Summary Of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story By Susan Freinkel

“We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam … The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas.” – George Carlin. Since 1950 humans have made 8.3+ billion metric tons of plastic, 6.3 metric tons have become waste; only 9% of that waste has been recycled. In the last 50 years, plastic has done more harm than good. If we continue we leave our legacies with this world and leave Earth to restore itself.

With over 5000 types of plastics, Heather explains that the problem is very complex. As plastic ends up in marine ecosystems it begins to pollute and has massive monetary effects. Marine litter costs Europeans billions annually though cleanup projects, damage to vessels, and fish catches. Heather also mentioned the harmful amounts of microbeads, which Megan Leslie banned in Canada, in the oceans that are harming small ocean ecosystems. She explained that the effects of marine litter on the economy and ecosystems are extensive, however she noted that there is one place that we haven't check for the harmful effects of plastic. People! Plastics are made with harmful toxic chemicals and it only makes sense that people would be as negatively affected by plastic as our ecosystems and economies are. When asked if parents should be worried about the plastic toys parents buy their children Heather explained how when children put plastic toys in their mouths they are potentially being exposed to toxic flame retardants. Heather explained that our economy is linear, which means it destructively uses finite resources and creates waste. Heather believes that we must create circular economies that feed into each other which would allow us to reuse our resources and recycle our waste (Leslie, H. 2017, February, 2). The idea of a circular economy relates back to the “Green Economics” where

In the article When the Mermaids Cry” The Great Plastic Tide by Claire Le Guern Lytle, she wrote “For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years” This means that more and more trash is added to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. Almost everything around us is made out of plastic, this is later misused and ending in the wrong place. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote “In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste.” Our plastic is misplaced and it escalates from there. However, plastic pollution hurts us as well. “Trash in the water compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;” wrote a non-profit group called Ocean Conservation. If our oceans are covered in trash, everyone that relies on the ocean is going to suffer. The effect is not just in our health, it also affects our economy. Ocean Conservation also

for companies to stop producing plastic, we must first get rid of the demand for it. We

One material dominates the entire world, a material incapable of degrading for centuries and used in all facets of life. While very new to the earth, this synthetic polymer has flourished rapidly since the 1950’s, and, still at full throttle in the 21st century, the Age of Plastic sees no imminent end. Plastic continues to ascend at an exponential rate as its plethora of uses extends to new branches of technology and innovation. Even with their differences, both the working class American and the CEO of an industrialized company utilize plastic for its low cost and versatility. Nevertheless, humanity cannot sustain this nonrenewable resource for long, and eventually the issues of this material will one day outnumber the benefits.

However, you are right because all of us should be concerned about this trend and join the Plastic Pollution Coalition. It is important to do it, considering that tons of plastic containers are polluting our sea, rivers, and beaches around the globe (Gould, page 175). This problem seriously affects the survival of wildlife planets and animals. Just recently I heard in the national Geographic channel that, almost 11 million tons of plastic debris and more than 15 billion of trash is being dumped in the oceans every year. Sad statistics that are breaking the natural equilibrium of our sea ecosystems and sooner or later we will be paying the consequences of our irresponsibility, ignorance, and lack of self-awareness. We must stop right now. With

43% of the plastic is wasted on a global scale by being disposed of in landfills where all it does it

I found this chapter to be the most interesting so far, it fueled my concerns regarding the excessive use of plastic. Some of the statistics Feinkel shares are frightening, such as chemist Raymond Giguere’s, comparison of a year’s production of polyethylene equaling the mass of all the men, women and children in the United States. (62) This is alarming as we cannot continue to produce these materials on such a mass scale without considering the implications it has on our planet. Some forms of polyethylene take hundreds of years to degrade, this means the mess we make now will be left for generations to come to clean up. I have actually made a stand in my house, as the Mum of two young boys I no longer buy them those cheap, plastic toys that

I recently viewed a video on “The economic injustice of plastic” by Van Jones. The film started off by talking about the fact that the petrochemical corporations use oil and concentrate it into plastic; which in turn kills individuals. Van Jones discusses the demise of people who are underprivileged because they can only manage to pay for the products that are hazardous to them. Additionally, poverty-stricken people also assume the burden to dispose of plastic bottles and containers.

Plastic Planet is a documentary on the plastic cycle directed by Werner Boote who’s grandfather was the managing director of the German interplastic, Werke. Boote was raised around plastic and is truly fascinated with it, he sets out on a journey to learn the truth about the affects it has on the environment, human, and animal health. Boote grew up being influenced by his grandfathers love for plastic, as a child it intrigued him to play with all the toys his grandfather brought to him, made out of plastic. These moments of nostalgia were the stepping stones for the journey he took to 28 countries to talk to scientists, politicians, and employees of the plastic industry.

There would be some justification for calling the 20th century the Age of Plastics”( Strom and Rasmussen, p. ix). Many years ago, plastics changed the world and our lives. Bakelite plastic is made from carbolic acid (phenol) and formaldehyde, which are mixed, heated, and then either molded or extruded into the desired shape (Strom & Rasmussen,2011, p.22). People around the world use about 260 million tons of plastic each year. Plastic consumes 8 percent of world oil production each year. Plastics are amazing materials. They are cheap, lightweight, strong, lasting, corrosion resistant, and have high thermal and electrical insulation properties. For that reason, plastics are used in products such as cups and saucers, and components for cars and airplanes. Furthermore, there are many things made from plastic, like pens, windows, etc. Plastics come in a variety of different colors. In today’s world, people would have difficulties living without plastic because it is considered more inexpensive than cloth, leather, and metal. (Thompson, R., Swan, S., Moore, C., & Saal, F, 2009, P. 1973). Plastics can be manufactured into soft, hard and liquid materials. Plastics enter into every aspect of our lives ( Yoshioka, 1964, p. 42). According to Strom and Rasmussen in 2011, Baekeland said, ”if I had my life to life over again ……I would not hesitate to devote my best endeavors to biochemical research. The future of mankind depends on this subject” (p

"Plastic" entered the world through chemistry in 1909 and was originally coined to describe Bakelite, the first fully synthetic resin. What make's plastic so unique is when it is heated it can be molded but it retained its shape when cooled (Reddy, 2010). The modern plastic bag was not possible until the accidental discovery of the first industrially practical method of polyethylene synthesis in 1933. Fast forward to today, the use and

In 1869, John Wesley invented the celluloid, the first plastic product to be given a name. In 1909, Bakelite is introduced to the chemist club in New York as the “first thermoset plastic”, meaning that once the plastic mold was set it was set for life. Everywhere we look there are plastics, we have become so accustomed to their presence that we can hardly remember a time when they did not serve our needs. Remember, there used to be a time where our cars, plates, furniture, and airplanes were not made almost entirely of plastic. Roughly 100 billion pounds of plastic pellets are used every year by the United States, and current figures from India and China are

According to the trade association PlasticsEurope, “world plastic production grew from some 1.5 million tons in 1950 to an estimated 275 million tons in 2010”(http://school.ebonline.co.nz.ezproxy.kotui.ac.nz/levels/secondary/article/plastic-pollution/477253). Behind the staggering numbers is a global issue what we must solve by reducing the amount of plastic being used. Are there negative effects from the mass use of plastic on the land, Oceans and the human body? The answer is, ‘yes’. Thus, we see such consequences as plastic not only contaminates land but also pollutes water, and these are the natural elements which support human life. The more important threat is that plastic can have an enormously negative influence on human healt

Where does all the plastic go. Every bit of plastic that has been created is still here. This is because plastic is one-hundred percent non-biodegradable! Even the most degraded plastic down to polymers cannot be digested by bacteria (Laist, 1997). If global issues like starvation and climate change are not enough to stress on, the weight of an issue literally churning in the Pacific Ocean is startling. For decades the majority of the world’s population has not been properly educated on the nature of plastic and the potential harm it can do to our environment and our physical health. Due to factors of man and the natural effects of nature, a major problem has developed that is now harming our food.