pre-production kind of around the summer of 2020."
First-time director Langer and editor Josh Heese combined perspectives including environmental non-profits, a chemist, a professor of ecology and a city sustainability coordinator.
He says Dr. Sherri Mason, chemist and director of Project NePTWNE at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the first pillar of his documentary with her experience combating freshwater pollution. According to Langer, his scope widened when she and others made clear these microplastics are everywhere, including our own backyards.
"...[T]he research is showing that microplastics is now breaking into nanoplastics, and that is, you know, the thin – thinner than a piece of hair is getting into our bloodstream, getting into our lungs through different ways. It's really difficult when the plastic continues to break down in smaller and smaller pieces. It's really hard to clean it up," Langer said.
He says to combat the issue, people need to start at the beginning and turn off the plastic tap. Individuals and municipalities are currently tasked with removing plastic waste, not the manufacturers.
The film touches on the aspect of microplastics affecting human health, though Langer says more research has been done since the documentary.
A recent study (Jan. 22 2025) in the open-access scientific journal Science Advances details microplastics affecting the movement of mice, with the authors explaining that microplastics act like a car crash in their arteries, causing reduced blood flow and decreased mobility.
Langer says he may continue covering microplastics in a second documentary. He says viewers' responses have been well so far.
"And in kind of making this film, it's been really inspiring to kind of see the people that are starting to make those simple changes, like switching to reusable – a water bottle, or thinking about what products they're buying at the grocery store and using less plastic, you know, switching to a silicone bag instead of using Ziploc bags," Langer said.
Though Langer stresses attendees should not feel immoral with their purchases.
"It's already in our water. It's already in our food... I think it's going to be a lot for people in that theater to kind of take it in and look at themselves and be like, you know, how can I make those improvements?" Langer said. "And it's not the film isn't asking people to be the perfect consumer. It's like physically impossible to buy certain products without plastic as part of the process. So be patient with yourself and kind of just focus on what you're doing. What really matters is making those small efforts, communicating with your friends and family, try to get them to think differently about their consumption of plastic. And, you know, it's one of those things that's just going to take small monumental steps that will hopefully build up to something really big in the end."
Langer's documentary "Ripples of Plastic" is showing at the Figge this Sunday (Feb. 2) at 3 p.m., and he will speak after the showing. His documentary is one of the six movies being shown by the non-profit River Action for their 2025 QC Environmental Film Series.
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