In recent years, single-use plastic contamination has become one of the greatest threats to our ecosystem.
Environmental researchers caution that, without immediate activism, the biomass of oceanic plastics will outweigh that of fish within the next 30 years. The threat of this crisis necessitates a serious transformation of human’s inextricable dependence on plastic products. It is imperative that we lower the amount of plastic both being produced and used in order to put a halt to ocean pollution, health damage, and total environmental destruction.
Globally, it’s seemingly obvious that humans are intrinsically reliant on plastic today. Whether it be our takeout utensils, grocery bags, or red Solo cups, plastic is embedded in our everyday lives. Each year the global population produces nearly 300 million tons of plastic. To give you a visualization, this is the weight of about 1,500 large modern-day cruise ships.
The Un-Plastic Collective Report lamented that 60% of all plastics produced still remain in our environment to this day. The overproduction and wasteful disposal of plastics extends beyond damaging our marine and terrestrial environments to damaging human health.
It can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years for plastics to break down, and when they do we are left with microplastic deteriorations that appear in the majority of the water and food we consume. The growth of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; a collection of trash within the Pacific Ocean that spans across 1.6 million km of our ocean, is evidence of our inability to properly dispose of waste. Due to this, we are consistently exposing both ourselves and the environment to the chemicals within plastics everyday. Collectively, researchers say that Americans consume around 74,000 microplastic particles a year. The chemicals within microplastics have been related to a wide range of human health concerns including reproductive damage, organ malfunction, and cognitive impairment of adolescents. The chief scientist of the Environmental Health Sciences, Pete Myers claims that chemicals like bisphenol A and phthalates are leaking from the microplastic particles that we ingest. These chemicals have been proven to harmfully impact our lungs, liver, and kidneys.
The only way to curtail this contamination would be to decrease the amount of plastic we use overall. Various plastic alternatives are readily available today and it is our responsibility to take advantage of them. For example, nearly 8.3 billion plastic straws have washed up on beaches across the world. As a result of this, the production of more sustainable products like stainless steel, paper, and bamboo straws have surged in order to combat potential for more pollution. These materials are either reusable or biodegradable, making them a much safer option in terms of environmental impact. Since straws are not a necessity for the consumption of a drink, the easiest option would be to eliminate your straws completely.
In addition to lowering our personal plastic consumption, single-use plastic bans are one of the most effective regulatory steps that can be taken to minimize plastic waste. Several American states have enacted strict legislation to reduce single-use plastics by forcing measures such as outright bans to combat over-contamination. States such as Oregon and Maine have banned the usage of single-use plastic bags altogether and require a fee for plastic bags that are considered reusable.
Plastic materials are produced from fossil fuels like oil and natural gases that release carbon emissions, therefore by lowering production and use on a statewide level, we have the opportunity to lower the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.
Foremost, persistently raising awareness on the detrimental effects of single-use plastics is key to slowing the growth of environmental pollution. A survey done by YouGov disclosed that only 52% of Americans had ever heard the term “microplastics.” A collective lack of understanding on the harmful effects of plastic has allowed humans to use these products without any idea of their overall impact. For decades, the global population has severely over indulged in the use of non-biodegradable plastic products and as a result, we are now facing one of the biggest environmental and health crises in human existence.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Martin, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: What Americans Are Doing About Microplastics.” Statista Infographics, 8 Aug. 2019, www.statista.com/chart/18966/what-americans-are-doing-about-microplastics/#:~:text=A%20survey%20for%20Statista%20by,U.S.%20have%20heard%20of%20microplastics.
Byrnes, Hristina. “19 Genius Inventions That Can Stop Us from Using so Much Plastic.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 17 June 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/17/19-genius-inventions-that-can-stop-us-from-using-so-much-plastic/39358833/.
Consumer Reports. “You're Literally Eating Microplastics. How You Can Cut down Exposure to Them.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Oct. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/health/youre-literally-eating-microplastics-how-you-can-cut-down-exposure-to-them/2019/10/04/22ebdfb6-e17a-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html.
Davis, Joshua. “How Long Does It Take for Plastic to Decompose?” Chariot Energy, 10 Mar. 2021, chariotenergy.com/blog/how-long-until-plastic-decomposes/#:~:text=Plastics%20can%20take%20anywhere%20from,on%20the%20material%20and%20structure.
Garcés, María Fernanda Espinosa. “Op-Ed: We Must Save Our World From Drowning in Plastic | General Assembly of the United Nations.” United Nations, United Nations, 2019, www.un.org/pga/73/2019/06/05/op-ed-we-must-save-our-world-from-drowning-in-plastic/.
Lindwall, Courtney. “Single-Use Plastics 101.” NRDC, 10 Feb. 2021, www.nrdc.org/stories/single-use-plastics-101#why.
“Phthalates and DEHP.” Health Care Without Harm, 6 May 2020, noharm-uscanada.org/issues/us-canada/phthalates-and-dehp#:~:text=Phthalates%2C%20a%20family%20of%20industrial,%2C%20lungs%2C%20and%20reproductive%20system.
“Plastic Pollution.” National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL), 3 Mar. 2021, www.ncel.net/plastic-pollution/#problem.
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The Ocean Cleanup, 11 Feb. 2020, theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.
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