Change Your World Week Winter 2022 (Archived)

Throughout the last several decades our society has driven the accumulation of plastic waste. It has become a severe environmental and social issue that we need to work on. Plastic pollution interferes with the health of our environment, wildlife, and even our own health. Our environment is covered with plastics and these plastics spoil our groundwater, attract other pollutants, and block drains and clog ditches. Plastics are harmful to our wildlife as they have no control over our usage, they can ingest the plastic waste and it can block their digestive tract which leads them towards starvation (Moore, 2021). The long-term usage and exposure of these plastics that we are not taking care of can lead to the leaching of toxic chemicals into our food and water. The disposal of plastics on land and in open-air burning can lead to other toxic chemicals being released into the air which causes public health hazards (Center for International Environmental Law, 2021).

To understand how we can control our plastic pollution here are some facts that will help you grasp the concept of biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics are products that degrade over time and are not harmful to our environment and ourselves. Some commercially successful biodegradable plastics are chemical synthesis (for example, polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, and polyvinyl alcohol). Others are products of microbial fermentation (for example, polyesters, neutral polysaccharides) or are prepared for chemically modified natural products (for example, starch cellulose, chitin, or soy protein) ( Biodegradable Plastics from Renewable Sources, 2003). The microbes that are within biodegradable plastics utilize the biodegradable polymers as the substrate under starvation and in the unavailability of microbial nutrients. This means that the microbes eat away at the polymers within the plastics, which leads to them degrading over time, leaving no waste accumulation behind (Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics, 2017).In addition to using these biodegradable plastics, we can begin to use reusable materials. We could also use paper products that degrade over time or metal objects that serve the same purpose. 

As we are all members of different communities, we can all start to take action on our issues with plastic pollution. While using other biodegradable materials, we could spread the action throughout our communities. This kind of action could include posting boards and flyers with images such as the one above showing the damages plastic has already done to our environment. To make this action even more effective, they can be posted on trash cans or on the walls they are surrounded by. We want to encourage others to make better decisions on how they take care of the plastics they use. This kind of action will help others to visualize the issue and prompts them to make a change. Alongside these boards and flyers, we can always include a recycle bin next to every trash can throughout a community. This kind of action can lead to everyone to lower their usage of single-use plastics, or it can encourage them to recycle. 

Flieger, M., et al. "Biodegradable Plastics from Renewable Sources." Folia Microbiologica, vol. 48, no. 1, 2003, pp.27-44., https://doi.org/10.1007//bf02931273.

Moore, Sarah. "Microbial Biodegradation of Waste." Edited by Emily Henderson, News Medical Life Sciences, News Medical Life Sciences, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/Microbial-Biodegradation-of-Waste.aspx.

"Plastic and Human Health: A Lifecycle Approach to Plastic Pollution." Center for International Environmental Law, 2020, https://www.ciel.org/project-update/plastic-and-human-health-a-lifestyle-approach-to-plastic-pollution/.

Roohi, et al. "Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics." Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, vol. 18, no. 5, 2017, https://doi.org/10.2174/1389201018666170523165742.