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Brandon Route

Mr. Murafka

English 11 H

30 September 2010

Plastic Earth

Plastic is a bad thing. It is common knowledge that it’s good to recycle, and we’ve all

seen the commercials encouraging us to stop using plastic water bottles. How much do we do

about it? There are many ways you can reduce your consumption of plastic. These changes can

reduce the harm being done to ourselves, other creatures, and, most importantly, the Earth.

Plastic is very destructive. However, many people either don’t know exactly how bad it

is, or don’t care about it enough to take action. A little-known fact about most plastics today is

that harm is done starting from its very production. It is made from petroleum, which in itself is

something whose consumption should be reduced. It is not sustainable; we have at most five

hundred years worth of oil supply at current consumption rates (Porter). Five hundred years

seems like a lot of time, but that point in time will come, whether we think about it or not. In

addition, plastic consumption increases our dependence on foreign oil and elevates our oil and

gas prices.

Another rarely stated downfall to plastics is their toxicity. Polycarbonate contains BPA,

which is an endocrine disruptor that can cause chronic toxicity in humans, especially in unborn

children (Terry, “Bisphenol-A”). In addition, polystyrene, more commonly known as Styrofoam,

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is commonly used as a food and drink container. Under heat (which is inevitable when

containing coffee or takeout food) it can release a chemical that is toxic to the brain and nervous

system (Terry, “Plastic-Free”). Not only is plastic dangerous to humans, but our consumption of

it can harm other creatures. Beth Terry, the writer of a low-plastic living blog called Fake Plastic

Fish, wrote:

Two years ago, recovering from surgery, I read the article and saw the photo that

changed my life. The article was ‘Plastic Ocean’ and the photo showed the carcass

of a dead sea bird, its belly full of plastic pieces: bottle caps, cigarette lighters,

even a toothbrush. I looked at my own life and realized that through my

unconscious overconsumption, I was personally contributing t[o] the suffering of

creatures I hadn’t even known existed (“About Me”).

Perhaps the most cited danger of plastic is that it’s not biodegradable. Without context,

this may seem undesirable but not terrible. This is not true; one billion tons of plastic have been

discarded since 1950. Where does this all go? It has to go somewhere, and thinking about the

limitations to the specific locations that this eternal waste can go is staggering to most people.

The amount of plastic an average American discards is over one hundred pounds per year (Terry,

“2009”). That’s a lot of plastic that will take up space in the ground or ocean indefinitely. Is your

convenience worth destroying the planet?

While many people claim to be environmentally responsible by not purchasing bottled

water or recycling their #1 and #2 plastics, the simple truth is plastic is everywhere. Take a look
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at the room around you, your house, and your life, and observe the quantity of plastic in it. It’s in

phones, iPods, scissors, CDs, jewelry, pens, and clothing, to name just a few, and a multitude of

wrappers for food and other common products. Every national brand of chewing gum is made

out of plastic (listed as “gum base” in the ingredients). The amount of this plastic that can be

recycled, even by specialty recycling companies, is slim. The only thing to do in this case is to

consciously reduce your consumption of these products.

How can we do this? It’s simpler (and in many cases, cheaper) than you may think. Many

companies make plastic-free versions of products you don’t want to give up. Instead of drinks in

plastic bottles, buy drinks in glass bottles. Bags of coffee beans are commonly made of paper,

instead of glossy plastic bags, and Sun Chips even features biodegradable bags.

There are also alternatives to common plastic or plastic-contained products. Baking soda,

which usually comes in cardboard, is said to not only be a cheaper and more responsible

alternative to deodorant, but works better. You can make your own yogurt, soy milk, and even

condiments.

For the plastic products you need to use or are not ready to give up yet, there is always

recycling. It’s better not to consume the plastic in the first place, since it’s using oil, and

recycling doesn’t redeem all of the materials that go into it. That being said, recycling is certainly

more responsible than throwing the plastic away, and you’ll even save on your garbage

collection bill. Most community recycling centers only recycle #1 (polyethylene) and #2 (high-

density polyethylene) plastics, but this covers a great deal of common products, such as bottles,
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milk jugs, and grocery bags. TerraCycle allows you to mail your chip bags, candy and gum

wrappers, granola packages, drink pouches, coffee and sandwich bags, and countless other

surprisingly common household products to be recycled. They even pay for your shipping costs,

and donate $0.02 per item to a charity of your choice. There website is http://terracycle.net.

Much of the damage from our excessive use of plastic has already been done. There are

46,000 pieces of plastic for every square mile of ocean (“Environmental”). One hundred

thousand animals per year die from eating this plastic in the ocean (Putatunda). You could easily

have contributed to these deaths without even knowing it. However, each person can do a lot to

stop it from getting worse. Do your part to keep this from becoming a plastic Earth.
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Works Cited

“Environmental Damage.” Plastic Bags: Friend or Foe? N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

<http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?

option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=31>.

Porter. Are We Running Out of Oil? N.p.: n.p., 1995. Print. American Petroleum Institute

Discussion Paper 081.

Putatunda, Rita. “Environmental Pollution: The Harmful Effects of Plastic Bags.” Buzzle. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/environmental-pollution-the-

harmful-effects-of-plastic-bags.html>.

- - -. “Environmental Pollution: The Harmful Effects of Plastic Bags.” Buzzle. N.p., n.d. Web. 30

Sept. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/environmental-pollution-the-harmful-

effects-of-plastic-bags.html>.

TerraCycle. “TerraCycle Brigades.” TerraCycle. N.p., 12 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2010.

<http://www.terracycle.net/brigades?show_all=true>.

Terry, Beth. “About Me.” Fake Plastic Fish. WordPress, 19 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 Sept. 2010.

<http://fakeplasticfish.com/about-me/>.

- - -. “Bisphenol-A (aka BPA): What is it?” Fake Plastic Fish. WordPress, 13 Jan. 2009. Web.

12 Sept. 2010. <http://fakeplasticfish.com/2009/01/bisphenol-aka-bpa-what-is-it-where-

is/>.
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- - -. “Plastic-Free Living Guide.” Fake Plastic Fish. WordPress, 25 Oct. 2007. Web. 12 Sept.

2010. <http://fakeplasticfish.com/plasticfreeguide/>.

- - -. “2009 Plastic Waste: 3.7 pounds! New 2010 Resolutions.” Fake Plastic Fish. WordPress, 5

Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://fakeplasticfish.com/2010/01/3-7-pounds-of-

plastic-waste-in-2009-leads-to-2010-resolutions/>.

Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. New York: St. Martin’s, 2007. Print.