Plastic Usage Argumentative Essay
In contemporary life-as opposed to the traditional one, plastic is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the economy and among the most pervasive environmental pollutants in the world. As Van Jones, who is an American author, puts it in his ted talk, the production, use, and disposal of plastic have hazardous effects on both the vulnerable people in low-income communities and aquatic animals. Each day that passes, we unknowingly consume materials containing plastic. Usually, people go for plastic materials, which can be water bottles, straws, plastic bags, or kitchen utensils for two reasons. One is because plastics are less expensive and two because they are easy to use.
Plastic usage has indeed made our lives uncomplicated, but this has come with a cost, we have jeopardized our environment. Does the placing of recycling bins everywhere reduce plastic pollution? And if it doesn’t reduce pollution, what changes should we make to it? Millions of thousands of plastic waste are scattered everywhere in our environment and have led to marine pollution simply because people overuse them. I strongly feel that it is time we realize that we need to bring plastic usage to a halt and that we need to do proper recycling of plastics instead of producing them more if at all we want to reduce plastic usage. The discussion below attests to this.
Thesis statement
Since the use of plastics over the years has turned out to have hazardous effects on the entire ecosystem, the government should formulate appropriate measures that aim at reducing plastic usage. The measures include promoting the use of public water refill stations, recognizing and rewarding those retailers or restaurants that employ reusable containers, identifying the hotspots for litter pollution, then leading focused campaigns, and enacting laws that prohibit the single-use of plastics.
People started using plastics in 1907 (Bailey). During this year, the revolutionization of plastic took place as a result of the invention of the Bakelite products. Even though the introduction of synthetic plastic occurred in the early 1990s, its usage popularized in the Second World War. The purpose of producing plastic as the war went on was to help in the construction of lightweight planes and parachutes. However, after the war came to an end, plastic became so worldly that even various companies started producing household items that contained plastic. On large scale production, plastics were used by some companies to make planes and cars lighter. Since then, people have just been seeing plastic’s benefits and how it has simplified their lives. Plastic has indeed positively benefitted people for a long time. However, the problem is, people are only looking at the positive impacts of using it without even thinking a bit about its negative consequences. To understand how plastic usage contaminates the environment, we first examine the design of plastics. Synthetic plastic is made from petroleum and contains huge molecules often called “polymers.” The difference between these polymers and natural polymers is that as opposed to natural polymers, synthetic polymers do not decay naturally. Therefore, instead of decaying, they break down into finer materials, which can stick around for many years. In almost every person’s blood tissues, there are harmful chemicals, which leach out from the plastic. The toxic chemicals can lead to ailments such as cancers, congenital disabilities, impaired immunity, and endocrine disruption, which lead to the death of a person (Vethaak and Heather).However, vulnerable people in low income communities are the ones affected the most as they can’t afford to buy the medicine that can at least combat the infections. For marine animals, the common impacts are ingestion, suffocation, and entanglement of millions of marine species. The stomachs of marine animals such as whales are packed with the debris of plastic as they mistake plastic trash for prey. As a result, they die of starvation.
To reduce these effects, the government has to come up with various measures. To begin with, the government should promote the use of public water refill stations and incentivized reverse vending machines. The public water refilling stations provide free sources of drinking water and ensure that there is no bottle left behind. Incentivized reverse vending machines, on the other hand, offer a convenient way for customers to return their bottles and claim deposit refunds—these results in fewer bottles littered. Secondly, the government should recognize and reward those retailers or restaurants that employ reusable containers. As retailers and restaurants are recognized entities, they can influence the community to stop using the plastics. Thus, to motivate them, they should be rewarded whenever they come up with initiatives that aim at reducing plastic usage. Thirdly, the government should identify the hotspots for litter pollution and lead focused campaigns. By using social media and other networking applications, the government can quickly identify areas that are hotspots for plastic pollution and focus on them in a less -costly manner. Also, the government should enact laws that prohibit the single-use of plastics (Wagner 10). As the best way of reducing plastic usage is eliminating them, the government should pass laws that aim at banning the single-use of plastic bottles, since many single uses of plastics make them widespread.
Conclusively, as we have seen above, people and marine creatures are dying just because of the use of plastics. Time and again, we have heard that our horrendous actions are destroying the environment, and sadly, that is what we are doing. The entire existence of humanity relies on the environment, which we are busy destroying. Let’s join hands to stop plastic usage if we want to secure our existence. Also, let’s support the government in ensuring that our environment is plastic-free.
Work Cited
Bailey, Charles A. “Cartridge.” U.S. Patent No. 865,979. 10 Sep. 1907.
Vethaak, A. Dick, and Heather A. Leslie. “Plastic debris is a human health issue.” (2016): 6825
6826.
Wagner, Travis P. “Reducing single-use plastic shopping bags in the USA.” Waste Management
70 (2017): 3-12.