Recycling does not have an immediate and tangible outcome. Throwing a plastic bottle or plastic cutlery into the recycle does not reward one or a group instantly, so the lazy choice that many people make is to dispose trash wrongly. This though has a long and lasting detrimental effect on the world, when recycling waste properly will contribute to the slow, yet uprising state of our Earth yielding its longer existence.
In 2017, BBC news came out with an article titled “Seven charts that explain the plastic pollution problem” which publishes 7 different charts having to do with the increasingly horrendous amount of plastic trash in the world. Most of this trash exists now in our oceans. Two of these charts I have posted here.
According to this BBC article, 6.3 billions tonnes of plastic waste existed in 2015 while only 9% of it was recycled. About 80% ended up in landfills and 12% incinerated. In 2016, 480 billion plastic bottles were sold.
The first “Ocean plastic” chart illustrates which countries in the world are most responsible for plastic waste being Asian nationals amounting for 13 of the 20 nations most responsible. The US is within that group of 20 as well. About 10 million tonnes of plastic is estimated to exist in the ocean which kills aquatic life. This chart also shows the suction from where plastic waste is dragged into the water known as gyres which exist in 5 different place shown above.
This chart publicizes the amount of time specific waste takes to degrade. A styrofoam cup takes 50 years which is well within young adults lifetime today. Yet, every other garbage item will take between 200-600 years to biodegrade which will then release toxins into the environment. Recycle recycle recycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The statistic about the amount of trash that was incinerated in 2015 is very alarming to me. Waste piling up in landfills is bad enough but when trash is incinerated it releases extremely harmful chemicals and ash that is miniscule in size into the air which causes health problems for humans, animals and plants. All the more reason to recycle to avoid the amount of garbage being incinerated!
I too was quite alarmed by the statistic about the amount of trash that was incinerated in 2015, and the fact that eighty percent of waste ended up in landfills. These percentages and statistics must be altered sooner rather than later, and I agree that we should recycle more. Humans and animals are suffering due to our selfishness, and the effects will continue to worsen if we do not begin to fix our problems.
We analyzed the same article, yet different parts of it! I think the ocean plastic chart is quite fascinating. Although the US is not the largest contributor of this waste, we still are definitely a huge component to the problem. Agreeing with everyone, I do believe we should recycle more. It is an easy task, with such a positive impact on our environment compared to just throwing everything in a landfill! We should try to promote this even more on campus.
It is absolutely crazy to me that in 2015 480 million plastic bottles were sold, yet only 9% of plastic was recycled. Out of the 80% that ended up in landfills, it is very scary to me that a simple plastic bottle takes 450 years to degrade. The fact that these plastic bottles have a lifespan more than 4 times longer than ours is alarming, and people need to be aware of these numbers so that they recycle, or better yet, use a reusable waterbottle.