For over 65 years humans have been depending on plastic regardless of the evident effects it’s had on the oceans and wild-life. In fact, in 2010 there was, “an estimated 10,000s to 100,000s tonnes of plastics are in the ocean surface waters” (Ritchie & Rosner, 2018). Even knowing this, we still continue the use of plastics and improperly dispose of them. According to a study conducted in 2017, “9.2 billion tons of the stuff to deal with. Of that, more than 6.9 billion tons have become waste. And of that waste, a staggering 6.3 billion tons never made it to a recycling bin” (Parker, 2018). Therefore, a staggering 75% of the plastics we use as what is considered ‘single-use plastic’ which has become one to the world’s biggest polluters.
Plastic is a cheap and durable product that takes thousands of years to break down. That being said, “5800 million tonnes of primary plastic no longer in use, only 9 percent has been recycled since 1950” (Ritchie & Rosner, 2018). Primary plastics is mostly made by the packaging industry and includes the plastic items many of use every single day. For example, water bottles, which are bought at the rate of millions by the minute worldwide.
“A full 32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans; the equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute. This is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050. By 2050, this could mean there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans” (Earth Day Network, 2018).
Moreover, in an article written in National Geographic one reporter speculates, “Ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change” (Parker, 2018). Though plastic pollution and climate change have a clear interrelationship, essentially a cause and effect. Yet, as a society we have done very little to reduce our plastic use or improve our recycling habits as can be seen in this collection of photos.
In these images, I have depicted some litter I found while on a walk. Notice how the majority of the waste is made up of none other than plastic.
While London is a landlocked city, this shows an obvious disregard for the environment and the effect our plastic pollution has on our future survival. It can be seen evidently in our own urban community but affects the surrounding rural area and beyond. A haunting depiction of what all of the earth’s wilderness will look like if as a society we do not act.
References:
Earth Day Network. (2018). Fact Sheet: Single-Use Plastics.Earth Day Network. Retrieved from: https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/
Parker, L. (June, 2018). Planet or Plastic. National Geographic. Retrieved from:
Ritchie, H. & Rosner, M. (September, 2018). Plastic Pollution. Our World Data. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution