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Interactive Article: Plastic
Plastic Is Everywhere
Chances are you have used hundreds
of plastic items already today. From the
toothbrush you used this morning, to the
plastic zipper bag that holds your sandwich,
to the plastic chair that you sit on-plastic
is everywhere!
Fantastic Plastic
Plastic is amazing! It isdurable, lightweight,
flexible, and fairly inexpensive to make, and
it can be molded into any shape or size.
Plastichas become an important part of our
lives. Plastic products make our lives easier,
and some plastic products can even save
our lives, such as bicycle helmets, plastic
coatings on electrical wires, and plastic
insulation in our refrigerators that keepsour
food cold and safeto eat.
The Problem With Plastics
Although plastic is incredibly useful, our
years of prolific use are creating a global
pollution problem. The problem with
plastics is that when we throw them away,
they never really go away. Americans
throwaway 30 million tons of plastic per
year. Unlike wood, paper, and other natural
materials, plastic does not biodegrade, or
decompose. Plastic trash is filling up our
landfills and waterways, and a huge amount
is collecting in our oceans. You can watch
this video to find out how so much of the
plastic we throwaway ends up in the ocean:
Why Is Plastic Marine Debris So Common?
www.pbslearningmedia.orglresourcelnoaa-
in teractive- 321why-is-plastic-ma ri ne-debris-
so-common-ocean-today
Prclure-Perfecl STEM Lessons, 3-5
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1. How does so much plastic end up in
the ocean?
Possible Solutions
You've probably heard of the 3Rs: reduce,
reuse, recycle.Those are good things to do,
but groups who study the plastic pollution
problem saythose solutions are not enough.
They have added three more Rs to the list
of solutions: refuse, reinvent, and replace.
Below are descriptions of each of these
6Rs and examples of how individuals and
communities are applying each one.
Reduce: One solution to the plastic pollution
problem isto reduce the amount of plastics
we use. Plastics are made from oil, a fossil
fuel. Fossilfuels are limited, and producing
plastic creates pollution. Reducing the
amount of plastics we use would result in
less plastic being made, which means less
oil being used and less pollution being
generated. Watch this video to learn more
about how plastic is made:
How Plastic Is Made
www.youtube.comlwatch?v=f3BjWvTT9Ro
2. What surprised you about how plastic
is made?
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Reuse: Another solution is to reuse plastics.
We can do this by washing and reusing
disposable plastic containers and bringing
reusable shopping bags to the store. Gordon
Dancy, the man who invented the cheap
plastic shopping bag, did so because he
thought replacing paper bags would save
trees. But he realized that the plastic bags
were becoming an environmental hazard.
So when he retired, he started a recycling
company. His daughter now has her own
company that promotes the reuse of plastics.
Check out her company's website to see her
innovative 4-in-l reusable shopping bag:
MyECO Shopping Bags
www.getmyeco.com/shopping
3. What innovative features does the
4-in-l shopping bag have?
Recycle: When we must use plastics, we can
recycle them so that they can be melted and
made into something new. Currently, only
about 8% of plastic trash is recycled. Not
all plastic is recyclable, so it is important to
find out what kinds of plastics your local
recycling center accepts. You can use the
Earth911 website to find out. Visit this
website and enter your zipcode in the "Find
a Recycling Location" search box:
Earth911 Recycling Center Search http://
earth911.com/recycling-center-search-
guides
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4. What plastic codes does your local
recycling center accept?
Refuse: Some groups have recommended
that one solution to the plastic pollution
problem is for people to refuse single-use
plastics. These are plastics that are used only
once and then thrown away, such as straws,
plastic bags, and plastic water bottles. In
fact, 33 percent of the plastic that Americans
use is single-use plastic. To see how some
high school students encouraged their
community to refuse the use of plastic bags,
check out their video:
Team Marine
www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/
yvcc-sci-teammarine/team-marine
5. What changes did Team Marine make
in its community?
Reinvent: We can rethink ways to make
something useful out of used plastic objects.
UpcycJing means to reuse discarded objects
or materials to create a product of a higher
quality or value than the original. In the
book One Plastic Bag, Isatou Ceesay and
other women of The Gambia came up with
a way to upcycle plastic bags into purses.
People all over the world are coming up with
NaLional SCience Teachers Assoctauon
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ways to upcycle plastic trash. Check out this up with a way to use mushrooms to make
company calledTerracycle,which specializes packaging materials to replace plastics.
in upcycling:
Terracyc/e Welcome Video
www.youtube.comluser/TerraCyc/eVideos
(). What products did you seeTerracycle
upcycling in the video?
Replace: We need to find ways to
replace some of the plastic products we
use with other materials. Chemists are
working on creating materials that have
properties similar to plastic but are made
with biodegradable materials. The most
promising replacements for plastic are
made of nanocarbons. Nanocarbons are not
made of oil and can do all the things plastics
can do. They are currently being used to
make bowling balls, golf balls, and sports
equipment. The problem with nanocarbons
is that they are more expensive to produce
than plastics made from oil. Scientists in
India are working on nanoc!ay, which is
similar to plastic, but biodegrades more
quickly. An American designer has come
Prclure-Perfect STEM Lessons, ~-.5
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Check out his TEDtalk to find out more:
Eben Bayer's TEDTalk: Are Mushrooms the
New Plastic?
www.ted.comltalksleben_bayer_
are_mushrooms_the_new_
plastic ttanquaqeeen
Z. How are the mushroom packaging
materials made?
Conclusion
We depend on plastic for so many things.
But we need to be awarethat once we throw
plastic products away, they never really
go away. By practicing the 6Rs, we can all
pitch in to help solve the problem of plastic
pollution. Several groups have different
versions of the 6Rs.Someuserethink instead
of reinvent or have added repair, making 7Rs.
But no matter the particular Rs used,the big
idea isthe same:Cut down on the amount of
plastic pollution to make a healthier Earth
for all who inhabit it.
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