Plastic Bags: Cause for Concern

Todd Kuchelmeister

May 30, 2012

As man continues to develop and his knowledge grows he will continue to be the dominate species on earth. His ability and desire for finding ways to make his life easier have produced many new and innovative things. From electricity to automobiles to fulfilling his dream of putting men on the moon, man has always strived to overcome those things which had earlier seemed impossible. However, with all new the developments that man has accomplished most have come with a downside for the environment. Electricity depending how you produce it has a downside, Nuclear energy comes with radioactive rods that take thousands of years to lose it radioactivity. Coal fired plants cause destruction of to the ecosystem and the emissions pollute the air. Solar and Wind are still in their infancy but their current issues seems mainly to be in the sheer numbers needed to produce enough electricity for an average sized city.

One of mans greatest inventions was plastic, its invention back in 1855 called Parkesine has developed into mans most widely used products. Its invention has made man’s life not only easier but safer as well and is even used in the effort to keep people alive. However, as with all of man’s greatest inventions it has a dark side. Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC has phthalates that leech out of the PVC and into our bodies ("Life less plastic," 2007). Polycarbonates contains a chemical called biophenol A that leeches into food and then into us ("Life less plastic," 2007). There are 4 types of plastic used in the industry today, HDPE High Density Polyethylene, MDPE Medium Density Polyethylene, LDPE Low Density Polyethylene, and LLDPE Linear Low Density Polyethylene. HDPE is used in plastic grocery bags type products, MDPE is used in the packaging of Paper towels and Toilet paper packages, LDPE is used in items like bread bags, buns, etc., and LLDPE is used basically for stretch wrap type of products ("Plastic recycling international," 2012).

After viewing the slide show I learned that there are between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide. In third world countries like the Philippines this is a huge problem as they haven’t adopted a recycle program and most bags are just tossed to the ground get blown around and end up in the Pasig River, where is sit until rain water raises the water level and they have major issues with the plastic causing backup at the bridges (Trombetta, 2012) (RWS, 2009). Another piece of information learned was in 1975 a study showed approximately 8 million pounds of plastic was dumped into the oceans annually. However, since 1988 it has been illegal for ships to dump plastic into the oceans (Amaral, 2010). There are currently 5 areas in the Pacific alone where the currents called North Pacific Gyre are located (The Week Editorial Staff, 2010). In these areas there are huge floating islands made up of plastic and plastic pieces, one of the island is said to be the size of the State of Texas and to a depth of 6 meters (Fitzgerald, 2008). I was also unaware that the plastic bags break down into smaller toxic petro-polymers which are also part of these floating island and these are consumed by fish starting the cycle of getting into man’s food supplies. If given the opportunity to address the public it would be two fold. The first part would be a speech using a slide presentation of these plastic islands, the backed up rivers and the wildlife that has been affected by this pollution. But I would take it further as it has been proven that individual learn better if you engage all of the senses. Using two more senses seeing and hearing I would hopefully make a lasting impact and a call to action. The second part would be to have all of these people go to these areas to get an up close firsthand look and smell of this pollution. Using the same techniques that was used during world war II by the Americans of forcing the German citizens to go through the concentration camps to see, feel and smell the horrors of their lack of doing something, by making those citizens bury the dead Jews that were left to rot when the German army retreated. Seeing and smelling the results of a person’s lack of respect for nature, his careless handling of his wastes hopefully would be more effective than just seeing it in movies or slides. Your there front row, just inches from the problem with no way of stopping one of your senses from making you aware of its presents. Explain how even at this every moment while they are here looking at these floating plastic garbage dumps these islands are getting larger and larger, year after year with the toxic levels in the oceans growing annually as well. Having the dissected preserved bodies fish, and ocean mammals showing the plastic entangled inside them or the various sores it causes. Pressing the issue that this is a ticking time bomb and that once it detonates the effect could be catastrophic for the human race as a whole and also on the entire ecosystem of our world. I would finish up by calling for a worldwide ban on all plastic bags as a start, saying “today’s plastic problem is like having a new strain of intestinal virus, in the beginning the problem seems small and still curable, knowing something is wrong but not completely giving it your full attention, as the problem gets worse it starts to affect your wellbeing and everyday life making you have to make changes to get through the day, and finally in the end if left untreated it will kill you, watching you whither in pain slowing sucking the life out of you.

One method I would like to see tried on a small scale to see if it’s feasible is using the lava flows that run through underground lava tunnels like at Kilauea in Hawaii. Taking a block of compressed plastic approx 1/2 ton in weight, placed into the lava flow at a point just before it goes underground into a lava tunnel. Any toxic fumes would be encased in the tunnel; the plastic itself would be completely burned up by the intense heat breaking it down into harmless compounds still in super heated lava tens or maybe hundreds of feet underground any residue would be trapped forever in these tunnels of solid lava being pushed deeper and deeper into the earth’s core. Plastic close to the surface would be buried deeper and deeper as the lava overlaps itself during each new flow, solidifying after the flow stopped never being exposed the ecosystem or environment again, for at least tens of thousands of years.

We were given dominion over the earth, to be its mentor, its guardian, its protector, failing to accomplish these tasks, will cause the earth to exact its revenge not only on the environment but also on man. For as we poison the earth and its creatures it will one day poison us as we are interdependent on each other.

Reference:

Life less plastic. (2007, OCT 01). Retrieved from http://www.lifelessplastic.blogspot.com/2007/10/negative-health-effects-of-plastic.html

Amaral, K. (2010, MAY). Plastics in our oceans. Retrieved from http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/people/kamaral/plasticsarticle.html

The Week Editorial Staff. (2010, MAY 11). The Pacific Ocean’s growing plastic problem. Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/pacific-oceans-growing-plastic-problem-080000071.html

Fitzgerald, E. (2010, SEP 10). Pacific Ocean plastic waste dump. Retrieved from http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/10/pacific-ocean-plastic-waste-dump/

Trombetta, G. (2012, MAY). Manila's floating rubbish dump. Retrieved from http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/manilas-floating-rubbish-dump.html

RWS. (2009, MAR 22). River of garbage in Asia. Retrieved from http://rwsphoto.blogspot.com/2009/03/river-of-garbage-in-asia.html

Yourdictionary. (MAY, 2012). Who invented plastic and when? Retrieved from http://answers.yourdictionary.com/science/who-invented-plastic-and-when.html