Plastic Waste: How to Keep The Environment Clean

Tossing plastic into the ocean and sidewalks is a huge issue not just in the United States, but also in the third world such as the Philippines. Wasting plastic is harmful especially when a lot of people don’t care about recycling and plastic can harm the environment, mainly marine life. Plastic waste can hurt the planet because plastics can kill marine animals and people drop their plastics on the sidewalks (littering). A logical question arises: how to keep the environment clean? Recycling and reusing the bottles, as stated in the essay, can help save Earth. One way to reduce plastic waste is for people to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags. Another way to reduce plastic waste is to carry steel water containers that you can reuse instead of purchasing plastic bottled water.

Tossing plastic into the ocean and the sidewalks are harsh because plastics can harm the environment and it can kill animals, especially in the ocean. Tossing Plastic or littering is harmful as DDT since inhaling chemicals and eating plastic can weaken their digestive system. For instance, in the book, “A Silent Spring”, the author wrote, “If swallowed (DDT), it is absorbed slowly through the digestive tract, it may also be absorbed through the lungs.” Chemicals such as DDT are poisonous and can kill any living thing. DDT is as lethal as animals eating plastic. DDT’s and consuming plastics are dangerous in their own way. Now think about marine animals such as Whales and Turtles. These animals mistake plastic for food. These animals don’t know the difference between a jellyfish and a plastic bag since they look the same. As a matter of fact, Turtles and Whales are at risk of being endangered due to human interaction. Some people don’t care about animals and their planet. Eating plastic can destroy the animal’s organs, which leads to hunger. These animals need food to survive and the plastic is harming their digestive system.

Recycling Plastic Should Be a Normal Activity

Some of the people in the world do recycle plastic while others don’t recycle plastic at all. It is good to recycle plastic since you get paid for helping the community and helping save the planet. For example, according to www.calrecycle.ca.gov, it says that by law you can be paid at least 10 cents for each aluminum or plastic bottle you bring to the recycling center. There are about 1,244 recycling centers statewide that buy back empty beverage containers such as glass bottles, plastic, or metal. You can look for a Beverage Container Recycling Center near you. Should you crush the aluminum cans? Experts say that you should because it will create more space for the bins and be simple to know which is which. Some bottle caps are seen as a safety hazard and they are harmful to children. Some of the bottle caps have different materials. When the bottles are being exposed to extreme temperatures, the pressure will allow the bottle cap to explode. For example, you pay the deposit when you buy products such as milk and soda cans in the grocery stores. So redeeming these empty cans and bottles is an excellent way to put a little change back in your pocket. The following items that are eligible for a California Redemption Value (CRV) refund are:

1. Carbonated Soft Drinks. They may include 7-up, Sprite, Sunkist, etc.
2. Beer and Malt Beverages. Examples include Corona, Bud Light, Heineken, Smirnoff Ice, etc.
3. Water and Mineral Water. Examples may include Evian Natural Spring Water, Dasani Purified Water, Crystal Geyser, etc.
4. Sports Drinks. The Drinks may include Body Armor, Vitamin Water, Gatorade, Powerade, etc.
5. Noncarbonated Drinks. These drinks may include Snapple, Tropicana, Minute Maid, Orange Juice, etc.
6. Carbonated Fruit Drinks. The drinks are Martinelli sparkling cider, Ocean Spray sparkling juice drink, and Welch’s juice sparkling cocktail.
7. Non-carbonated Soft Drinks. These drinks include Country Time Lemonade, Glaceau Vitamin Water, etc.
8. Vegetable Juice. These drinks are V8 100% Vegetable Juice, Campbell’s Tomato Juice, etc.
9. Carbonated Water. Examples are Crystal Geyer Sparkling water, Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water, etc.
10. Coffee Beverages. Examples of Coffee Beverages are Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drink and etc.
11. Tea Beverages. Examples of Tea Beverages are Arnold Palmer Iced Tea, Arizona, etc.

For instance, in the Philippines, a nongovernmental organization will conduct a clean drive by getting the waste out of the ocean. Currently, there is a Manila Bay Coastal Cleanup that is ongoing by the Global Peace Foundation. Volunteers are grabbing debris from the coast and the beaches. Normally, they will set up a day where government officials and volunteers work together to clean up the bay. After gathering all the trash that they gathered, they load it into big trucks and haul it away. The organization asks for donations to make it happen. Keeping the beaches nice and clean is a huge deal in the Philippines and other Asian countries. According to one artice its author stated that “What we need is to change the attitude of people in both generating and managing their solid waste because they think the government will always clean up after them. There is no magic solution. We need everyone’s cooperation.” No one is going to tell them to pick up after themselves and what to do. The trash and plastic are not going to pick up by themselves. Somebody needs to pick them up since this is our planet.

In Beauty Pageants, the contestants use this topic (Plastic Waste) as one of their advocacies. For example, Carla Henry is a Filipina-Canadian Beauty Pageant Title Holder, she was crowned Miss Earth 2008. On the Pageant nights, the contestants were asked to explain the degradation of nature to ordinary people. Henry gave the winning answer, she said, “I will educate them by giving them an example, through my example, I will give nature the best of me.” As Miss Philippines, she utilized her reign in promoting environmental awareness. She worked with Miss Earth’s Foundation project, she loves the planet Earth school tour. She has visited more than 20 schools and communities teaching kids about the environment by telling them how easy it is to plant trees. On September 20, 2008, Carla Henry and Miss Earth 2007, Jessica Trisko, both of them along with thousands of volunteers did a coastal clean-up in San Dioniso Bay in Paranaque. This is an annual event tandem with international coastal cleanup day started by Ocean Conservancy which aims for people to gather and clean the shores at least once a year. She promoted the Green Thumbs Up project which identifies simples that children can practice anywhere and partake in a coastal cleanup on beaches of Manila. On November 12 of 2008, Henry led the other Miss Earth Beauty titleholders in tree planting along with Philippine Postal Officials and Employees.

Another Beauty Pageant Holder that helped serve her community is Jazmine Hendricks. She was passionate about serving her community and loves being in the pageant. She has traveled to places such as South Korea to spread the word about recycling and how beneficial recycling plastic is. Jazmine has teamed up with organizations to pick up over 8,000 pounds of plastic and trash all over the world. She said that it is up to the people if they want to make a difference in the world and to take their plastic to the designated recycling places.

The Use of Reusable Food and Liquid Containers 

When you use reusable bags and carry steel water containers, this is a way of saving planet Earth. Using reusable recycling bags are affordable, eco-friendly, and easy to use. One bag will get a hundred uses out of it and replacing them won’t cost a lot. These bags are made of eco-friendly materials. Recycling in itself is a great initiative. Our hope is that it will start a chain reaction first in our own community and hopefully go across the nation. The city gains more control over recycling and our planet will get a lot cleaner. Having reusable bags will create less trash and take on responsibilities that will reduce the plastic problem. One author wrote, “Keep your change. Bring your bag.” Sturgeon and other officials are encouraging everyone to bring reusable bags and carry reusable water bottles. Cities such as Washington D.C have banned plastic pollution and have seen less pollution since the early 2000s. However, if customers decide that they want plastic bags when they go shopping, they will be charged a fee. The money (taxes) will be delivered to the Department of Taxation every month. The money or the taxes will be used for efforts to decrease plastic waste, schools, and beautification in the city. Another way of helping mother Earth is getting rid of single-use plastic battle and switching it with a reusable bottle. Plastic water bottles are not good for the conditions and habitat. It takes a while to get rid of plastic and people aren’t mindful about it. If a water bottle is disposed of not properly, it creates a burden on landfills. Over 1 million marine animals are dying each year due to plastic waste. Over 40 billion bottles end up in America’s landfills every year. It takes at least 700 years for plastics to go away and have gloomy impacts for many years.

“On the bright side, most discarded plastic bottles are collected and recycled in states that require people to pay a bottle deposit”. These bottles and trash can be used to make electricity. With the new technology, everything is pretty much electric. Instead of burning fossil fuels for gasoline, people can now start driving electric cars. If I am not mistaken, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, encourages people to drive electric vehicles by the year 2030. If the Plastics are burned, they can create toxic chemicals that can be released into the atmosphere. Plastic Waste, in general, can lead to sicknesses such as Pneumonia, Asthma, Heart Disease, and Tuberculosis. According to www.consumerreports.org, the author stated, If we want to reduce plastic, people have to think about the drinks that they consume. Being an eco-friendly person doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, effort, patience, and you got to take baby steps. Using reusable bags instead of plastic bags is beneficial for the environment especially when they are eco-friendly and reduce the usage of plastic. If you are the type of person that likes to eat out often, it is best for you to start cooking. Cooking is an essential skill and you will save lots of money when you cook your own food.

Final Thoughts

To conclude how to keep the environment clean and why it’s good to recycle plastic, this is our planet and we need to do whatever to keep Mother Earth clean. Tossing Plastic or littering is harmful as DDT since inhaling chemicals and eating plastic can weaken their digestive system. Plastic waste can hurt the planet because plastics can kill marine animals and people drop their plastics on the sidewalks (littering). Here you can admire what mother nature has given us. Recycling and reusing the bottles can help save Earth. The beauty pageants wanted to clean up the beaches and help keep the planet clean. If everybody does their part, it will become a greater good just like what the beauty pageants did.