For over a century now plastic has made our lives safer, from improving the strength of our cars, to the development of new and improved medical devices. However, the degradation of these plastic products is a long process when simply dumped into landfills with general trash, or in other cases, dumped into our precious oceans. In order to maintain our consumption of plastic, save money, and protect our environment, there must be a more efficient system set up for recycling the majority of plastics consumed around the world. Plastics are quite possibly the most important material used throughout our daily lives, and without it we could not accomplish much of what we do every day. The development of plastics can be credited for the widespread commercialization of electronics over the past century.
Water Bottle Argument The use of bottled water is a controversial topic. Some people claim that water bottles are bad for the environment. They tend to focus on the waste of producing and disposing bottles and also how transporting the bottles can cause many inefficiencies. It has even been said to drink tap water in order to save money and the planet. These facts are based off the estimate made by The Earth Policy Institute which stated that about 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to make water bottles each year when instead this oil could be used to fuel about 100,000 cars.
In the United States the foundation that is used to dispose of all the waste that is accumulated is the land dumping method. Not only is land dumping a simple method; it provides low costs, and also the unused acreage makes it even more manageable. In the background part of the essay it claims, “According to the Energy Information Administration, the amount of waste produced in the United States has more than doubled in the past thirty years, and it is estimated that the average American generates an astounding 4.5 pounds of trash every day.” With statistics that high there is no questioning to why land dumping is the more affordable and convenient way to disregard all the waste. If individuals were to reduce their consumption then that number would decrease, causing a lesser amount of waste. Various individuals are unaware of where their garbage is taken, but in reality if they were to witness where it is processed, it would open up their eyes to be more considerate about their consumption rate.
Today, as in the past, oceans are being treated as giant disposal areas for all types of refuse (plastics, tins, bottles etc.) with the belief that the enormous size of the oceans would be enough to dilute and break-down any materials we put into them. Most of the waste we produce on land eventually, in one way or another, reaches our oceans, either through deliberate dumping or from run-off through drains and rivers. But, sadly, now we have to reap the ramifications of our choices. With an average of 6.3 million kilograms of trash being pumped into our oceans every year, it won't be very long until they reach breaking point.
An animal could also be forced to relocate from its current home because of an excess of trash that restrain the daily activities needed to survive. The planet is the one body that cannot be replaced when it comes to being impacted by this issue. The bags that are thrown out and end up in landfills and sit for many hundred years since they are not easily broken down by our environment. A report done by the Moore Recycling Associates showed that an estimated 812,010,000 pounds of used plastics (plastic bags also) were recovered during 2006 and 2005. (Ian 1).
In the article by O’Rourke she says “Each year, the United States disposes of some 30 billion empty bottled-water containers. Water bottles are filling up our landfills: Two million tons of plastic water bottles a year ultimately end up in them.” These facts are not considering the products used to seal, package, and contain the bottles which may include card board. All this manufacturing can ultimately affect the climate and environment. She also talks about how the people that buy the bottled water rarely recycle them she says “fewer than 15 percent of PET bottles are recycled”. While water bottles are able to be recycled it has been found that the majority are disposed of by trash or being left behind somewhere.
Recycling has been the center of many ethical and environmental arguments for years. It’s hard for people to make the decision to recycle or not because they are so many arguments for and against recycling. The government has tried to regulate recycling but that could just be another reason for people not to do it. There are articles upon articles written about recycling persuading people to recycle, persuading them not to. What it comes down to is if one believes recycling is good for the environment and is ethical, or if the bad outweighs the good and recycling is bad and unethical.
We already solved some of the problem by recycling and composting but there’s still a huge amount of garbage. We can cut don’t our garbage by producing products that can be recyclable or can be put in a green bin. In the future I hope they can invent something that will eliminate garbage for once and for all. The reasons why we should eliminate those things are because our world would be a cleaner place. If we don’t stop Global warming our world is going to die and all the living beings in the world will perish with it.
The extent of ecological damage means that it takes decades for an ecosystem affected by the industry to heal. This water is then packaged in bottles made of various plastics. Since plastics do not biodegrade easily, these bottles, unless disposed of properly, find their way to land fills, or oceanic garbage patches. Scientific estimates suggest that some of the bottles will remain in these landfills and oceanic patches for close to a thousand years. As the plastics gradually degrade, chemicals leach into the soil and wind up in the water table.
These vehicle fumes coupled with other air pollution sources are responsible for many residents suffering from severe respiratory health problems. To reduce the air pollution, the Mexican government should redevelop the public transport to a more reliable, effective, and reasonable mean of transport. This way, the number of people using vehicles which cause air pollution will decrease thus making the city more ecologically sustainable. However, there are also major problems regarding the disposal of waste in the megacity. The amounts of waste recycled as a percentage of the total waste per year is extremely low.