Response Essay on Microbeads Issues

 Bright and Dark Sides of Plastic: Should We Stop Using Plastic?

 by Soomin

 
  Plastic is one of the most useful friends of human civilization. It is so useful that often people do not even recognize they are using plastic. This hard but light and transformable material lets humans enjoy life a better quality of life ever at a considerably cheaper price. Cars are made of plastic, computers, air-conditioners, binders, bags, packages and even medical appliances--which are crucial to lengthening our life spans--are plastic. The invention of plastic surely makes the world a better place.

  Is a world with plastic a better place for creatures other than humans as well? A lot of people,including myself,tend to act as if humans are the only animals who live on the Earth. However, this is not true. Humans live in one big ecosystem with other animals and plants. How does plastic affect the lives of our neighbors?

  After humans throw away plastic, there are roughly four ways to manage the plastic waste. First, reuse it. The tragedy of reusing plastic is, however, that a very small portion of plastic waste can be recycled since once plastic is fixed into one form it costs a lot to change its form. Second, bury it underground. Third, dump it in the ocean. Fourth, burn it.

  The last three ways are well known to be harmful to the environment and humans as well. Since most plastic is not biodegradable, plastic waste that was buried a century ago still maintains its shape. Also, even the biodegradable plastic takes a long time to biodegrade. Now governments are struggling to find new places for landfills to bury plastic. We just do not have enough land to deal with the plastic waste we have thrown away.

  Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization, reported that every year more than a hundred new 'plastic islands' form in the Pacific Ocean. As you might guess, these islands are made of plastic waste. This trash is dumped in the ocean and spoils aquatic habitats. For example, when polystyrene plastic, or simply PS, is discarded to the ocean many sea animals like sea turtles, mistake that waste as food and they swallow the waste. Then they find themselves become buoyant, unable to go underwater, and die. Plastic microbeads, another example of plastic waste, are so small that they cannot be filtered by urban water treatment plants and flow to the ocean. Just like polystyrene, microbeads also destroy the aquatic ecosystem.

  Burning plastic waste used to be an efficient way to manage plastic disposal until scientists found out that harmful gas is released from the combustion of plastic. These noxious fumes pollute the air and are toxic to human lungs. Many governments these days have closed incineration plants and if they are running some, then they have a strict regulation on them.

  Basically, human civilizations do not have a proper solution to deal with this 'plastic crisis'. The problematic situation of plastic is like spreading human waste all over the world without knowing how to flush. Actually, the case of plastic is even worse than excrement because it, at least, is biodegradable.

  The only solution we have so far for the 'plastic crisis' is using fewer plastic products. Using less plastic means less trash. It is difficult, of course. We live in a world which is very friendly to plastic, but at least we have to make an effort step by step. The environmental movement against microbeads is one good example of successful plan to manage plastic products. At first, there were some voices warning of the harms of microbeads. People listened to those voices and participated in the campaign. Now in the US, products with microbeads are strictly prohibited. It was a small step at the beginning which made a notable success in the end.