Do you remember when VSCO girls came out and they were all about saving the turtles? Well as funny as the whole VSCO girl era was, the issues they were talking about are a huge deal. There is a ton of plastic in our oceans and on our land that affect not only turtles and other sea life but us as well.
Our Plastics
Plastic products are something we use every day and are found everywhere. To list a few;
Toothbrush and toothpaste container
Bottle of water
Trash or grocery bag
Take out container / To Go Box
Hairbrush
Sunglasses
Parts on your car
A chair
These are all manufactured materials, made by humans. With their flexible, lightweight, and strong bonds, it can stand more wear than other materials. This plastic is often made to be a disposable product so once we use it, we can toss it away. But it is not as disposable as we think.
What we throw away as disposable plastic can be from a pen that ran out of ink or the plastic utensils we use at lunch. Even though they are known as disposable plastic, it does not mean they will decompose when they are thrown away. Most plastics take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to fully decompose.
Plastic is very strong, and chemicals do not wear it away quickly. It provides nonbreakable packages for dangerous liquids. Liquid leaning products are also packaged in plastic for safety.
Plastic insulates (protects) against heat and electricity. Electrical appliances, leads, outlets, and wiring are usually made or covered with plastic. Plastic pot and pan handles protect against burning heat.
Plastic is also used in the foam core of fridges and freezers, in insulated cups, coolers, and microwave cookware.
Plastic is very light. Compared to stone, concrete, steel, copper, or aluminum, all plastics are lightweight.
Plastic is versatile. It can be processed into very thin fibers or molded into large car parts such as dashboards and bumpers. It can be foamed into polystyrene or mixed with liquids to become adhesives or paints.
Plastic comes in a countless range of types and colors. It can be made to mimic fabrics such as cotton, silk, and wool fibers; feel like stone such as porcelain and marble; or look like metals such as aluminum and zinc. Plastics also come as clear sheets and flexible film.
(Knight, Geof “Plastic Pollution” page 5)
Shown above are just a few plastic products we may see in our own daily lives.
The amount of plastic that gets dumped into our ocean has increased over the years. But of course, not all of the plastic waste ends up in over oceans just a portion of what is produced does. Most of the plastic products we produce are less dense than water and therefore should float on the ocean surface. Causing it to build up and create an unsafe environment.
Looking at the area from the surface everything may seem normal, but it is really. But in the northern Pacific Ocean, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was found. This patch is a huge area with high concentrations of plastic debris. Charles Moore is credited with discovering the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Geof Knight, the author of Plastic Pollution quotes Moore who says, “the plastic soup we’ve made of the ocean is pretty universal, it’s just a matter of degree.”
Shown above is Charles Moore, a sailor and volunteer environmentalist who founded an organization called the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.
Ever think about where that plastic goes that you just throw away. Well, it ends up in a landfill, around 93% of plastic products end up there. These landfills might seem harmless, but they lead to our ground being contaminated.
Rainwater that falls on a landfill washes over the trash before seeping into the earth. Water flows through the dump, soaking up toxins from the waste, and eventually leaks through the liner's underneath landfills. BPA (Bisphenol A), present in waste plastic, contaminates groundwater.
Plastic breaks down, but on land it takes hundreds of years. Hence, decomposition is not a sustainable way to dispose of garbage. Although towns and nations are selling their property for garbage disposal, there will not be enough room because so much plastic is not biodegradable. (Knight, 19)
Many new companies have popped up over the years with solutions on how to help. Many of these companies work with cleaning up the ocean and beaches.
Oceana
The Ocean Clean up
4Ocean
Bahamas Plastic Movement
With some of these companies you can help from the comfort of your own couch. A popular one is 4Ocean, they sell bracelets, and when you purchase a bracelet. For every bracelet sold it helps collect one pound of plastic waste.
On top of that there is stuff you can do in your daily life to help make an impact.
Reduce Your Use of Single-Use Plastics
Stop buying bottled water.
Avoid Products Containing Microbeads
Cook at home more.
Purchase items secondhand.
Recycle Properly
Use reusable bags when grocery shopping.
Participate In (or organize) a Beach or River Cleanup
(Brain Hutchinson, Oceanic Society and Sharah Engler, NRDC)
Knight, Geof. Plastic Pollution. Capstone, 2012. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e860xna&AN=625655&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. “Plastic Pollution.” Our World in Data, 1 Sept. 2018, https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution.
Hutchinson, Brian. “7 Ways to Reduce Ocean Plastic Pollution Today.” Oceanic Society, 6 Oct. 2022, https://www.oceanicsociety.org/resources/7-ways-to-reduce-ocean-plastic-pollution-today/.
Engler, Sarah. “10 Ways to Reduce Plastic Pollution.” NRDC, 5 Jan. 2016, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/10-ways-reduce-plastic-pollution.
Photo of Charles Moore: https://www.sun-strategy.com/news-and-views/captain-charles-moore/
Photo of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: https://reefci.com/2018/08/11/what-is-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/
4Ocean Video: https://www.4ocean.com/