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Ocean pollution due to plastic littering essay
Ocean pollution introduction
Ocean pollution essay introduction
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About 95 percent of the food we throw away ends up in landfills or combustion facilities. Less than 2% of the waste stream in the United States is recycled. Americans throw away enough trash to fill 63,000 garbage trucks, which if they lined up end to end after a year, it would stretch halfway to the moon. Out of the trash Americans throw out, half could be recycled, which is enough to fill a football stadium from top to bottom everyday. Families should limit the amount of trash they produce in fact, the landfills filled with our trash is bad for our environment, millions of plastic fragments flooding the world’s oceans and disrupting marine ecosystem, and when some trash is burnt it generates air pollution, and people are cutting down trees for landfills and not having a lot of trees is ruining the environment. …show more content…
The rotting garbage releases significant amounts of methane, a gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide straight into the atmosphere. Leachate is the liquid formed when waste breaks down in the landfill and water filters through waste. The liquid is highly toxic and can pollute the land, groundwater, and waterways. This will ruin the environment.
Millions of plastic fragments are flooding the world’s oceans and disrupting the marine ecosystem, and when some trash is burnt it generates air pollution. An estimated 8 billion tonnes of plastic entered the ocean in 2010. The global production of plastic is increasing, between now and 2028 we will have produced as much plastic as we produced from the 1950s until now. Animals get wrapped up in monofilament fishing line nets, plastic bags, balloons, and straps. Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four
The majority of people waste food on a daily basis. In fact, in the U.S. alone there is an estimate that over half of the food produced goes uneaten; meanwhile there are people who are in need of food, and it ultimately goes to waste (Dockterman). For example, in his essay, “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner writes about his experiences of dumpster diving with his pet dog, during his years of homelessness. According to Eighner, much of the food and materials he came across in the dumpsters were in usable shape, and many items were new. Clearly there needs to be a change in American food waste, in current and, hopefully not so much in, future generations.
Which means their obviously bad for the aquatic marine life environment & are cause many different forms of damage for them & us as one. On p.g. 23 of The New York Times upfront magazine “Birds,fish, sea turtles, & others are getting tangled in plastic bags or mistake them for food & choke”. Someone else might argue that they could the plastic bags in landfills instead of oceans. But that counter- argument is flawed because you’re just polluting by burning plastic which is bad on our part we’re not doing our part to support & taking care of the earth. Plastic in the ocean isn't just bad for plants & animals but for humans too because of the food chain some of us eat animals as a meat source such as aqua marine life like fish. If the fishermen catch fish that have been eating plastic then it's in our food supply if we eat that fish it's gonna be bad for us so many will end up getting sick from the plastic inside of the fish then what will we do our aqua marine food supply will go down the drain we couldn’t eat the fish since it's basically contaminated with plastic that we’re dumping there instead of trying to fix it & getting rid of plastic bags for good for the good of the earth. We’re causing damage towards the earth by dumping all that plastic into the ocean which damages our water supply it’ll poison us although we clean the water it depends on how big the plastic particles are, it’ll make us sick & sense it’s been lying in the oceans could bring in new pathogens &
Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our environment, severely polluting oceans, beaches, forests, and even the towns and cities we live in. In the ocean alone, it is believed that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic pollutes the waters (“Plastic Statistics”, Ocean Crusaders).The majority of plastic pollution can be traced back to single-use items, such as grocery bags, bottles, and plastic packaging. According to United Nations Environment, “At the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish…” (“UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic”, UN Environment). This pollution is a major problem and endangers not only the environment, but human
Also recycling as spoiled societies in well developed regions. I Believe we consume way more then we need because we know it 's will be reused for a good cause but all that waste is generating more working for recyclers which in way is counterbalancing the environmental benefit. In Junkyard Planet by Adam Minter he spoke on a study that was done at the university where they observed the paper towel usage in a men 's restroom over a period of time. First with just a trash can and then the second time the recycling bin included the study found that that people used about half a hand towel more where there was a recycling bin (pg 266). “The increasing consumption found is partially due to the fact that consumers are well aware that recycling is beneficial for the environment: however the costs of recycling are less salient”(Minter 267). I believe the reason why recycling isn 't technically working is because we consumer see recycling as a first option when it 's actually should be sacred process that should be used in rarity. We as consumers need to think conserve instead of
If everyone recycled think of how much more space there would be in landfills across the world. There is only so much room on this earth and we are using a huge portion of it for our trash. Clearlake, California alone on a busy day can bring in 80,000 pounds of trash to the local dump. I know this because I work at the local dump in Mckinleyville. I also see a lot of people that throw away their recycling for the simple reason of being too lazy to sort it. I watch bag after of bag of plastic, aluminum, and glass get thrown into the bin which we haul straight to a landfill in Anderson, California. If everyone in Mckinleyville recycled there plastic, aluminum and glass they could save thousands of pounds a day from going to the landfill. I think people are not informed that waste is a big problem in this world. But in fact conservation is an issue, and resources and energy aren't too plentiful. Someday these resources are going to run out. But the more we recycle the longer we can make these resources last.
Ironically, plastic, which is a material designed to last forever, is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year, about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides, either way it finds its way to the ocean.
About 2.6 trillion pounds will be thrown away this year. Of the trash thrown away on Earth, 46% is organic waste, 27% is recyclable, and the other 27% is glass, metals, and other materials. This trash sits in dumps, on streets, and in the water. If all trash were to all just
Our society is based heavily off of production and consumption of material things. Whatever gets produced however does not last forever and must eventually get thrown out. Thus we have our system of dispensing waste. Our mass build up of trash is so great that we have to export it to other countries like China and it’s one of our leading exports. With such a large consolidation of garbage and other waste, there is no avoiding negative effects to our environment and to human health.
Plastic or paper, is a choice that people face when going to the grocery stores. Plastic bags are often the choice that is made. A controversial issue in the world today is the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags are used because of the convenience they give, by being able to carry several items at once. However, in the article, “Banning Bans, Not Bags”, Jennifer Schultz claims, “Plastic bags clog up local waterways, litter roadways, and get swallowed up by unsuspecting fish” (6). Plastic bags are used once, then are discarded or, littered all over the place. When they are littered all over they become problems for more than just humans. These plastic bags pose a big hazard for animals on land and in especially the ocean. Humans eat land and
garbage in the U.S is getting higher at a rapid rate, causing problems to our environment, health,
The environment can be threatened by nearby hazardous landfills. Even though these landfills are supposedly going through several inspections, many times they are not completely up to safety requirements: “…82% of surveyed landfill cells had leaks while 41% had a leak area of more than 1 square foot” (Connett). These surveyed landfills cells are most likely leaking many toxic substances, such as leachate and greenhouse gases. These toxins often leak into our groundwater and soil becoming environmental hazards and contributing to pollution; in fact, pollution is generated by over ten toxic gases that are released from hazardous landfills. Leachate, one of the toxins, is formed when broken down waste is filtered by water. It is a highly toxic liquid and pollutes waterways, land, and groundwater (Environment Victoria). Greenhouse gases, another type of toxin, are formed when organic material is compacted and covered, which abolishes the oxygen and causes it to decompose in an anaerobic process. The anaerobic process releases a greenhouse gas called methane, which is twenty-one times more potent than carbon dioxide. It is a highly flammable gas and was detected in 83% of surveyed landfills (En...
Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution in every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution. They can have a damaging effect on marine animals and wildlife in addition to the aesthetic effects on beaches, parks, and trees. Plastic bags are potentially one of the main causes of death to marine animals (Harbor keepers,2008). Up to one hundred thousand marine animals or more die each year from eating plastic bags which are mistaken for food. This can result in blocking the animal’s intestines and possibly lead to the animal’s death. Another possible situation is that wildlife, such as birds, can get tangled in plastic bags causing choking and immobility, which may eventually lead to death. (Senior, 2008) and (Citizen Campaign, 2010). In other situations, after plastic bags photo degrade they remain toxic and could be eaten by fish, shellfish or any other marine life and survive this allows the toxins to enter our food chain through bioaccumulation (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, 2011).
Trash is a huge problem in the world today. Each person produces 4.3 pounds of trash every day, and 85% of that trash is sent to the landfills. This causes so many problems for our people, country, animals, and environment in the short term, but also in the future. Every day people throw away plastic bottles, wrapping, boxes, gum, food, cans, etc. All of these things do not just disappear once they go down the garbage shaft of your apartment building.
...or lakes (Weber 2). When people just dump waste products instead of recycling, it is a misuse of the soil and can contribute to serious health conditions in animals, plants and humans.
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...