SINGLE USE PLASTIC AND IT'S IMPACT IN THE ENVIRONMENT- Maria Carbonell
The first definition I found of civic engagement is from the American Psychological Association. Their definition of civic engagement is,
"individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. "
The second definition of civic engagement is from youth.gov. Their definition is as follows, “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes."
I chose the topic of single-use plastic as my civic engagement topic because it is an issue that affects us locally and as a society worldwide.
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC
Have you ever considered how much plastic you use on a daily basis? Try and count how much you used today. Did you have a cup of coffee with a plastic lid? Did you use a plastic stirrer in that coffee? How about lunch? Did you go out and order something that came in a styrofoam container? Did you use a plastic fork or other utensil to eat that food? What about your choice of beverage? What type of container did it come in? Was it a plastic cup with a plastic lid? Did you use a plastic straw? How about dinner? Did you stop somewhere and pick something up? What type of container did it come in? Fast food, styrofoam box? Something you bought from the market that comes in some type of plastic container. Have you ever taken the time to think about how much single use plastic you use and how it affects our planet?
PLASTIC IN OUR ENVIRONMENT
Plastic is the most widely used consumer product throughout the world. This product has also managed to find itself into every corner of the planet. A study of plastic debris pollution in the deep-sea was started in 1983 by the Global Oceanographic Data Center. The database archives photograph than 33% of the debris was macro-plastic. In 2010, an estimated 4.8–12.7 Mt of plastics entered the oceans globally (Jambeck et al., 2015). A 2014 study (from six years of research by the 5 Gyres Institute) estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles (weighing 269,000 tons) are floating in the sea. Although the contribution of plastics in man-made garbage is roughly 10% by mass (Barnes et al., 2009), it is estimated that plastic debris accounts for 60–80% of marine litter (Derraik, 2002), reaching 90–95% in some areas (Walker et al., 1997, Walker et al., 2006, Surhoff and Scholz-Böttcher, 2016). Due to its durability, the lifespan of plastic is estimated to be hundreds to thousands of years (Wang et al., 2016).
If we do nothing to change the way that we consume, we are just setting up the planet for a shorter shelf life. We may not see it in our lifetime but that is no reason to not do anything about it. I know that I do not want to leave this planet worse than I found it. That is my choice. I do not have children nor will I ever- that is my choice. I'm sure that a lot of you are parents and you need to think, what type of world are you leaving behind for your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren? Single use plastic is unnecessary to use every single day. I choose to take my own containers to restaurants when I order out, I only use glass (Pyrex is a great choice and it's microwave safe). If they refuse to package it for me in my container- then I order it to eat there and put it in my container. Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel based petrochemicals like natural gas or petroleum and are known to leach when heated. Think twice before you heat food in the microwave in a plastic container. Styrofoam is a bad choice for reheating. I normally will take things out of the plastic container that they came in and put them in a bowl or plate and then heat them up in the microwave.
Globally, about 40% of plastics are used as packaging. Unfortunately, the majority of packaging is made for single use. Packaging is processed in one of three different ways: landfill, incineration, or recycling. Waste incineration has the largest climate impact of the three options.
https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ILSRIncinerationFInalDraft-6.pdf
According to the CIEL report, U.S. emissions from plastics incineration in 2015 were equivalent to 5.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The World Energy Council has projected that if plastic production and incineration increase as expected, greenhouse gas emissions will increase to 49 million metric tons by 2030, and 91 million metric tons by 2050. (Yale 2019)
The climate impact isn’t the only concern. Incineration facilities are disproportionately built near communities of color and low-income populations. “Incineration is a massive environmental injustice – not just in the United States, but all over the world,” Arkin said. “The people who are subjected to the pollution from these incinerators often are the ones who are least responsible for the waste in the first place and have to bear the brunt of the impacts.” (Yale 2019)
But beyond the direct emissions from plastics in the environment, there’s another issue with microplastics. Historically, the ocean has sequestered 30-50% of carbon dioxide emissions from human-related activities. However, evidence suggests that plankton are ingesting ever-greater quantities of microplastics. Researchers at the Ocean University of China, found that microplastics reduced the growth of microalgae and the efficiency of photosynthesis. So producing more microplastics could degrade plankton’s ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Yale 2019)
What can we do about this issue? Unfortunately, we have become so dependent on plastic that it will be a hard cycle to break. With the onset of COVID-19, plastic use has increased significantly. Everything is packaged separately in multiple containers. A large number of people use disposable gloves when they leave the house and go out. I see plastic gloves all over the floor in parking lots. We need to break this vicious cycle! Buy in bulk if you have a large family. Do not buy multiple small containers if you know your family will consume large amounts of those items. (Not appropriate for single folks) It is good for the environment and you will save money in the long run.
Barnes, David K., et al. “Accumulation and Fragmentation of Plastic Debris in Global Environments.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 364, no. 1526, 2009, pp. 1985–1998., doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0205.
Chiba, Sanae, et al. “Human Footprint in the Abyss: 30 Year Records of Deep-Sea Plastic Debris.” Marine Policy, Pergamon, 6 Apr. 2018, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X17305195.
Derraik, José G.B. “The Pollution of the Marine Environment by Plastic Debris: a Review.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 44, no. 9, 2002, pp. 842–852., doi:10.1016/s0025-326x(02)00220-5.
“Exposure to Chemicals in Plastic.” Breastcancer.org, 11 Sept. 2020, www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/plastic.
Jambeck, J. R., et al. “Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean.” Science, vol. 347, no. 6223, 2015, pp. 768–771., doi:10.1126/science.1260352.
Suhrhoff, Tim Jesper, and Barbara M. Scholz-Böttcher. “Qualitative Impact of Salinity, UV Radiation and Turbulence on Leaching of Organic Plastic Additives from Four Common Plastics — A Lab Experiment.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 102, no. 1, 2016, pp. 84–94., doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.11.054.
Walker, Tony R., et al. “Accumulation of Marine Debris on an Intertidal Beach in an Urban Park (Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia).” Water Quality Research Journal, vol. 41, no. 3, 2006, pp. 256–262., doi:10.2166/wqrj.2006.029.
“Why Plastics Can Be Garbage for the Climate.” Yale Climate Connections, 4 Apr. 2020, yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/08/how-plastics-contribute-to-climate-change/.
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