Frida Pere & Aleja Aslan
05/28/2018
Why Your Contribution To The Waste Pile Matters
Introduction:
In our daily life we use lots of products: plastic bags, candy wrappers, straws and many
other things. What do we do when we are done using them? We throw them out. And you think
that once you have thrown them out, they are gone forever! But it doesn't disappear. Once we
throw something in the garbage, just because we don't see it doesn't mean that it’s gone.
Somewhere in the most unlucky parts of the world, the same pieces of plastic bag, candy
wrappers, straws, shampoo bottles, food, etc,that you once used, are there, laying in a huge
mountain of collected garbage. Yet none of us are informed how this garbage is treated. We
aren't aware of how dangerous these huge mountains of garbage can be to the world. Some of
you might have heard of how sea animals are dying every day because of the garbage in the
ocean, but not many know that out there in those dirty and sad places, where the garbage is being
thrown, sick and poor children live, sick families have to spend their daily routines surrounded
by garbage. It's destroying tons of families, poor people. Because the bad air can give them
cancer and other illnesses, and because they can’t afford to go to the hospital, they die. Imagine
if that was you, if you had to spend all day long looking at the dirty and unhealthy view. Imagine
you were the one close to dying because of all the garbage that other humans used and didn't
care about. How would you feel? We are not the only ones living on this planet, we always
somehow seem to forget that there are others, whales, fish, seals, and so many more. What do we
do to protect them. Do they trash our world? No they don’t but we trash there’s. By not recycling
specific materials they go to the trash and end up in the ocean, lakes, ponds, etc. We don’t have
to throw everything away we can reuse them. Reuse water bottles or even better not use plastic
water bottles, reuse the paper bags that you get at the grocery stores. There is so much we can do
to save these animals.
History:
Garbage wasn't always an issue for the health of the world, since we stopped being
Hunters and Gatherers. Our history took a huge step towards moving from hunter/gatherer to
agriculture, and as we grew, our enemy, garbage, expanded as well. But garbage didn't grow by
itself, we were the ones that allowed it to rise from being one organic matter to the cause that
will soon lead us to our deaths. So how did garbage become our foe? How did it become such a
big deal? When we were hunter/gatherers “for most of the last two and a half million years,
people left garbage where it fell. This worked well for hunter and gatherer societies because
people would regularly leave their temporary shelter or campsite in search of food. During
Agrarian times, garbage was not a problem because it was all organic matter meaning that it
would decompose in the earth.” (Background- Our Garbage) “The method of leaving garbage
where it was produced began to cause problems as the garbage pile grew. Because instead of
the people moving, they began to move the garbage out. Some garbage was simply thrown
out of windows, into the streets. Free-roaming animals would eat the food scraps, while human
scavengers would move the rest of the garbage to vacant plots of land, take the valuables out and
leave the rest.” Background- Our Garbage) How did garbage become the main reason why many
animals, humans and other creatures are having a hard time?
Evidence 1:
Garbage is a complicated topic, because there are so many factors that add to the history
of garbage. “On land, the culprits include beaches, piers, harbours, marinas, docks and
riverbanks, and municipal landfills located on the coast, as well as rivers, lakes and ponds that
are used as illegal dump sites, plus discharges of untreated municipal sewage and stormwater,
industrial facilities, and medical waste.” (Trash in world’s oceans threatens wildlife, economy
and human health, UN warns)
The more garbage and disposable products we make, the more pollution and sick creatures there
are, and more lives lost. For example “2.2 million deaths annually in African, 847,000 deaths
annually in North America, 854,000 deaths annually in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1.4 million
deaths annually in Europe, 3.8 million deaths annually in South-East Asia 3.5 million deaths
annually in the Western Pacific. (An estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributable
to unhealthy environments) All these people have died because of the sickness due to poor
health and being surrounded by pollution This is a terrible and preventable loss of life. Plastic is
also a big factor of problems with waste in the ocean. Our plastic doesn’t get into the ocean that
easily it takes a long process. 1) It starts at land 2) The seas take it in 3) The plastic and trash gets
washed out by storms and gets sweeped into streams and rivers 4) Lastly flows into landfills and
into the stomachs of aquatic animals. The most common trash/Plastic found in the ocean are
balloons, plastic bags, water bottles, food wrappers, and material used for packaging. That
material can later break down into tiny sizes almost the size of a fingernail. What can we do to
help? We can start by recycling more, make sure we have cans that are specifically labeled and
what goes in each can. There could be heavy storms and winds and it could cause our recycling
bins to blow away and so can our trash if not sealed correctly. Try to make sure your bins are
completely sealed with a type of lid. Not only will it help with the ocean but also our
neighborhood.
There is a machine that has been invented by scientists in order to clean up the plastic and
garbage that is already in the ocean, it said “Our models indicate that a full-scale system roll-out
could clean up 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years. Research shows the majority
of plastic by mass is currently in the larger debris. By removing the plastic while most of it is
still large, we prevent it from breaking down into dangerous microplastics. Combining the
cleanup with source reduction on land paves the road towards a plastic-free ocean by 2050.” (
The Ocean Cleanup) This model will attract plastic by suspending a large sea anchor in a deep,
slow moving water layer, it can slow down the system enough so that the plastic moves faster
than the cleanup system. This will cause the plastic to accumulate against the cleanup system.
This machine is able to clean the plastic in the ocean because “the waves, winds and currents
make the plastic move in a certain manner. The same forces will act on our roaming systems,
causing them to gravitate to the areas in the garbage patch with the highest concentration of
plastic.” ( The Ocean Cleanup) But that only covers half of the water polluted. What about the
other half? There isn't much our current researchers have found, but there are easy ways to help
reduce the amount of garbage produced. Many of the products that are being pulled from the
water are products that could be recycled, but some people don't care about recycling. “A study
last year of 192 countries found that most of the plastic waste in the oceans comes from people
living within 50km of the coastline. It estimated that 275 million tons of plastic waste is
generated each year around the world and, between 4.8-12.7 million tons ends up either being
washed or dumped deliberately into the sea.” (How scientists plan to clean up plastic waste
threatening marine life)The amount of garbage produced by each continent seems to keep
increasing, and with it brings pollution and sickness to humans and all other life. There has been
a recent report on a whale that died because it consumed 64 pounds of trash. Around “100
million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean” (Information
About Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris – Sea Turtle Conservancy). So many animals
have died each year that because of plastic, “estimated that there are 100 million tons of plastic
in oceans around the world” (Information About Sea Turtles: Threats from Marine Debris – Sea
Turtle Conservancy). In one whole year we will produce 60 billion pounds of plastic that will
eventually be thrown in the ocean.
The result of the mountains of garbage reflects in water, soil and air pollution. First there
is “Water pollution which has taken a toll of all the surviving species of the earth. Almost 60%
of the species live on water bodies.” (What is Pollution?)Secondly, there is “soil pollution which
occurs due to incorporation of unwanted chemicals in the soil due to human activities. Use of
insecticides and pesticides absorbs the nitrogen compounds from the soil making it unfit for
plants to derive nutrition.” (What is Pollution?) Thirdly, “air pollution is the most prominent and
dangerous form of pollution. It occurs due to excessive burning of fuel which is necessary to our
daily lives for cooking, driving and other industrial activities.” (What is Pollution?) As pollution
increases “the decrease in air quality leads to respiratory problems including asthma, lung
cancer, chest pain, congestion, throat inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory
disease.” (What is Pollution?)The reason why so many people are dying annually is because the
quality of air keeps becoming polluted. If we don’t put an end to all the unnecessary garbage,
pollution will become a bigger problem.
Conclusion:
Every living organism on Earth shares the same planet, so this means that we are all
affected by each other’s actions, and the damage by garbage. Unfortunately, we humans are the
ones that produce the most garbage. The United States produces over 254 million tons of garbage
each year. “Some 270 species worldwide are affected by entanglement in, or ingestion of, marine
trash, including 86 percent of all sea turtles species, 44 percent of all seabird species.” (Trash in
world’s oceans threatens wildlife, economy and human health, UN warns) Besides causing
all sorts of health and environmental issues, overflowing garbage is a public nuisance and
eyesore. We need to be more aware of the amount of garbage we make, and how our actions
impact the environment. We need to reduce the amount of garbage we produce every day. We
can all start by being more mindful of the products we use and throw out, and we need to stop
throwing garbage on the ground, or if we see something on the ground, pick it up and put it in a
bin. That way the amount of garbage going into the drainage system is reduced.
Solutions:
“Computer modelling suggests that placing collecting devices nearer the coasts would
remove about 31 percent of microplastics which are the smaller plastic chips and fibres that
result from the environmental breakdown of larger items.” (How scientists plan to clean up
plastic waste threatening marine life) Scientists are trying new devices in the ocean to
hopefully reduce the amount of plastic that is already in the ocean. However they don't have new
ideas as to how to get rid of the garbage that we will produce in the future. The only way we can
stop the world from over-polluting is by taking action ourselves and making less garbage. The
computer modelling mentioned above, will allow animals in the ocean to have their home and
health back, even though not all the plastic and garbage will disappear. With the help of the
scientists at least some on the creatures can get back their clean and natural habitat. There are
still lots of other organisms that are being affected by garbage. Over the past few years the
amount of garbage has been increasing in a massive amount, but fortunately the process of
recycling has been introduced to kids and adults. With the help of recycling at least some of
those products we use can be reused, and that reused product will be one less product added to
the huge mountain of garbage. The solutions to stop pollution from taking over the world are:
picking it up, continue buying the devices that collect the microplastic products in the ocean, and
recycling more, and teaching others how to recycle. We can also support others by donating
money to foundations that work with aquatic animals, or cleaning the oceans. We could also join
clubs or programs that clean up the beach or clean up your neighborhood. If there are not any
near you then you can start your own. If you just moved into a new neighborhood then it is is a
great idea to get to know everybody. Aquatic animals get a clean ocean if we clean and we get
something in return as well a clean community.
References
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Cleanup, T. O., & www.theoceancleanup.com. www.theoceancleanup.com. Retrieved December
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