Photo of a dumping center for plastic waste
Section 1: The environmental effect of Recycling
When people think of recycling they think they're saving the world one plastic water bottle at a time, but where does your plastic go after you properly dispose of it in the bin designated specifically for recyclables? The answer to this question is quite unpleasantly described in the article 'Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America's dirty secret'. Plastic as many may know is extremely bad for the environment, but it's even worse when it has nowhere to be properly disposed of. In order to save money and get things done as quickly as possible the US sends all of our plastic recycling to underdeveloped countries, places like Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. The problem with this is that these countries are having a hard enough time disposing of their own plastic waste and so we're essentially just adding on to their already ridiculous pile. In order for a plastic material to be recycled properly it can not be contaminated at all and more than half of the plastic that the US sends over to these different countries is contaminated and so it just gets tossed into a landfill or it gets burned. Most of the times this plastic waste will end up in the ocean, on the streets, in huge dumping piles all across the country, and even in peoples backgrounds and all around their houses.
The people responsible for sifting through the plastic are extremely underpaid, they're working awfully long days, and their working environment is anything but acceptable. This plastic waste can cause respiratory illnesses (due to the burning of the plastic materials), unsanitary drinking water from the fumes, and even cancer. The problem with this system is that many Americans are recycling their plastic waste, which is awesome, but nobody knows what is happening to it after. More than half of the plastic that is sent over can't be recycled anyways so it's almost questionable as to whether recycling is actually good or not.
The people responsible for sifting through the plastic are extremely underpaid, they're working awfully long days, and their working environment is anything but acceptable. This plastic waste can cause respiratory illnesses (due to the burning of the plastic materials), unsanitary drinking water from the fumes, and even cancer. The problem with this system is that many Americans are recycling their plastic waste, which is awesome, but nobody knows what is happening to it after. More than half of the plastic that is sent over can't be recycled anyways so it's almost questionable as to whether recycling is actually good or not.
Section 2
Barrels of oil exported each day
Section 2: Recycling vs Internet Usage/Oil
This recycling dilemma is only going to get worse as the demand for more plastic goes up. Oil companies in particular are guilty of profiting off this. The more plastic that is needed the more oil we need to produce which means the more business these companies are going to get, which is exactly what they want. Especially because nowadays everything comes all packaged up in plastic, it is hard to buy something that isn't wrapped up in it. The highest demand of oil comes from things like plastic, clothing, transportation, heating/electricity, etc. All of these things have their fair share of damages made to the environment. In order for any of this to even happen the oil needs to be drilled up from the ground and that itself is a whole other category of a human impact on the environment. This requires the burning down of trees, and the destruction of a whole environment. There are literally groups of people who protest against this because it is such a danger to the environment and the people living in these certain areas. The heavy use of oil can do things like contaminate peoples drinking water and cause serious illnesses if mishandled. This has proven true when we have had major oil spills into the ocean which was very costly to clean up and it damaged many things including the lives of many organisms, it contaminated the water, etc. The misuse of recycling is also damaging our oceans and our animals in the oceans as it is invading their living spaces and forcing them to adapt to certain changes.
Another major human impact on the environment we are dealing with is our internet power usage. Although internet usage and plastic recycling are totally different from each other, they do share some of the same components. They both deal directly with oil and that is one of the main reasons they are so bad for the environment. They both are apart of our everyday lives and they are both something we use without even really thinking twice about how we are hurting the environment. For example there are huge computer centers that store all of the information on the internet which then provides the information we need to our computers. this process specifically requires a large amount of electricity to operate. One of the bigger connections is that both of the producers of these two things benefit off of the use of their products. The oil/plastic companies benefit off of more people needing/wanting their products and the internet companies benefit off of more people using their products. But the overuse of both of these products is putting us into a huge dilemma with the safety of our environment.
Another major human impact on the environment we are dealing with is our internet power usage. Although internet usage and plastic recycling are totally different from each other, they do share some of the same components. They both deal directly with oil and that is one of the main reasons they are so bad for the environment. They both are apart of our everyday lives and they are both something we use without even really thinking twice about how we are hurting the environment. For example there are huge computer centers that store all of the information on the internet which then provides the information we need to our computers. this process specifically requires a large amount of electricity to operate. One of the bigger connections is that both of the producers of these two things benefit off of the use of their products. The oil/plastic companies benefit off of more people needing/wanting their products and the internet companies benefit off of more people using their products. But the overuse of both of these products is putting us into a huge dilemma with the safety of our environment.
Internet usage over the years
Section 3
People protesting
Section 3: How people at Keene State College can make a difference
This issue isn't really derived from us as individuals in Keene NH and so it isn't really an issue that can be solved by just us in Keene. With that being said though we are related to this issue because we do use plastic materials and we do partake in recycling our plastic materials. Some things that the individuals of Keene can do to maybe help get the ball rolling on cleaning up our plastic waste are protesting, voting, using less plastic materials, educating others, organizing a group to get a ban on single use plastic products, etc. Some of the things that the students at Keene State College have done is continuously protesting about single use plastics and about the environment in general. Another thing that we have done is implement a ban of certain single use plastic product such as plastic bags from some of the on the go food places on campus.
It is so important to vote for the people who are willing to bring about these changes and actually put them into action. Getting a group together and going up to different companies who are associated with the high use of plastics is also an important first step. Especially these big water bottle companies who just load their products up in plastic. The answer to this is not to recycle! We are already doing that and is it backfiring right in front of us! We as individuals can only do so much, but a city wide ban on certain plastic products could do so much more. Electing the right people to make these changes could do so much more. Shifting the way we use plastic could do so much more. The main thing we need to do is just show that we care and that we want to make a difference, and we can do that by doing any one of these solutions. Spreading knowledge to as many people as we can is how we are going to get the change we need.
It is so important to vote for the people who are willing to bring about these changes and actually put them into action. Getting a group together and going up to different companies who are associated with the high use of plastics is also an important first step. Especially these big water bottle companies who just load their products up in plastic. The answer to this is not to recycle! We are already doing that and is it backfiring right in front of us! We as individuals can only do so much, but a city wide ban on certain plastic products could do so much more. Electing the right people to make these changes could do so much more. Shifting the way we use plastic could do so much more. The main thing we need to do is just show that we care and that we want to make a difference, and we can do that by doing any one of these solutions. Spreading knowledge to as many people as we can is how we are going to get the change we need.
This is from another student, Liam, who couldn't publish his comment:
ReplyDelete"This post stood out to me because I wrote a blog post on the same exact article and topic and about how recycling plastic has had more of a negative impact than a positive impact. The sections of the article that you mentioned in your post about the "recycling" being sent to 3rd world countries was very shocking and upsetting to read. One aspect of your post that I wish I thought of was your solution to the problem which was to organize a group to get a ban on single use plastic products. This is a good solution because it is a realistic and possible solution that is already being used in some coastal cities. I really enjoyed the photos that you put into your post with the graphs since they visualized data and therefore made the data simple to process. At the end of your post, you state that "Spreading knowledge to as many people as we can is how we are going to get a change we need", I thought this is also a good way to convey the issue to other people. One way that people could spread knowledge to get change would be to go to environmental protests, post on social media, and discuss the problems with your peers.
Sincerely,
Liam Bell "