The Problem With Plastic Waste

While walking through a hot summer city, you pull a plastic bottle out of your bag. The sun’s rays are tormenting you, and you take a drink. After finishing the entire bottle, you responsibly put the cap in the trash and the bottle in a recycling bin. You think “well, I’ve done my part. I’ve recycled my bottle. It will be melted down and reused.” If you think this, you are so very wrong. This bottle will most likely end up in a landfill, just sitting there, waiting years for its fate. (Which may never come.) Or being washed into the ocean, where an unfortunate marine creature will think it’s food. Plastic is polluting our oceans, and instead of reusing it, we just continue to make more. Why?

I am a student at the Catlin Gabel School and this topic is something revolutionary to me. When I am older, I want to be an environmental scientist and environmental activist. The way humans have treated the earth, our home, is disgusting. I want to make an impact on the world and leave my mark. I care about the earth’s ecosystem, and I want to educate people on how they can help, with as little effort on their parts.

The problem starts when people drink from those disposable plastic water bottles, instead of getting quality reusable water bottles. Those disposable bottles often don’t make it to recycling facilities, because the recycling becomes contaminated with small amounts of garbage that gets thrown into the recycling bin, or these bottles don’t make it into recycling bins at all. The fuel used to transport this plastic from America to the recycling plants in China is also atrocious, adding to already large amounts of water and air pollution. Christine Figgener and her team of biologists were conducting research on sea turtle mating when they noticed something in a male turtle’s nose. They discovered it was a plastic straw that had gotten into the ocean and pulled it out. Many other animals have problems like this sea turtle. For instance, turtles can also see plastic bags in the water and think it’s their favorite snack, jellyfish. Do you know those plastic can holders? Yeah, aquatic animals (especially turtles) will get their limbs or necks stuck in them, so please, if you recycle those, cut the loops open, so that marine animals don’t choke themselves on those. Plastic is overtaking our oceans at record-breaking speeds, there are plastic islands floating in the middle of the sea. The fish and other animals eat the plastic and die. This is a major problem that requires immediate attention.

Although there are a lot of problems with plastic and pollution, there are also a lot of solutions. There are some people who are very dedicated to helping solve this ever-increasing problem. I researched a company called The Ocean Cleanup. The Ocean Cleanup is a project that is working to remove microplastics from oceans around the world. Microplastics are plastics that are very small. They have been in the water for a very long time, some of which can even be traced back to some of the first plastics ever created and used in the ’70s and ’80s. They are dedicated to remove all the microplastics in the sea, recycle and reuse it and keep the earth’s oceans clean. There is a plan that has just been launched called the Ocean Cleanup. They are putting floaters in the water that will act as a false sealine, which will hypothetically collect microplastics from the ocean to be melted down and reused, instead of creating new plastic when we already have enough sitting in landfills taking up space on land and in the sea. The Ocean Cleanup works hard to remove microplastics from the ocean. Microplastics are the hardest plastics to remove. The Ocean Cleanup has just deployed their tests on a larger scale. The seawall is attracting and collecting plastics, but not yet retaining it. The scientists working on The Ocean Cleanup will continue doing tests and tweaking their invention until it retains microplastics as well.

Plastic has been polluting our oceans for such a long time now, and there needs to be a way to reduce its destructive pollution. Plastic is polluting the earth. How can you help?

Sources:
Photo 1:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1600&bih=765&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=CadjXILGK7630PEPoOW2-AM&q=plastic+bottle+trash&oq=plastic+bottle+trash&gs_l=img.3..0l4j0i8i30l2j0i24l2.33863.38434..38837...0.0..0.54.273.6......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67.4VXL-c3w-KM#imgrc=XnjNrzW5LNWLuM:
Photo 2:
https://www.google.com/search?q=plastic+can+holders&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjV3PXW6uLgAhVRrZ4KHUEYCisQ_AUIDigB&biw=1600&bih=768#imgrc=5lkesQN3iVpzxM:

Christine Figgener’s research and video: (Viewer Discretion Advised)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/how-did-sea-turtle-get-a-straw-up-its-nose.aspx

The Ocean Cleanup Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheOceanCleanup/videos