People of the world, we need to reduce our single-use plastics! Throughout the course of our lives we have been taught that it is OK to use something only once. The utilization of single-use plastics has become a major environmental issue and is the main source of plastic pollution. Single-use means items that are used only one time before they are thrown away or recycled. If you have a chance to observe your community, you may get the opportunity to notice plastic water bottles laying about. Along with plastic water bottles, things such as grocery bags, food packaging, plastic cups and various kinds of cutlery are also single-use plastics.
You may be asking yourself “what is the big deal?” Single use plastic has become a big part of the global society as “throw away” culture expands. Various places in which you can find single use plastics have been linked to landfills, the ocean and other places within various ecosystems. In fact, some plastics can take up to thousands of years to decompose fully. Due to this, it has become very easy for single use plastics to become one of the main sources that contribute to issues such as global warming, pollution and the overall quality of life of animals.
You may wonder how our single use items can wind up in the ocean and create massive changes in the overall quality of marine life. Videos such as a turtle with a straw up its nose, and turtle who had taken the shape of the plastic garbage it was wrapped in have surfaced and broken the hearts of many people all over the world. Although single use plastics has become a massive problem, this issue does not need to remain this way because there are many alternatives to reduce the amount of pollution, amount we recycle, and simply keep our environment clean. The most popular single-use plastic is plastic water bottles and this can easily be replaced with reusable water bottles which decrease the large the amount of single-use water bottles in our community. Other changes we can make can be linked to our toothbrushes, in which we are supposed to change every so often. The use of reusable bamboo toothbrushes that you can pick up at local stores like Winners and Marshals also help eliminate the amount of pollution in our communities.
Single use plastics have been made to convenience people but is it always the best way to go? It is important that we as a community strive to find alternatives to the most detrimental single-use plastics and continue to pave the way for a greener society.
By: Nykell Jones
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