Why is plastic so harmful to the environment?

There are many questions on why the environment is being destroyed by plastic. I guess you could say we live on a plastic planet. One of the biggest questions is, why is plastic so bad for the environment? Today we are going to give you as many reasons as we can to tell you why plastic is so harmful to the environment.

What makes plastic so harmful

Plastic never goes away. It is a non-biodegradable material. It breaks into many small pieces that can not be seen by the human eye. Turtles, seal, and dolphins become entangled in plastic, they eat it or mistake it for food and feed it to their young. Plastic is found even in extremely remote areas of the earth. This happens because rubbish can go into the ocean and float to different countries. Plastic can affect human health. Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, and other medical conditions.

The effect on marine life

Plastic is very harmful to the ocean it has a devastating toll on marine animals. Over 1,000,000 marine animals get killed by plastics and pollution each year. Of the 260 million tons of plastic, the world produces each year, about 10 percent ends up in the Ocean. How this happens is rubbish ends up in drains and goes out to sea, when you litter, the waste can blow into streams, rivers and drift out to sea. Marine animals are mistaking pieces of plastic for food, when they eat pieces of plastic it sits in their stomachs and they slowly die.

The Great pacific garbage patch

The great pacific garbage patch is a giant patch of garbage north in the Pacific ocean. What it does is it gathers a bunch of rubbish and plastic, and what it is doing is making a land of garbage. The size of it is MASSIVE it's around 700,000 square kilometers wide. It was discovered between the years of 1985-1988, it was published to the media in 1988 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (also known as N.O.A.A.) if we keep littering the garbage patch is estimated to double its size by 2021. The Ocean Cleanup is a growing number of organizations, in Utrecht (the Netherlands) aiming to get rid the oceans of plastic, it's going to begin operations in the Great Pacific garbage patch. How will they clean this big patch of garbage? The modular cleanup system consists of a number of large U shaped barriers, held by floats, which cause the plastic to float to a central point where it is extracted and shipped to shore for recycling. This is amazing news as most of the pollution we produced is in the ocean. The contents of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch have been described as toxic. Humans, you and I have provided all the ingredients. This patch of garbage is a huge threat to animals. It stretches a very long way and animals can mistake this long line a garbage for food for then they feed off it and slowly die. Sometimes they can swim into it causing them to get entangled.

How littering affects the world

Littering is bad for many reasons. Not only are marine animals are getting affected by this, land animals and bird life are also dying from us littering. Rivers, streams, Lakes, and oceans are becoming polluted by humans dumping waste in these sources. An average person will use at least 2 pieces of plastic a day. Most of the plastic we use is put in the rubbish bin after only using once. 80% of the plastic we use ends up in the ocean. Most of the plastics we use can be reused before throwing away. Thirty percent of all plastic - water bottles, bags, and straws are used just once and thrown away. Most types of plastic can be reused to do lots of things including making things, jars for storing things and much more. Why not try to save our environment and stop littering and start to reuse the plastic we use. Busissines are trying their hardest to stop the amount of plastic gets used. For example New Zealand supermarkets Countdown and New world a going plastic bag free by the end of the year. Pak N Save another NZ supermarket has already made this change. Supermarkets banning plastic bags will reduce the amount of plastic we litter and produce hugely. over 200 countries signed an agreement to clean the oceans of plastic waste. The agreement, created by the United Nations, also states that each country will invest in using more environmentally friendly packaging, which will massively help reduce the amount of waste produced by each country.

Plastic bottles and bags

Some types of plastics are very harmful to the environment. Plastic is a common thing we would use every day. If we take the city of new york, for example, it's just full of plastic and garbage everywhere. At least 26 billion plastic bottles are used a year and the sad thing is that only 15% of that 26 billion is recycled. Plastic bags are a little similar. Around 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide, and around 13 million plastic bags are used each day. This has become an everyday thing in our lives and they may be useful but at the same time, they are destroying our only planet.

Rubbish and recycling

Recycling is a very important thing in the world. It’s great to see people trying to make a difference in how much plastic we usually use, but sadly not enough people are recycling. They are just putting products straight in the bin witch there goes to the landfill. Landfills are filling up very fast, faster than they should. This is causing pollution. If we don't recycle, our planet could come to an end. If we don't recycle we will create more air pollution so that eventually our oxygen is no longer breathable. You can tell if a piece of plastic is recyclable if it has a 2, 4 or 5 on it. If it has a 1, 3, 6 or 7 on it is a non-biodegradable material that will stay around forever. New World is making a difference by recycling soft plastics into plastic bench seats. More than 8 tonnes of plastic a week is recycled from New world and made into other useful products like park benches and recycling bins!

Human health

Not only are animals suffering from plastics us as humans are as well. Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic and are found in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to the most common toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA), may cause cancer in people. BPA is a weak synthetic estrogen found in many rigid plastics. BPA can also cause birth defects. In 2011 a study found that pregnant women with high levels of BPA were more likely to have daughters who showed signs of hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression. It’s not clear why boys aren’t affected in the same way.

What we can do to stop pollution

Anyone can make a difference. Big or small an action makes a difference. Just by putting your waste in the rubbish bin if it can not be reused is making a huge difference, instead of throwing away produces that can be reused or recycled. Please recycle and reuse products this will reduce the amount of waste us as humans produce each year. Humans, you and I can make a difference.

Prediction for the future

It may not seem like it now but I think the world is going to turn eco. With the way, the world is changing in technology. There a now cars that don’t need petrol. The number of electric and hybrid cars on New Zealand roads has increased dramatically from just 190 in January 2013 to 4541 last month. That's a 2290 percent increase in less than five years. Also, Robots can to do your jobs, how good is that. I think with all these machines there will be no need to use as much plastic as we do now.

Our action plan:

Plan:

Throw a fundraiser and raise some money for an environmental charity to Reduce plastic and make a display at New world. One of our family members will sit on the table with us all the time. Prize: Environmental products
(Maybe) We will also through a mufti day at W.H.S