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Claudia Negrete

Professor Lenz

English 5

28 November 2021

The Effects of Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution has become a major issue within our environment and has negatively

affected the world around us. Finding alternatives and reducing our use of plastic could help

solve this ongoing issue.

Plastic is very common in our world. The use of plastic products such as plastic bottles,

plastic bags, and plastic straws, all contribute to the heavy pollution seen in our environment.

Animal species can ingest and/or become entangled

by plastic debris, which can lead to severe injuries

and deaths within our wildlife. Not only this, but

plastic pollution threatens our food safety and the

overall quality of our food, affects our human

health, impacts our coastal tourism, and contributes

to another world wide issue of climate change. People don’t pay attention to the damage plastic

can truly cause. It’s inconsiderate to those who care, and the world we live in, every time a

plastic product is used, carelessly thrown away, and forgot about. Some people don’t really care

about the final destination of where all the plastic ends up. Even with the existence of recycling,

it’s still so hard for everyone to follow the guidelines and agree to it. Being unknowledgeable or

thoughtless about the issue of plastic pollution is another issue in itself.




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The issue of plastic pollution is engraved in history and extends beyond decades. It had to

begin somewhere, at sometime, with some people in this world. The first human-made plastic

was created in 1862 by Alexander Parkes. His invention of Parkesine, consisted of cellulose,

allowing it to be heated and molded into various shapes, and that flexibility made the plastic be

seen as effective. Why create a material like plastic in the first place? Because of the rate of

development in the late 1800’s, many people were afraid to use up all of their available natural

resources. In Parkes eyes, there were only so many natural resources to go around. He wanted a

cheap and functional alternative material to use. Plastic was appealing to people because of how

easy it was to receive and use, and because of that, manufacturers continued producing and

creating new forms of it. Styrofoam, high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density

polyethylene (LDPE), and plastic wrap are all types of plastic that grew from Parkesine. Parkes’

invention of plastic was a hit, but it was also the beginning of this ongoing issue of pollution.

Plastic pollution is an issue that can be seen geographically everywhere. That is because

plastic and plastic trash is generated, continuously used, and negatively disbursed throughout our

environment by people all over the world. Asian nations; China, Indonesia, the Philippines,

Thailand, and Vietnam have been seen as mainly responsible for the pollution in the past. As

years went on, more places increased their contribution. One of those places is the U.S. “The

plastic pollution crisis has been widely blamed on a handful of Asian countries, but new research

shows just how much the U.S. contributes” (Parker 1). The U.S. has begun a pattern of ranking

high among the coastal nations for contributing litter, illegally dumping trash, and increasing the

amount of waste on our shorelines and oceans. On top of that, less than 10 percent of American

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plastic waste is actually recycled. This is the inconsiderateness and thoughtlessness I mentioned

earlier.

Plastic is composed of major toxic pollutants, giving it the potential to cause significant

harm to our wildlife, our environment, and to us. These dangerous chemicals flow into our

oceans and expand into the environment, leading wildlife to ingest and/or become entangled by

plastic debris, causing injuries, deaths, and intoxication within our wildlife. Plastic pollution then

moves into infecting our food safety, the overall quality of food, and our human health. Marine

life is exposed to toxic plastic pollutants in our oceans. Well, seafood is very popular and highly

consumed. It is likely that fish, crab, shrimp, etc... could continue toxins inside them. Eating

these intoxicated marine wildlife could lead to humans consuming these toxins as well. Plastic

takes 400 years and even more in order to fully decompose! Imagine how much plastic can be

visually seen in our oceans, along our shorelines, and throughout the environment. “80% of

tourism is in coastal areas” (One Planet 1).

Coastal tourism has gone down because of

plastic. Beaches and oceans that were once

popular tourists attractions and seen as

paradise or sanctuaries, are now seen as toxic

lands filled with sands and plastic tides. The big issue of plastic pollution contributes to another

world wide issue, climate change. Plastic is produced from fossil fuels. The process of extracting

and creating plastic emits large amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Greenhouse

gases are one of the main causes to climate change. “It is estimated that just the extraction of

these fossil fuels and their transportation to plastic factories emits 12.5 to 1.5 million metric tons

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of greenhouse gases.” (Vasarhelyi 1). As plastic production continues to increase, more harm will

be done to our wildlife, our environment, and to us. The earth we live on and our oceans will

continue to be covered and filled with trash, to the extent where we will have to live in our own

filth that we produced.

Some might believe that it isn't possible to maintain alternatives or constantly reduce our

use of plastic. Our world is so used to the idea of plastic being used, that changing it might be

seen as difficult or even impossible. We use plastic bottles and containers to hold beverages and

food. Plastic water bottles is one of the most popularly used. We use plastic bags at local grocery

stores to carry our groceries home. People have the choice to be given plastic cutlery, plastic

plates, and plastic straws at restaurants. We usually make the wrong choice. Plastic has been

apart of our world since the late 1800’s. Of course it isn’t going to be easy to make the plastic

free transition. But it will be worth it. Our governments could take the big step to make and

enforce rules to prevent plastic manufacturing. Companies can stop the production and creation

of plastic. Consumers can stop using plastic all around. These are all solutions that should be

implemented in the world, but most likely won’t for a long time. So to start off, understanding

and becoming knowledgable on the issue of plastic pollution is important. Being able to see the

damage it is causing and finding the mindset to help, is the beginning to a change. Instead of

using plastic water bottles, make the one time purchase for a reusable water bottle and even buy

a reusable straw to go along with it. When you go to the grocery store, bring a reusable bag or

use the paper bags instead of the plastic bags. Last but not least, RECYCLE! Make the small

choice to recycle instead of throwing it away. It will help get rid of plastic trash. Taking the issue

one step at a time could save our world. To have our world free from plastic, animal species

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won’t be able to ingest and/or become entangled by plastic debris. Our wildlife can live on. Our

food safety, the overall quality of our food, and our human health will not be affected by plastic

pollution. Coastal tourism will increase once

more and it will bring us one step closer to

fixing

the issue of climate change. Like I mentioned,

making the plastic free transition will be hard,

but in the end, it will be worth it.

Works Cited

“The Facts.” Plastic Oceans International, 21 July 2021, https://www.plasticoceans.org/the-

facts/.

Harrington, Rebecca “By 2050, the Oceans Could Have More Plastic than Fish.” Business

Insider, Business Insider, 26 Jan. 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-in-ocean-

outweighs-fish-evidence-report-2017-1.

“Ocean Plastics Pollution.” Ocean Plastics Pollution, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

campaigns/ocean_plastics/.

“Plastics in the Ocean Affecting Human Health.” Case Studies, 27 Jan. 2021, https://

serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/plastics.htm.

“The Problem of Marine Plastic Pollution.” Clean Water Action, 20 Dec. 2017, http://

www.cleanwater.org/problem-marine-plastic-pollution.

“A Brief History of the Plastic Crisis.” 4ocean, https://www.4ocean.com/blogs/blog/a-brief-

history-of-the-plastic-crisis.

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Parker, Laura. “U.S. Generates More Plastic Trash than Any Other Nation, Report Finds.”

Environment, National Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

environment/article/us-plastic-pollution.

“Tourism's Plastic Pollution Problem.” One Planet Network, https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/

programmes/sustainable-tourism/global-tourism-plastics-initiative/tourisms-plastic-

pollution-problem.

“The Climate Impact of Single Use Plastics.” Environmental Center, 25 Feb. 2021, https://

www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/02/25/climate-impact-single-use-plastics.