Necessary Evil

Written by Kelly Lee and Allyson Li

St. Henry Catholic School

We're surrounded by plastic. The stickers on apples have a plastic coating, the lining in our
canned goods are plastic. BPA which is a plastic toxin apparently leads to cancer, there's a
garbage 'patch' that's roughly the size of Texas in our very own Pacific Ocean. Plastic is indeed
useful, but when it gets stuck through pipes, drains and the stomachs of unfortunate animals that
happened to eat up our debris, then it's a dilemma.
85% of all the plastic that's being used never actually
"Solving the problems of marine debris and gets recycled which is outrageous. We should be able to
plastic pollution is a perfect example of the
need to think globally and act locally." -
have annually and possibly even monthly cleanups, not just
Unknown sweeping our floors in out comfy rooms- our parks,
beaches, schools- everywhere.
Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last
century. 489, 968 plastic bags, 485, 204 grocery bags, 376, 479 plastic cups and plates, 811,
871 plastic bottle caps and 988, 965 plastic bottles were found during the 2015 International
Coastal Clean-Up according to Ocean
Conservancy and 1,522, 020 plastic pieces
were found. Can you imagine all the plastic
that wasn't found and was already consumed
into the stomachs of those poor animals. The
plastic pieces cannot be ingested which leads
to the animals starving with full stomachs,
choking, or suffering internal injuries.
I think that the biggest problem is that we
have too much choice. We have so many more options
than the previous generations. We can now recycle and
reduce or reuse and create even more methods, we've Plastic found outside homes is
common, but nobody notices how
been able to learn about PET (Polyethylene
much is outside.
Terephthalate) which is found in most plastic bottles, PS
(Polystyrene) is in plastic cutlery and foam packaging,
the chemicals may leach into food products. HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) is found in toys
and grocery bags, PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is found in food wraps, pet toys and produce toxins
through disposal. LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) is less toxic than PVC plastic but still harmful,
 LDPE can be found in squeezable bottles. PP (Polypropylene) is considered one of the safest of
all plastics and is found in bottle tops, margarine and yogurt containers. Other types of plastic
such as LEXAN, Polycarbonate and Bisphenol A are usually in layered or with mixed plastics and
should not be used unless necessary.
Instead of plastic milk bags, why not go back to using glass bottles and jars? Glass can be
washed, reused and most recycling centres accept glass. Why not choose items that aren't as
heavily packaged as others (avoid excess packaging)?
"It washes up by the truckful on urban
beaches and remote islands, tossed According to a news article from The Washington Post, the
about in the waves and transported article suggests that there would be more plastic than the fish
across incredible distances before
arriving unwanted, back on land. It has
in the ocean by 2050. About one-third of plastics produced
wound up in the stomachs of more than (worldwide) that has escaped and/or ended up into the sea
half the world's sea turtles and nearly or in an animal- which amounts to 8 million tonnes a year.
all of its marine birds, studies claim." - About 6 per cent of global oil consumption is counted for
Sarah Kaplan (The Washington Post)
plastic production and 1 per cent of the global carbon budget.
Burying/dumping our plastic in/on the Earth doesn't mean that
our problem is solved since it takes around 450 years (for plastic
bottles) to break down as marine debris and 10 years for a
plastic bag, but it's still there which makes it just as dangerous
for animals. Instead of simply throwing away our plastic debris,
why not get producers to produce 100 per cent completely
biodegradable plastic bags or products? We could get the
producers to cover the costs of keeping their products out of the
sea.
We need plastic to make certain appliances, but it’s harmful
and contaminates waters. Plastic injures animals and releases
toxins into the ocean. We need to think of more solutions than the
ones we’ve mentioned.

Thinking of more solutions are hard and it’s not like

governments don’t care- but, they need to think of the
expenses they’ll need to pay for research and shipments of People often litter but nobody will
parts that’ll help develop technology that’ll help clean up willingly pick them up, except for the
oceans. Which is why we can only bring awareness to the waste collectors.
subject and follow simple tasks that’ll at least prevent more
pollution from reaching the ocean.
We can prevent plastic pollution by:
1. Carrying a reusable water bottle (This is an obvious solution, but an easy, effective way
of helping the environment).
2. Put all plastics in the right bins.
3. Learn about environmental organizations.
4. Volunteer for annual cleanups.
5. Vote for politicians who have plans to stop plastic pollution and global warming (If old
enough to vote).
6. Reminding others to recycle as well.
In conclusion, we need to work together to stop plastic pollution. Even if these solutions might
not seem to do anything big. It shows that we care about our ecosystem and that we are
done ruining and that we're ready to help change the world. These solutions do help- we
need to get others inspired since the more people that learn, the closer we are to possibly
stopping not simply just pollution, but global warming, poverty and every other issue in the
world.