Plastic in the Environment

There is no doubt that the invention of plastic has changed our lives. The use of plastic in the aviation sector has made technological advances such as the Space Shuttle possible.

The construction industry has adapted plastics for everything from wood replacement to insulation. Automobiles have become lighter and more fuel efficient due to lightweight plastics. Packaging has been revolutionized by the versatility of plastics.

Hard plastics have made theft of expensive electronics more difficult, while pliable plastic make carrying groceries easier. Advances in the medical field due to the use of plastics have saved countless lives.

But there is a dark side to plastic. There has always been a dieting joke that goes, "a moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips". The same goes for plastics. Using a plastic cup for a drink is one example. The beverage only takes a few minutes to consume, but it can take 50- 80 years for that plastic to decompose in the ground.

Just do a Google search to research the amount of plastic bags used in this country, how many are actually recycled and how many are discarded, is staggering. Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year and sadly only 1-4% is being recycled. The rest end up in our landfill or end up in the ocean. Once in the ocean, sunlight begins to degrade the plastic, breaking it up into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces never go away, and present a huge hazard to our sealife.

An island of garbage is floating in the North Pacific that is estimated to be larger than the size of Texas. The death of over a billion seabirds and mammals are attributed to the ingestion of plastics. Despite government treaties to ban ships from dumping plastics, it is estimated that nearly 14 billion pounds of plastics are dumped in the oceans.

Plastic bags jam up recycling machines resulting in higher costs to recycle.

Americans use two and a half million plastic bottles every HOUR!

Every year we manufacturer enough plastic wrap to shrink wrap Texas!

Andt the most mind boggling statistic of them all is that nearly every piece of plastic ever manufactured still exists today! If that fact alone doesn't spur you into action, nothing else will.

So what can you do to eliminate plastics in your life?

* Buy products that use less plastic packaging. Fresh produce is preferred over packaged frozen foods.

* "Green Bags" are available at nearly all grocery stores today. Use them instead of plastic bags.

* Learn the proper way to recycle plastics. Find out what the rules are in your community. If you have no recycling rules, contact your local government and find out why not.

* Leave an area cleaner than when you arrived. If you go to the beach, dispose of plastics in approved containers, or bring your trash home. If you see plastics on the beach, pick it up and dispose of it properly.

* Reusable cups for coffee and beverages should be used as much as possible.

Avoid the use of plastic coated disposable paper plates and avoid plastic silverware.

* Bring your own container to a restaurant of you are expecting to take leftovers home.

* Reuse plastic bags for garbage bags instead of buying new bags.

These are only a few ways to reduce your consumption of plastic. If everyone reduced their plastic consumption by half, the savings of oil needed to produce that plastic would be significantly reduced. That is good for the environment.

Beverly Saltonstall is an environmental writer that maintains websites related to all aspects of the environment including sustainable development, recycling and pollution.