Plastic trouble has been the heated issue for this century. The use of plastic has caused a lot of trouble towards human’s health, animals’ life, marine ecosystem and ultimately towards the environment. Various organizations, companies, community leaders and advisor are implementing different techniques to get rid of this problem. Some are focusing on reducing the plastic waste while some are focusing on reusing and recycling the water.
It is appeared that recycling has not been able to advance itself due to the lack of infrastructure and there is not much profit for recycling. Thus, various organizations and experts have suggested a new way of decreasing the plastic waste, which is Refuse. Refuse is the technique to refuse the use of “single use plastic” and instead people should bring their own shopping bag to the market. This technique can be applied to various plastic materials. I posit that people should adopt the habit of refusing and reusing the plastic materials along with improving the recycling system as a major solution for plastic pollution and if they are not implemented on time then we must face a big consequence.
First, the plastic materials must be reuse because it can help us economically and it can promote the environment as well. For instance, if we take simple example of plastic material like bottle and if we started reusing it then it can save us a ton of money. Since people do not throw it after reusing, so it also helps to keep the environment neat and tidy. People tends to use bottled water more often because it is more convenient. They can take it anywhere and can dump it easily during the availability of bins. Similarly, it is widely used in those countries where there is less availability of clean water. But these two factors can be deceiving because more than advantages, bottled water has disadvantages. First bottled water is one of the main sources of land pollution.
127 our experts are availableright now
According to creek journal, “eight out of 10 bottles will end up in landfill.” It is also the cause for destroying marine ecosystem. Every year, marine mammals mistakenly fed bottle thinking it as a prey. In the same way, bottled water is not good for human health. According to the research done in California it is found that bottled water contains elements like arsenic and BPA, these elements are injurious to human health. On the top of that bottled water is too expensive. Each year $100 billion is spend on bottled water while only “0.0015” per gallon is spent on tap water. Similarly, bottled water lacks in minerals. It is found that one of the important minerals i.e. fluoride can be easily found on tap water, but in bottled water there is no availability of fluoride. So, the ultimate solution is to use reusable bottled water filled with tap water. In this way people can get the benefit of tab water and there is less use of plastic bottle. Thus, if people make the habit of using plastic materials it can contribute a lot in the environment.
Secondly, People should make the habit of reducing the plastic bags and make use of same shopping bag while visiting the market. People can face many obstacles while planning to use reusable bag. The first one is that people can forget to re-use them most of the time. For instance, even I have tried to reuse my cotton bag while going out for shopping but most of the time I forget to bring them. So, I tried to buy new reusable bag from market again and use it. As a result, there is pile of reusable big in my closet more than my clothes. As mentioned by the UK Environment Agency “cotton bag has to be used 131 times to equal the environmental impact of producing one plastic bag”. Apart from that there are other problems as well.
If we tend to use reusable bag more, it will sure come under attack with bacteria under long period of time. According to the case study of reusable bag done in California it was found that 51% of the bag examined was infected with bacteria. So, if people really want to reuse their bag, they have to remind themselves of using the bag again and again either by sticking sticker on their car or anything that remind them to use the bag. Similarly, they must make the habit of washing the bag time to time to get rid of bacteria and on the top of that they have to make the habit of using the bag for longer period of time. In this way, people can really contribute towards the environment by using reusable bag.
Thirdly, the process of recycle in USA has to be modernized to take the effective steps towards plastic pollution. Each year out of the total plastic waste only 6% of the plastic waste is recycled while 86% of the waste stays in the landfill and remaining 8% are incinerated. This statistic can clearly show how unadvanced is the process of recycling is. For example, the most populated and developed city of USA i.e. New York has not well-maintained recycling system. It ranks 16th among 27 cities for taking care of its waste. The rate of recycling waste has been decreased from 23 percent to 15 percent for New York.
The first reason why New York is lagging is because of lack of advance equipment and recycling plat. Another problem is people’s behavior. People don’t tend to recycle the materials more often. Similarly, the city itself is not being able to transfer knowledge to citizen about the method of recycle. Similarly, it is more expensive for recycling the material rather than disposing them in landfill. In the same way New York has a smaller number of recycling bins in the street. So, even if an environmental conversationalist want not to throw them, due to the unavailability of bin they are forced to throw them. On the top of that New York is not able to manage its compostable like yard waste, food waster, food coverings etc.
Each Year tons of food waste got throw away from restaurant, hotels in New York. It is seen that customer in New York are demanding recycling materials. Some chains are challenging themselves through the management of waste chains like La pain is composting waste on it own and they provide compostable utensils inside the restaurant. In the same way, another chain called just salad provide 1$ reusable bowl to its customer and provide 2 free topping for visitor on their every visit with the bowl. In this way New York is shifting from recycling to reusing the plastic material to keep the environment safe.
Another we must reduce the use of plastic bag. The use of plastic has caused a lot of negative effects on human, marine ecosystem as well as environment. It is found that the plastic and its materials contain harmful elements called toxins like BPS, phthalates. These toxins take year to decay so it causes a lot of trouble to environment. Similarly, these elements are also injurious to human health. According to recent surveyed done in USA, 95% adult have BPA seen in their urine. The presence of these elements can cause problems like early sex maturation, decreased fertility as well as aggressive behavior. In the same way, ocean has become the dumping site of waste. This is causing negative effect on the health of several marine life.
When plastic remain in ocean for long time, they produce harmful toxins that works as sponges and further help to accumulate PCBs and DDT around its environment. Thus, American Chemistry Council is implementing various strategy to make the environment get rid of plastic. First, they decided to invest on recycling the plastic waste, but it seems to less effective due to more cost consumption. They even tried to promote recycling using advertisement, but they were not successful. So, the American Chemistry Council is finally implementing a new strategy of refuse where one has to refuse the use of plastic and use their own bag while shopping. It also promotes reusable bottles as well as non-plastic disposable packing. Thus, if we reduce the use of plastic and instead make the use of own reusable plastic materials. In that way there will be drastic drop in the use of plastic and it can prevent plastic pollution and other future problem.
People who do not tend to use plastic bag argue that people do not use one plastic material again and again while going for shopping, restaurant etc. because it is a kind of tedious job. Yes, it is true but on the other hand, the stores have implemented the strategy of giving its customers reward every time they brought their own bag while shopping or in restaurant. In this way a customer gets motivated to bring their own reusable plastic materials. This method has also helped to remind its customer to take the materials. Similarly, stores have even put stickers in various places around the market to remind the customer to make use of reusable materials.
Manufactures of plastic or plastic materials may get offended if the strategy of reuse and reduce is implemented. It is obvious that this strategy cuts offs the profit of these manufactures. Alternatively, these companies have used bottles and packaging materials to produce the further plastic materials. This has provided the consumer a sense of environmental conservational step taken by them.
Thus, to control the plastic waste and its future consequence, people should be well informed bout the importance of reducing and reusing the plastic materials where ever they go. In the same way, the infrastructure for recycling the plastic waste are not modernized. So, the combine effort of conservationists, public, strategy maker is needed to improve and invest for the improvisation of recycling plants. With these steps it is possible to manage the plastic waste effectively.
