Plastic straws and silverware arranged to spell out ‘Stop’ Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
When you first think of plastic pollution, I’m sure that you picture a plastic bottle on the ground. You would be right in a sense, but what if there were mounds of plastic drifting into the oceans or gathering onto landfills? This ‘what if’ is our reality.
Now a mound of garbage may not bother you, but would the idea of plastic harming your health do the trick? The effects of plastic harm us in more ways than one.
1. Plastic hurts our environment
There are many facts about plastic that most people do not know.
For example, many people have learned that plastic is incapable of decomposing. However, what we fail to acknowledge is that these plastics have dangerous toxins within them and can be released into Earth’s atmosphere. Since these plastics are capable of releasing toxic chemicals, this damages our wildlife as well as our water sources.
Michelle Sigler, researcher and author of “The Effects of Plastic Pollution on Aquatic Wildlife: Current Situations and Future Solutions,” talked about the effects of plastic pollution and mentioned how plastic is physically incapable of decomposing because of its molecular structure. Instead, plastic photo-degrades into tinier pieces as time goes on and will never fully decompose.
Joana Prata, one of the authors of “Solutions and Integrated Strategies for the Control and Mitigation of Plastic and Microplastic Pollution,” mentioned the science behind the decomposition of plastic and how the accumulation of toxins in plastic harms our environment.
Plastic Mound on the beach Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash
“Plastic pollution is thought to be a planetary boundary threat, as it is irreversible (low degradation, impossibility to recover all plastics), at planetary-scale, and likely to disrupt Earth system processes, either by having negative effects on ecosystems or by altering the physicochemical properties of the environment [13],” Prata et. al stated.
Therefore, Earth and its environment become affected by the displacement of plastic.
2. Plastic hurts our ecosystem
As mentioned previously, because of the molecular structure of plastic, it becomes impossible to completely decompose. However, the chemicals within the structure of plastic are equally harmful.
For example, many plastics have a thin coat of what we call Bisphenol A (BPA). This liner specifically coats the inside of food containers so the food or drink will not react to the container.
Distribution of plastic water bottles Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash
However, this well-known plastic coat becomes impossible to completely break down when exposed to water. Thus when plastic ends up in our oceans, the liner will never wash away.
Because plastic, along with the chemicals in or around it, drifts into our oceans and photo-degrades, this harms our food chain for a couple of reasons.
For one, plastic mistakenly becomes a food source for many sea creatures as it can resemble phytoplankton. Once consumed, Sigler mentioned how the plastic debris reduces stomach capacity, hinders growth, causes internal injuries, and creates intestinal blockage.
Plastic ending up in our oceans is not only mistakenly consumed, but our animals become entangled in it as well. Many animals, both aquatic and terrestrial, are then strangled, or even in many cases die, because of our misplaced garbage.
3. Plastic hurts our health
Our food chain becomes exposed to the dangers of plastic when animals start to consume it. Fish could be served on a platter and no one would know if plastic was one of its last meals.
Seagull taking a chip bag Photo taken by Ingrid Taylar on Flickr
One other fact about the use of plastic is that it can be very dangerous to our health. Some common plastics contain toxic carcinogens, like Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) for example, and have been linked to birth defects, immune system problems, and even cancer.
The use of BPA’s in our plastics and food containers are toxic for us as researcher Gianna Andrews, author of “Plastic in the Ocean Affecting Human Health,” stated,
“Over time the polymer chains of BPA break down, and can enter the human body in many ways from drinking contaminated water to eating a fish that is exposed to the broken down toxins.”
Therefore, not only is there a potential of eating contaminated meats, but there’s even a chance of drinking BPA breakdown from a plastic water bottle.
These three main reasons are why the production and distribution of plastic should end. If our environment, our ecosystem, and even our health is at risk, shouldn’t those reasons be enough?
♻️ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! ♻️
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