The Plastic Plague

Plastic is one of the greatest inventions, yet one of the worst inventions as well. We use plastic everyday of our lives. Almost everything is made of it. Which should really change. There are many materials that are safer that could take the place of plastic. Plastic is not biodegradable. It is photodegradable, which over a period just breaks it down into smaller and smaller pieces. Which makes it harder to see and dispose of properly.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was created by the spiral currents of the North Pacific Gyre. It is described as a floating trash island about the size of Russia. The pieces that make up this garbage patch are small enough to blend with plankton. There has been 750,000 micro plastic pieces per square kilometer found in the garbage patch. It would be different if there was just a huge mound of trash because that could be physically removed but you cannot remove all the time pieces.

Figure 1. Shows pieces of plastic in the ocean.

            Eight million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, which will keep increasing. Researchers suggest that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. Plastic has been found everywhere, including the Mediterranean Sea bed, shorelines of Bermuda and Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. Dead chicks were found on the shorelines with stomachs full of plastic. They were starving to death with full stomachs. There are places so full of plastic that they started to burn it. They were then exposed to the gases and toxins that are released when plastic is burned. These gases and toxins have been linked to cancer. Our exposure to the impacts of plastic are rapidly increasing, particularly through the spread of micro plastics. Plastic is in the air we breathe and becomes part of the soil. One million seas creatures die a year due to plastic. This can cause populations to decrease and can even cause species to disappear. Plastic also has negative impacts on the coral reefs.

                                                    Figure 2. A turtle that was harmed by plastic.

Only 9 percent of plastic in the United States is recycled. Recycling rates are very poor. If people would recycle more than we would not have such a big problem with plastic. We need to create plastic that is biodegradable or reusable. We could also use other materials instead of plastic. We can reward people for not using plastic. For example, we can create refundable deposits for plastic bottles. We can also charge people for using plastic bags, which will decrease their use. Putting strict rules on the use of plastic will help decrease the use of plastic.

Making changes in the number one thing that will help with the plastic in the ocean. For example, recycling and reducing the use of plastic can help with this problem. People need to realize this is a bigger problem than they think. Taking steps to prevent this problem is very easy. If we do not take actions now, some species may not be around for our children and grandchildren to see. These species could include fish, turtles, marine mammals and even coral reefs.

Figure 3. Pollution in the ocean.

So many marine mammal’s lives are ruined because of lazy humans. These animals are being punished for absolutely no reason. If we would quit being lazy and start recycling or quit using plastic then these animals would not have to deal with all this plastic in the ocean. They could live normal lives without ingesting and breathing in all these particles of plastic. It is not fair to these animals. They did not choose to live their lives like this. We can prevent this. We can decrease the amount of harm we are causing to these innocent animals if we would just recycle and cut back on the amount of plastic we use. Please recycle your plastic bottles and containers so these poor animals do not have to suffer anymore. Recycling plastic and decreasing the amount of plastic being used also benefits humans and their health.

Monks, K. 2016. The plastic plague: Can our oceans be saved from environmental ruin? <http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/world/plastic-plague-oceans/index.html>. Accessed 25 Apr 2017.

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