Implications for the Future - Psy460 Essay

Complications begin when plastic becomes involved. “Manufacturing, transporting, and refrigerating the more than 40 billion plastic bottles of water consumed annually in the U.S requires the equivalent of more than 50 million barrels of crude oil.” (Janet Larsen,”Is Bottled Water a Good Idea?”) Consequently, the conflict continues to worsen. The majority of the water bottles end up in waterways and overflowing landfills, harming ecosystems despite their complete recyclability. Thus, further proving that each individual plays a role in the sustainability of the Earth, because one person on their own cannot accomplish an effective change. Resolving the conflict of water bottle overflow involves the people who consume them to begin recycling them or more appropriately, to begin using a refillable water bottle, a much better eco-friendly

Undoubtedly, as we are stepping towards advancement with technology every day, we are getting exposed to more pollution levels in our life. Water, air and earth, in all these forms of society we are experiencing rapidly growing pollutions. In water, we are experiencing a huge number of unwanted disposals of all sorts from the cruise ships or any private boat. A lot of people now a days doesn't have any idea where to dispose proper wastes. For example, if we go to a grocery store like Walmart or Target, we see big trashcans with it's purpose written on it. There are certain trashcans that are only meant for plastic disposing while some of them are for recyclable objects. People need to educate themselves with this basic things. Not only these, if we look at the bigger picture, in third world countries, earth or soil pollution is one of the major environmental problems. People throwing garbages everywhere on the side of streets, urinating on the side of the street, spitting everywhere are the major habits people are having over the years.

Recycling is the process of making new products from a product that has originally served its purpose. The process of recycling starts when used products are disposed in an appropriate, environmentally friendly way. Items made from materials such as paper, tin cans, aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, and glass, which people use in everyday life, can be separated from regular trash and put in an appropriate recycling bin. The United States now realizes the importance of recycling. However, many ignorant people still think separating recyclables requires too much work. Requiring mandatory recycling would prod these individuals into action. Lack of recycling leads to dramatic consequences such as polluting the environment and raising the number of landfills. Delay is critical; time plays a significant role in waste management. The sooner American communities recycle properly the better it will be for the environment and our surroundings. People need to become conscious and take responsibility as a society to protect the earth, keep it clean and beautiful, and preserve the natural resources. The United States can achieve this goal by implementing mandatory recycling.

For example, when a customer purchases a fifty-cent can of Dr. Pepper from his/her local 7-11, s/he would end up paying fifty-five cents, which would include a five-cent deposit. At any time after consuming the thirst-quenching beverage, the customer may return his/her can to any store for his/her five-cent refund. This definitely provides an incentive to recycle beverage containers. In fact, in a recent survey I conducted on my plane trip home from Thanksgiving, consumers said they often feel they are getting back free money for recycling. Either because they think of the price of the beverage as fifty-five cents, or because they wait until they have several bottles or cans to return making their refund much larger than the original nickel they put down. The consumers are not the only ones who benefit because the retailers in most states also get reimbursed for the extra labor involved. This basic form of bottle bill is effective and very useful.

You can’t walk across a college campus, past an office building, or through a park without seeing one, two, or ten empty bottles. Many are plastic water bottles. Trash bins overflow them. Those water bottles are a problem. Why? Because only one out of five bottles actually makes it to a recycling bin. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are releasing into the atmosphere. The rest are littered on our streets or over filing our landfills. They degrade our landscape and damage our environment. In addition the plastic water bottles are not biodegradable that is, they don’t decay. They remain as trash a hundreds of years.

Another misconception that many people hold lies in what happens to bottles of water once they are “recycled”. People believe that once they send a plastic bottle on its way to be recycled, it will be converted into a new, usable, recyclable container. Generally speaking, this is not the case. The majority of recycled plastic gets a new life as something non-recyclable, such as plastic lumber or parking lot bumpers. This does not amount to as high a rate of waste reduction as one would hope for.

Many states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa and New York have established incentives for those who recycle. For those people who choose to recycle they are awarded a deposit or a refund on any type of plastic or aluminum bottles. This is law is known as a Bottle bill or container deposit law. Most states refund five cents per can or bottle, but some can refund up to10 cents. The amount of the refund depends on the recycle price on the container. On some soda cans you can receive between 5 and 10 cents for every can the

According journalist Eric Goldschein, the United States drank 9 billion gallons of water in 2008 (Business Insider). Therefore, in order to prevent access waste and build up of plastic from the water bottles, many different varieties of reusable water bottles on the market today advertise the message of an eco-friendly product. This message, however, can be easily adulterated and twisted in the manufacturer’s favor for simply business purposes, thus promoting bottles that have only the perk of being used many times before they are eventually discarded, ultimately falsifying the term “reusable”. When compared to the message of perpetual reusability, as well as the “five steps to eco-effectiveness,” put forth in the book Cradle to Cradle

Concerns about environmental pollution caused by bottled water vs. tap water are at an all time high. For instance, the author states “[Bottled water companies] are trashing the environment all along the product’s life cycle” (Leonard 2). The author further explains that this can be done through “extractions and production” of the water bottles, more energy to “ship” the product, then the used bottles “sit in landfills...where they are burned, releasing toxic pollution” (Leonard 2). One can conclude that this article recognises this problem and is strictly against the production of water bottles. On the other hand, water bottle bans in some areas have prompted for reusable water bottles. On author states, “especially aluminum and stainless steel varieties… ‘BPA-free’ products” (Karlstrom and Dell’Amore 1-2). These reusable water bottles save

Since the 1990’s Americans are drinking less soft drinks and are now consuming more bottled water than ever. Currently, Americans are drinking over 50% more bottled water than they did in 2001 (theatlantic.com). A reason for this could be that more Americans are aware of the health issues soft drinks create. Although the resurgence and emphasis on a healthier society is a positive aspect of the popularity of water bottles, it does also bring negative aspects. For example, 80 million bottles of water are sold daily in the US daily which means that 80 million plastic bottles need to be disposed. Recycling is what many people believe combats the issue of disposing of so many water bottles but only 20% of those plastic bottles actually get recycled leaving the other 80% to end up in the ocean or even a landfill. This harms the environment, as landfills tend to remove the oxygen from the ground and release methane, a greenhouse gas, harming the ozone layer. A depleting ozone layer causes global warming, the ice caps to melt, and an increased risk in skin cancer. As for the oceans, the plastic bottles degrade then conjoin to create plastic masses as large as the state of Texas. This harms the coral reef and not only pollutes the ocean but also people’s food supply as many fish ingest the plastic then people ingests the fish.

Justify the need for the new product based on the amount of plastic bottle rubbish that is being generated by Australian/NSW residents each year.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the bottled water industry is how to respond to the environmental claims levelled against it” (Grocer). Every time someone throws a bottle away, they have taken up more space in a landfill for the next four hundred fifty to one thousand years. Besides the long decomposition rate, water bottles are the cause of several more environmental issues. Overfilling landfills, health hazards caused by refilling, and the economic stresses due to the constant and inconvenient repurchasing are just a few of the negatives water bottles have on us. These plastic pollutants are doing more harm to both the environment and their users than good.

Plastic bottles are one of the most common litter issues. Plastic bottles litter the land and waters of Earth. More than half a billion bottles of water are purchased in the U.S. every week, this is enough to circle the globe five times. Oil is used to make plastic bottles and ship them across the world. Enough oil is used making plastic bottles each year to fuel one million cars. Then, eighty percent of the bottles end up in landfills where they sit for thousands of years. Some of the bottles we think are being recycled are actually just being shipped to other countries and thrown in their backyards (“The Story”). By reducing the amount of plastic bottles used, this would clean up our environment and preserve our Earth.

A worker at a paper factory in Illinois states, “Then the issue was saving a tree. But trees are replaced. We plant them, we cut them, we plant them again” (Pendleton). The worker also said, “The problem now is the landfill situation, I think this one is going to stick” (Pendleton). By 1991 thirty-nine states and hundreds of local governments have passed laws or solutions requiring the purchase of recycled paper. According to Henry Miller, vice president of a paper mill said, “By volume, thirty-eight percent of solid waste in a landfill is paper and cardboard” (Pendleton). That paper and cardboard, if recycled could have produced that much paper or other products and it would have cleared up thirty-eight percent of many landfills across America. One major way to get people involved with recycling is the environment perspective. Not only would the landfills be cut down the environment gains a lot by having people recycle. So what do the states do to keep the environment clean? They enact laws against litter and waste. One way is the state requiring the deposit on beer and soft-drink bottles and cans (Prichard 8A). In those states, millions of bottles and cans that once were left on beaches, tossed in rivers and parks or thrown along the highways are being taken back to stores instead for a refund. A twenty-year old student from Michigan said, “Throwing away cans is like throwing away money to me” (Prichard 8A). These state laws must be working if people have this

There are many different ways that people can recycle plastic water bottles, but first I think a lot of people are not aware of the issues that are going on when they throw away their plastic water bottles in their trash. They should be educated before they start to recycle their water