Plastic Waste Around America - Essay Example

Plastic Waste in America College: Plastic Waste in America In the recent past, there has been great concern for waste management in the world due to the harm that waste is causing on the environment. Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental hazards that have drawn a lot of attention to the environmentalists. While the population of citizens is increasing and their purchasing power is rising, there are inadequate mechanisms of plastic waste disposal paving way for environmental pollution. Plastic is a non-biodegradable compound that leads to soil pollution, rendering it unfertile in the long-term. Therefore, it is has become an urgent need to control plastic waste pollution in the world especially at a time when the population is increasing tremendously. While some states such as California and Chicago have adopted mechanisms of plastic waste control, it is clear that there is much that needs to be done to control this problem. In America, there is need for more efficient policies regarding recycling and purchase of plastic bottles and paper which will ensure that the country becomes clean and fertile. The increase in plastic disposal is a result of the rapid population increase in the world. Since 1950, it is clear that the population in all the continents has grown by more than three times, which is the same rate that the paper disposal has increased. In Africa, the population increased from 229 million to 1.11 billion between 1950 and 2013. At the same time, the population in America grew from 340 million to 972 million, in Asia from 1.4 billion to 4.3 billion and in Europe from 549 million to 743 million (McEvedy & Jones, 2000). To satisfy the public demands for plastics, companies have had to produce more plastics for water, drinks and polythene bags. Statistics show that in North America alone, about 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away per hour. In total, the amount of plastic waste thrown away every year is capable of circling the earth four times. The impact of the increase in wastage has a great impact on the land and the seas, as it threatens the ecological survival of both human beings are other living organisms. For instance, each year, over 45,000 tons of plastic waste is dumped into the sea causing the death of over one million sea birds. On this light, plastic wastage in the world is an issue that should be addressed quickly to ensure that the environment remains healthy for life. In America, there has been a massive increase in the wastage of plastic garbage. Each year, it is estimated that Americans throw away about 35 billion of plastics bottles and only 25% of the plastic waste is recycled away. The possible benefits of recycling the rest of the plastic wastes are beyond imagination. If America would recycle the remaining 75% of waste, it would save I billion gallons of oil and 44 million cubic of landfill space annually. In the year 2009, about $485 million worth of plastic was wasted in US, which is would adequate for 1000 households to live on US at medium income level for nearly ten years. This implies that the recycling of plastic wastes in America would be very beneficial to the public and the environment as well. America is at the fore front among those continents that throw away plastic waste; while it comprises only 5% of the world population, it contributes to over 30% of the total plastic garbage disposed in the environment (Greenworld.com, 2013). On this note, it is a matter of urgency that America should focus on waste management strategies to ensure that the environment is conducive in the long-term. Plastic waste control is a big challenge for many countries due to the complexity of recycling these compounds. While some plastics are recyclable, others are hard to recycle and needs to be sorted out. All plastics marked ‘1’, ‘PET’ or ‘PETE’ which include some soft drink bottles, water bottles, plastic peanut jars, plastic wrap and salad dressing bottles are recyclable. On the hand, high density polyethylene (HDPE) that includes plastic milk cartons, juice bottles, shampoo bottles and liquid detergent bottles are complex to recycle and only a few consumers recycle them. Additionally, since it is hard for plastic users to sort out these bottles, it becomes hard to recycle them without contamination, which often spoils the end product. Ignorance is another issue that has aggravated the problem of waste disposal. While over 87% of the Americans have access to disposal places, they are ignorant and dispose plastics into the environment and water bodies (Daskalopoulos, Badr & Probert, 2013). This explains the possible reason why the problem of plastic disposal is a persistent behavior despite different efforts of companies and organization to reduce waste disposal in the environment. A number of states have come up with waste disposal plans to reduce plastic waste within the environment. In Chicago, the city council imposed a monthly fee for garbage collection, a procedure that has worked in the suburbs to ensure that there is a body responsible to collect all the waste. Also, there was a proposal that single-use of plastic bags be banned to reduce the amount of waste being accessed in the public. Secondly, Chicago proposed that chain stores and franchises be given an ultimatum of one year to phase out the use of plastic bags. For the restaurants, they would have to sell reusable bags or recyclable paper bags or compostable paper bags. This will ensure that the public have to afford this paper and hence there will be a reduced circulation of paper bags in the country. In California, the government has successfully eliminated the single use of paper bags and an extra fee will be charged to customers who need plastic bags to discourage purchase (Keep America Beautiful, 2013). There was also a plan to ensure that restaurant would provide compostable papers for their customers to avoid the use of plastic bags. The fact that the paper waste footprint in America is still very implies that there is need for effective approaches to waste management. First, America should consider supporting a ban of the use of plastic bags and bottles in whole country. They should resort to the use of compostable and recyclable papers, which have no long-term impacts on land. This would ensure that the plastic waste footprint does not grow further, and the amount that remains can be recycled. Alternative plan would be impose high tax rates for companies that use plastic packaging materials to ensure discourage use and make them more expensive for the public. This will ensure there is reduce production of plastics and that the manufacturers use alternative packing materials. The geographical information system would play key role in the war against waste disposal in America. GIS should be used to monitor the plastic use trends and measuring its impact on the environment. Use accurate computer systems it is possible to monitor the efficiency of the various measures put in place to control plastic waste disposal (Godchild, 2009). This will allow the government to adjust its regulations and educate the population on the value of reducing the plastics wasted in the environment. In conclusion, plastic waste disposal cause severe pollution in the environment, which is dangerous for the geographical populations. The increase in population has resulted in increase in waste disposal. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the plastic produced is recycled due to ignorance and the complexity of the process of sorting and recycling plastics. While various states such California and Chicago have adopted mechanism to reduce the plastic foot print in the environment, it is clear that more strict measures need to applied in the whole of America. It would be wise to consider banning plastic bottles in America or imposing high taxes on their production to discourage their use in public. The government should use the geographical information systems to monitor plastic waste disposal and to provide feedback for corrections of measures used in controlling plastic waste in America. References Daskalopoulos, E., Badr, O., & Probert, S. D. (2013). Municipal solid waste: a prediction Methodology for the generation rate and composition in the European Union countries and the United States of America. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 24(2), 155-166. Goodchild, M. F. (2009). Geographic information system. Encyclopedia of Database Systems, 1231-1236. Greenworld.com, (2013). Our Waste. Retrieved from :< http://www.green-networld. com/facts/waste.htm > Keep America Beautiful, (2013). Recycling Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from: < http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Recycling_Facts_and_Stats > McEvedy, C., & Jones, R. (2000). Atlas of world population history. Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. Read More