application assignment #1
Where does your plastic go ?
Plastic is continuing to pile up in these countries that don't have the resources to recycle just last year the equivalent of 68,000 shipping containers of American plastic was exported to developing countries that cannot manage 70% of their own plastic which is effectively destroying the environment as it litters the shore ways and streets of these countries. in some countries they are slowed down maintaining there own waste as they now have an excess to deal with. in the article there was a family that lived in a house on stilts and they described it as "“I cannot accept plastic being imported into our country,” said a resident, Heng Ngy, 58. Ngy and his wife live in a wooden house on stilts that seems to hover on a sea of plastic. A pungent stench wafts up to the open-aired rooms." it is estimated that 20% to 70% of all plastic is non recyclable.
The human health is impacted by this as a lot of this plastic is un sanitary and not reusable however since it keeps getting sent to these countries that are under developed these people that are in these countries are forced to deal with it and sometimes get sick/injured fro. working in these illegal plastic recycling plants. some of the plastics carry diseases which get the people that have to handle them sick.
We are causing these problems as it is too expensive to recycle plastic in our own country and there are not enough types of plastic that can be recycled thus making it unsustainable to recycle therefore we send it to these other countries that have less resources than us to recycle them creating this huge impact on the environment.
View of a beach covered by plastic garbage on the island of Santa Luzia, Cape Verde
The environment is heavily impacted by plastic and the waste it produces, and the oil drilling in the amazon is also destroying the environment well by destroying the forests and land around there which is affecting the way people live and it is causing some people to be born with birth defects and dying as well. both of these things are affecting the environment and they are ways a way from sorting out either of these issues as they have got to such a bad point that they are almost unable to reverse it as it would take so much financial assistance and so many people there are just not enough resources to sort it out.
The environment should have never been destroyed to this point and the US should have had proper facilities in place to manage all the plastic they have been producing instead of sending it to other countries as that is now destroying those environments even worse than it would have destroyed ours because they have less resources than we do. the oil drilling in the amazon has been a known problem for many years but has never become apparent until fairly recently when it was brought to court.
oil spill results in water
We at keene state should make sure we are using refillable water bottles and should try sell items that can be recycled at places on campus where you can get drinks such as at the dining commons we use reusable cups for drinks which saves us from single use plastic at keene state we throw a lot of plastic away which probably does not get recycled or it ends up in a different country we should make sure that our trash is going to a recycling plant by communicating with company's that recycle plastic and other materials we may use.
If we are unable to recycle we should make sure everything we are able to use that is reusable we do that and that we should not give out items in plastic packaging such as sizzlers and maybe look at alternate options such as paper packaging. many places now serve there drinks with paper straws as stars are a major problem in the environment.
I think that we could also be more conscious about how many other things not just plastic but other things we are doing to the environment such as how much we drive our cars and we could have days allocated to cleaning up the college as well as the town where we go out around the rivers and throughout the town and collect trash so it can be sent to a landfill instead of sitting in the soil around the area damaging trees plants and maybe animals that live around here. it is also bad for our health as these plastics could have chemicals in them that may only be released by certain measures such as leaving a water bottle in the sun in your car and then drinking it.
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