Why Do We Have So Much Plastic?
Whenever people talk about plastic and how much there is, what comes to my mind is usually plastic bottles and bags. But really, there is so much more plastic that we use in our everyday lives that is easy to just forget about when we see pictures of bottles on beaches and bags in trees. Toothbrushes, room decor, phone cases, clothes, packaging, games, toys, backpacks, lunchboxes, and so much more are all plastic. When did all this happen? When did everything turn plastic?
The actual material of plastic was created in 1862, but a synthetic plastic did not come out until 1907. In 1933, polyethylene was created, which is the type of plastic used to make bags and food containers. Nylon and Teflon (two different types of plastics) became popular in the 1930s. By 1973, PET bottles (or single-use bottles) were made. 1 Now here we are today, with generations of plastic crowding the earth. Even though the first plastics were made a long time ago, that doesn’t mean that they are gone. A single PET bottle takes 450 years to fully decompose.2 And before these 450 years are up, they become microplastics, and float to the bottom of the ocean or amidst the ocean where animals can eat them. The plastic goes into the animal’s blood stream, and then we eat the animal, where the plastic in the animal’s blood goes into our bloodstream.
Plastic has been a part of our lives for roughly 150 years, and in this small space of time in humanity it has managed to clutter up the earth. It’s time to convert items that don’t need to be plastic into eco-friendly materials like bamboo or paper. Items like toothbrushes, bottles and bags, packaging, and markers can be made in materials like these. Eco-friendly materials do the same job as plastic, they are just eco-friendly. Just by changing the material of items in our homes can make a world of difference when it comes to preventing climate change. 🌳💚
Image: Bertolt Jenson, Naja. “school of fish in water photo.” Unsplash, 19 May 2021, https://unsplash.com/photos/BJUoZu0mpt0
Great post, Jules! This made me think about all of the plastic I see in everyday living yet fail to twice about its need. Do we really NEED all that plastic, or is it just more convenient and less expensive to produce?
It’s kind of cool to think about how much cleaner the Earth would be if we could just convert a fraction of plastic usage into sustainable material.
Thanks for the knowledge, Jules. Us oldtimers depend on you and your generation to keep us informed!
Thank you so much Uncle Denis! I agree that there is so much plastic we don’t even notice,and it can stay around so much longer than we expect. Thank you for reading!