Alana

01/12/19
Expository writing – EO3-1

Products Wrapped in Plastic vs. Products Wrapped Without Plastic

In most countries, a lot of people go out to buy groceries and have no other choice than to

accumulate a whole lot of plastic as well. Everything is covered in plastic from fruits and

vegetables to pre-made food. Some countries have found a way to leave out plastic for

biodegradable options instead. Many zero waste shops have opened and people started thinking

twice. Products wrapped in plastic and products wrapped without plastic both carry out the same

job however, have a different effect on the planet, reasoning to why each one is better and the

accessibility in different regions.

Buying plastic wrapped products without knowing what effect it has on the planet is

something a lot of people do. Even if one can recycle it and it goes to a recycling factory not

everything is actually getting recycled. In fact, only nine percent of plastic that goes to recycling

is getting recycled. The other percent goes to landfills and creates mass lands, which are

sometimes in the ocean, made of plastic. Therefore, the Earth is losing a lot of space that can be

used for habitats and harvesting. Nevertheless, instead of using plastic some people prefer using

biodegradable products which can degrade easily in the ocean and do not take that much time

while, plastic takes over about 200 to 1000 years to degrade in the ocean. While the plastic is in

the ocean, it gets in the way of various sea creatures that assume it is food or shelter. Using

biodegradable products like seaweed and banana leaves and composting them, will not do as

much harm as it degrades in about four to eight weeks.

While biodegradable products that easily degrade in the sea are being used, most people

still use plastic. It is something that people do not need but cannot give up. There are a lot of

alternatives for plastic wrapping such as; beeswax wrapping sheets, seaweed, palm leaves and

banana leaves, or people could bring their own food bags and containers if they choose to go to a
‘zero-waste’ grocery shop. Using biodegradable and reusable options is something countries

started using. Thailand supermarkets started using banana leaves for their food, for example.

Southeast Asia uses banana leaves for sticky rice. All one needs are banana leaves and a piece of

flexible bamboo to secure it.

Something that is important now a days though, is transportation. Most of the food in

supermarkets are non-local, this also encourages trading, using plastic saves a lot of space, it

tightly goes around the product while banana leaves form a huge unnecessary space over the

product, it is also very hard to stack products wrapped in it. Another reason plastic is better for

transportation is because it keeps the product suitable for consuming for a longer time. Banana

leaves on the other hand, will not keep the product suitable longer and this forms more waste

but, people have to think if this is more important than keeping the Earth safe and clean.

Trying to keep the Earth cleaner, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Mexico are some places

that use biodegradable wrapping but they are places that have access to them as well, for places

that do not have access to these products, plastic would be a much cheaper and easier option,

they wouldn’t have to wait until the leaves arrive and even if they would it would be much more

expensive. Plastic is produced everywhere and this is the reason it is cheap. For countries that do

not have oceans and tropical landscapes it is very hard to find affordable biodegradable products.

People wouldn’t waste their time to search for a good company that provides their needs so,

using plastic is way easier for them.

Finally, products wrapped in plastic and products wrapped in biodegradable products

work differently for every region, in some places plastic wrapping is the better option that helps

them with not only wrapping but, trading as well. On the other hand, biodegradable products are

something that should be necessary for planet Earth. Some may argue, plastic wrapping is better

and some will say that plastic shouldn’t be used at all. It all depends on who one is and where

one is.