When we first started to write down each plastic item we have touched throughout the day, I was amazed the see how much it turned out to be. We never really put much thought into it, but plastic is all around us. I learned in class that our world has 32 million tons in landfill and still counting. I’m even typing on something made with plastic right now. Plastic has become the easiest and cheapest thing to create nowadays. But that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful to us in other ways. The way we use plastic now is crazy and since it is everywhere and not biodegradable, the plastic trash has filled up the landfills to their point where we need to do something about it sooner rather than later.
Comparing my Bag of disposable trash to my day of things I’ve touched really taught me a lot. I buy or have lots of food or drinks that just end up going into the trash when I am finished. Especially in college, I have a lot of snacks during the day because sometimes I just don’t have time to stop and have a full meal. So, bringing a bag around with me and filling it with all the disposable plastic has shown me how much just one person throws away like its nothing. But it is something. I learned through this process that we need to find better alternatives to plastic. The videos that we have watched in class really showed me that some people are trying to make an effort in finding alternatives better fit for our environment. For example, we package all of our mail away in plastic and for what. That trash gets thrown away right when it gets delivered. But one company found that there is a way to make packaging from a type of fungi that is biodegradable and is better fit to slow down the plastic pollution. In another video there was man who made a type of plastic like material out of Chitosan and Silk. That’s shrimp shells! It’s crazy to think of all the things we could use that’s better for the environment. Instead, our world goes for the easy option. The cheap option. We need to be able to start thinking more about the future and how much we are damaging our earth with not even a thought about it.
Our college does have recycle options in the dining hall, and we do use biodegradable cups. But most people don’t think and just throw it away in the landfill. This just proves my point that people are not putting effort into saving the planet. Plus, in our dorms if we want a recycle bin in our rooms we have to walk to another building and personally ask for it. Most people think of that as too much of a hassle, so they don’t end up getting one and throwing their recycling away into their trash. Personally, I think that people need to stop being lazy about recycling because in the next generation people are going to be suffering from a lot of our mistakes including our plastic footprint.
https://biobaseddelta.com/plastic-soup-2/
We actually produce about 300 million tons of plastic waste every year. Crazy!