Environment | Environment

The Problem With Plastics

April 6, 2018
Brian S. McGrath

Plastic debris from the ocean washes up on a beach in Australia.

DANIELA DIRSCHERL—GETTY IMAGES

One late-summer day, a team of cleanup volunteers was exploring

the shore of the Anacostia River, in Washington, D.C. The water

rippled under a hazy blue sky. Tall grass swayed on the mudIats.

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 But something else caught the group’s eye.

Along the shore were heaps of plastic bottles. They had drifted

down the river and gotten caught in branches that dipped into the

water. The more the group looked, the more bottles they found.

They gathered about 500 that day. But how many more had made

it downstream and into the ocean?

“It was just overwhelming,” Nancy Wallace told TFK. She leads the

Marine Debris Program for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration. “You didn’t have enough room to move because of

the piles and piles of bottles,” she says. The area was “completely
covered.”

The world has a plastics problem, and not just with bottles. Candy

wrappers, straws, toothbrushes, toys—all kinds of plastics are

piling up in landZlls. A recent study published in Science Advances

estimates that landZlls contain a large part of the world’s 5 billion

tons of plastic waste. By 2050, the amount could reach 13 billion

tons.

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 TOO MUCH TRASH Children clean up trash at the beach in

Mumbai, India.
INDRANIL MUKHERJEE—AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Much of this trash Znds its way into the ocean. Scientists estimate

that 165 million tons of plastic debris is Ioating around out there.

In 32 years, plastic in the ocean could outweigh all the Zsh. And
since most plastic is not biodegradable, it will remain in the ocean

forever. It endangers marine life and can even end up in the food

we eat.

Governments are realizing that recycling may not be enough. Many

want to eliminate some plastic items altogether. It could have a

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 huge impact on the planet. “The problem can seem overwhelming,”

says Wallace. “But it’s a solvable problem.”

Plastic Pollution

Plastic litters beaches. Whales have been entangled in discarded

plastic Zshing nets. Plastic packing bands have strangled sea lions.

Birds have starved, with bellies full of plastic straws and bottle

caps.

Yet another danger is harder to see. Sunlight causes plastic to

become brittle. Ocean waves then break the plastic down into

smaller pieces. These bits collect pollutants already in the sea.

Marine animals that eat them are poisoned.

Products like cosmetics and toothpaste are made with bits of

plastic called microbeads. These get washed down the drain and

wind up in rivers and oceans, where Zsh eat them.

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 DANGEROUS DEBRIS A tire is wrapped around the neck of a

crocodile in Indonesia.
ARFA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Last Straw

“It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure that plastic products are

disposed of properly,” Ashley Stoney says. She works for the

Plastics Industry Association. But not all types of plastic can be

recycled. Stoney says companies should Znd a way to make and

use plastics that can be.

In December 2017, 193 countries signed a United Nations pledge

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 to eliminate plastic pollution in the sea. Britain has outlawed the

manufacture of products containing microbeads. Rwanda has

made plastic bags and packaging illegal, except in hospitals.

Scotland and Taiwan have banned plastic straws, and several

coastal cities in the U.S. are following suit.

SWIMMING IN PLASTIC Anything we throw away can wind up in

the ocean.
GARY BELL—GETTY IMAGES

Local advocates are also at work. Diana Locin started

StrawFree.org, in San Diego, California. The organization visits

businesses and schools, encouraging people to give up plastic

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 straws. The U.S. alone throws away some 500 million straws a day,

enough to circle the Earth twice. They are one of the most-found

plastic items on the beach.

“Saying no to a plastic straw is an easy way to make a big

difference in the world,” Locin told TFK.

After all, she says, it’s our future that’s at stake. “Do we really want

to pass on to the next generation a world that’s choked by plastic?”

Chew On This

Here’s a tasty way to reduce waste. Bakeys, a company in India,

has made the Zrst-ever spoons you can eat. Their edible cutlery is

made of millet, rice, and wheat. It comes in Iavors like ginger-garlic

and black pepper, in a paper wrapper. If you throw a spoon away, it

decomposes in just a few days.

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 “The cutlery is tasty, fun, nutritious, and environmentally friendly,”

says Bakeys founder, Narayana Peesapaty.

BI/BARCROFT MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES

Harvard University scientist David Edwards has designed an edible

packaging material called WikiCell. It protects the food or liquid

inside as a peel protects an orange. The translucent skin is made

of food particles from chocolate, fruit, seeds, or nuts, so it’s a

delicious replacement for plastic wrap.

Assessment: Click here for a printable quiz. Teacher subscribers can

=nd the answer key in this week's Teacher's Guide.

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