PLASTIC POLLUTION

Watch the video titled “The Problem with Plastics” by Shedd Aquarium.

WARM UP
Answer the following questions below

1. Do you use a lot of plastic in your daily life?

no space/ try/ 3 boxes / glass plastic
2. Do you recycle? Is recycling mandatory in your country?
3. Are you worried about the amount of plastic in the ocean?

POSITIVES OF PLASTICS
This lesson is going to explore the problems with plastics, but are plastics always bad?

Can you think of any situations where plastics are useful? Use the boxes below to help
you think of examples. Explain your answers in detail.

Situations:

construction packaging electronics transport clothing furniture

Adjectives:
long lasting more than one use
affordable durable water resistant adaptable recyclable

Example:
Plastics are useful in transport because a lot of the materials needed to build a car are
made from plastic. The plastics used are cheap too which makes the cost of the car
cheaper.

ESL Pals 1 General English

 PLASTICS VOCABULARY
Match the words from the box to the correct definitions.

composting microplastics biodegradable

single use plastic landfill

1. ___________
micro plastic : tiny plastic particles that pollute the environment.
2. ___________
biodegradable : capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.

3. ___________
single use plastic: plastic disposed of immediately after use, often within minutes.

4. ___________
composting : consists of various decaying organic substances, used as fertilizer.
5. ___________
landfill
: a place to throw away waste material, without recycling.

Questions
long time to decompose/
a) What are the problems associated with microplastics?
b) Do you compost or know anybody that does? What are the benefits? Aunt/ garden/ flowers/ vegs/ natural

c) Do you believe that most waste ends up in the landfill? yes/ garbage/ hard/ mixed/

d) How many of the packaging options at your local grocery store are biodegradable? eco bag/ paper/

e) Can you name three types of single-use plastic? straws/ bottles/ wrap fruit with a price tag/ net/ coffee cup lid/
balloons/ foil/
commercial/ shopping bags/ candy wrappers/

VIDEO QUESTIONS
Watch the video “The Problem with Plastics” then answer the following questions.

1. What are the 4 R’s? reduce/ reuse/ recycle/ refuse

2. How big is the ‘great pacific garbage patch’? Texas

3. What percentage of plastic ends up in the rivers, lakes and ocean? 80%

4. How many millions of straws are used in the U.S each day? 500 millions

5. During the beach clean ups, how much of the waste collected was plastic? 85%

6. How many of the 25 Great Lakes fish had plastic in their systems? ALL

7. What is the percentage increase of plastic pollution since 1975? 620%

ESL Pals 2 General English

 VIDEO ACTIVITY
According to the video, plastic pollution can be decreased by following the 4 R’s. Study
the 4 R’s below, then answer the questions

1. Reduce shopping/ take from home net

● How can you reduce the amount of plastic waste you use? Explain.
2. Reuse
companies/ bottles/ new/ container/
● In which ways do you reuse plastic? Give specific examples. equipments/
3. Recycle
● Is the importance of recycling being taught at schools in your country? NB/ ecological lesson/

4. Refuse
● Should we refuse products that are wrapped in too much plastic? Explain.
wood/ cotton/ bamboo
should but hard/ cost

PLASTICS ARTICLE
Read the article below and then answer the questions.

To tackle Thailand’s plastic problem, this company is turning to the

country’s plant life
Universal Biopack makes packaging that it
sells to restaurants and manufacturers.
But rather than plastic, it uses a mixture of
bamboo and cassava, plants that are
widely found across the country.
Thailand has become one of Asia's biggest
economies. But like many other countries
in Asia, it's been slow to try to combat the
millions of tons of waste produced each
year.
Universal Biopack is creating
biodegradable, zero-waste packaging. It
hopes it will eventually replace most of the
plastic that ends up in huge garbage
dumps across Thailand and other
Southeast Asian countries.
Its eco-friendly formula took five years to
develop and is so adaptable it could end
up being used to package things like
furniture and even phones.
Takeout food vendors in Thailand want to
keep costs down in a competitive market
so asking them to spend more on
packaging for environmental reasons is a
challenge.
Universal Biopack are betting on the
growing environmental awareness
eventually leading to an increase in
demand. Currently they’re getting interest
in their products from other countries,
particularly in Scandinavia.
Adapted from money.cnn.com: This Thai Company makes
packaging out of bamboo by Sarah Karacs. Link: Article

ESL Pals 3 General English

Questions
1. Do you believe this solution could solve the global plastic pollution crisis? Explain.
2. Will the higher cost of Universal Biopack packaging prevent it from succeeding?
3. Who is responsible for stopping plastic pollution - the government or businesses?
4. Do you know of any other innovative solutions to plastic waste?

ESL Pals 4 General English

HOMEWORK

VIDEO VOCABULARY
Watch the video again. Then complete the sentences using the words from the box, and
write answers to the questions below.

Accumulate Reusable Consumed Entangled Detriment

1. We find a lot of single-use plastic in the water, and this is a big threat to animals as
they can accidentally become ___________ in it or they can swallow or eat it.

2. But when we throw it away where does it go? It ends up in landfill, water, lakes, or
rivers. And those single use plastics can be a ___________ to animals.

3. Since plastic never actually biodegrades, it remains in the environment for hundreds
of years as toxic micro-particles. And it can be ___________ by animals at all levels
of the food web.

4. As consumers, we have a lot of power. We can bring ___________ bags and water
bottles and we can really show companies what's important.

5. So about 80% of plastic that ends up in water, whether it's in the rivers, lakes, or
oceans, comes from the land. Then it is carried into our water systems and can really
___________ there.

Now, write answer for the following questions, you can use the lines on the next page:

1. How can we stop plastic accumulating in the ocean?

2. Do you use reusable bottles or bags? Why / why not?
3. How can the micro-plastics consumed by animals affect humans?
4. How can we stop animals becoming entangled in plastic?
5. How is plastic a detriment to animals?

ESL Pals 5 General English

ESL Pals 6 General English