Addicted To Plastics
Where do plastics come from and why should we recycle them?
Plastics are a man made product, which means that they are not made naturally. Plastics are made from a oil by a special procedure that changes the oil's carbon. There are many reasons why we should recycle plastics. First, it reduces the amount of plastic going to the landfill, the problem with plastic is that it takes many years to break down and decompose and some of the plastics cannot break down because they need sunlight. Secondly, making new plastics means more use of fossil fuels which harms the environment. Lastly, plastics is a cause for the death of sea animals because they see a bottle at the top of the surface which they think is food and when they eat it, it can get lodged in their throat which makes them choke and die. Its not that hard to recycle just toss your bottles in the blue box.
Are all plastics the same?
In fact plastics are not all the same. There are many different types of plastic, seven types to be exact. The first one is PETE plastic, which is used to store odors like drink bottles. The second type is HDPE plastics which is used to make plastic crates and plastic fences. The third plastic is PVC which is used to make flooring, The fourth type is LDPE which is used to make garbage cans, lumber and furniture. The fifth type is PP which is used to make ice scrapers, rakes and battery cables.The sixth type of plastic is PS which is used to make insulation, license plates and rulers. The last type of plastic is "other" which is like plastic lumber found on sheds.
What limitations are there to the disposal and recycling of plastic materials?
The are many limitations in recycling plastic materials because some plastic products are non recyclable such as plastics bags. Many manufacturers do not recycle and reuse the plastic because it is cheaper in the long run for the companies to make new plastic. And also plastic is expensive to collect. It is expensive because its hard to gather the same type of plastics because their are so many types of plastic and also take up a lot of space.
What am i going to do to reduce my use of plastics?
First i am going to stop buying plastic water bottles but instead buy a recycled metal bottle which reduces me using the plastic water bottles and is also made from recycled plastic. Second i will get a BRITA filter to also reduce the amount of water bottles that i will buy. And lastly i will buy the shopping bags that are made from recycled products to reduce the use of plastic bags which end up in the garbage anyways.
