Activity 3.3.3 - My Plastic Use

Micro plastics are extremely small pieces of plastic left behind in an environment (considered any type of plastic that is less than 5 millimeters in length or smaller than your thumbnail) from the disposal and breakdown of waste. In general plastic is the most common form of debris found in oceans and lakes. Micro plastics that build up in these lakes are formed by larger plastic debris and even micro beads which people use in their exfoliants that are so small it can pass through water filtration systems. However, as stated by the United Nations Environment Programme “plastic microbeads first appeared in personal care products about fifty years ago, with plastics increasingly replacing natural ingredients.” In 2015 though President Obama signed the Microbead-Free-Water Act of 2015 that banned the use of plastic microbeads in personal and cosmetic care products. Microplastics can be found everywhere around the world from British beaches, drifting in the air, and to even the Antarctic ice, and scientists have come to realize that they are almost certain that there is a level of plastic exposure in all species.

Ever since the mass production of plastic beginning 60 years ago there has been over eight billion metric tons of plastic produced, and from production 9% is recycled, 12% is incinerated, and the other 80% is either in landfills or out in nature where it ends up in rivers and oceans. In the ocean now there is a concentration of plastic build up emassing to 3 times the size of France and it’s called the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ which is between California and Hawaii. A researcher at the School of Geography and Faculty of Engineering Tom Stanton explains the harm of microplastics stating “Any wildlife in or around rivers is exposed to the threats of microplastic pollution. We know that they can be ingested by organisms as small as zooplankton. If ingested, microplastics can block the gastrointestinal tracts of organisms, or trick them into thinking they don’t need to eat, leading to starvation. Many toxic chemicals can also adhere to the surface of plastic and, if ingested, contaminated microplastics could expose organisms to high concentrations of toxins.” Stanton only explains the effects on marine life. As of today many scientists still don’t know the full effect of microplastics in the human body as we already breathe in particles of dust and smoke everyday. As we advance further in the future though scientists have invented ways to help clean up plastics from the oceans, but because it’s such a long and tedious process most companies don’t want to contribute to the cause.

Work Cited:

Lim, XiaoZhi. “Microplastics Are Everywhere - but Are They Harmful?” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 4 May 2021, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01143-3.

Dudas, S. (2018). Microplastics are everywhere [Video]. TEDx Binghampton University. Microplastics are everywhere | Sarah Dudas | TEDxBinghamtonUniversity

Stanton, Tom. “The Big Problem of Microplastics.” The University of Nottingham, 2016, https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/connectonline/research/2018/the-big-problem-of-microplastics.aspx.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPS). (2018). National overview: Facts and figures on materials, wastes and recycling. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials

In this photo, each picture represents one item of plastic I used within this one day. While going through my day i never realized how many cups ano water bottles I use in a day. As well as when I went to work everything that I used was mainly plastic from the containers I would put food in, to plastic bags such as trash bags, and the carts we used to move items around. When I was reaching the end of my day I was walking around in the parking lot, and I began to notice just how dirty and polluted it was. I could look down the rows of empty parking spaces and each space has at least a left behind receipts, grocery bags, and produce ties on the ground. It was something I had never really noticed before, but after tracking the amount of plastic i use in a day it had opened up my eyes and see that it’s more abundant than I thought.