Saturday, May 18, 2019

The problem with plastic

Today’s world is dominated by plastic-based products that are mass produced across the planet.  The problem is what to do after a plastic product has come to the end of its usable lifetime. Following the path of most other commonly used materials, plastic is recycled in order to be used again. The process itself takes time and energy, but the surplus amounts of plastic present pose a challenge to countries using it. Sometimes, there’s just way too much of the material to effectively recycle, so what is done? It is carted off to another country that can do the job, of course!




Plastic from many countries, like the United States has been shipped to other countries that have the capacity to take and recycle all that plastic. For the past 25 years, a major recipient of this plastic waste was China. Starting in 1992, China had been taking in what was to be 106 million tons of plastic from around the world. In 2017, though, it banned the importing of plastic waste for the safety of its citizens and environment. So, now that China is not accepting plastic waste, countries that were dependent on the export of plastic waste are now struggling to get rid of it and have resorted to more underdeveloped countries to recycle or ‘hoard’ theirs. Issues are mounting and there are only two options at the moment: to find another country that takes the plastic and recycles it properly or invest into local recycling. The overall point, though, is that the usage of plastic must be cut down as much as possible right now.

In order to reduce my use of plastic as much as possible, I have been practicing several things. One is using a metal water bottle, which greatly cuts down my use of plastic bottles. Another is eating home cooked food packed in a reusable lunch box, also reducing the amount of plastic-wrapped food I buy. Finally, I reuse my bags, plastic and not plastic, which practically eliminates my consumption of bags that stores offer to carry purchases. Others can also follow these examples and perhaps reduce plastic use to benefit the community and beyond.

Here's a great article that provides a deeper analysis on this topic: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/28/623972937/china-has-refused-to-recycle-the-wests-plastics-what-now


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