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As the population grows so does technology and the demand for convenience. Plastic is a modern convenience for most of the world today. The following article will discuss the effects of plastic pollution on marine life, agriculture, human consumption, plastic linked diseases, water pollution and ways to reduce or prevent plastic pollution. It is everyone responsibility to improve the biosphere and maintain the resources available.
As our world grows, so does the population. With that growth, there can be and have been consequences.
One of those consequences is the growing plastic pollution that is contaminating the water and land. Plastic pollution is an undesired alteration of the environment and is caused by human activities that are unintentional and sometimes illegal. (Mader & Windelspecht, 2018). Each year plastics are discarded without a second thought of the effects it has on the world’s biosphere.
The effects of plastic pollution in terrestrial environments remain largely unknown.
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To date, most of the research has focused on aquatic systems, 10 million to 20 million tons of plastic litter finding their way to the oceans each year. (Ling ng, 2017) One of the most devastating elements of plastic pollution is that it takes thousands of years to decay. As a result, fish and wildlife are becoming intoxicated. Consequently, the toxins from the plastics have entered the food chain threatening human health. 20% of plastic that enters the ocean comes from ships and platforms that are offshore. The litter is blown into the sea picked up by tides on the beach or intentional garbage dumping.
(Andrews, 2012). Sadly, this happens a lot when people go and spend the day at the beach. People leave plastic material unattended then the wind starts to blow, and it is blown into the ocean before anyone realizes it, or it not recycled properly at the end of their visit.
Another way plastic is becoming a pollutant is the use of plastic mulch. Plastic mulch is used by many countries to cover agricultural land. I saw this a lot growing up living on the farm, my grandfather always used plastic to sow his gardens and fields. It is expensive to collect and discard or recycle plastic mulch, so farmers leave the mulch on the ground, illegally dump or burn them. Often the plastic sheets are not fully removed as the plastic tears into small fragments and remain on the farmland. Plastic mulch is applied year after year, and the soil becomes enriched with plastic residue, which changes the physical and chemical properties of the habitat. The habitat that so many plants, animals and microorganisms call home. As plastic particles get smaller, a wider range of organisms is at risk of uptake or ingestion and at the nanoscale, the particles can enter cells and move beyond the gastrointestinal system. When plastic pollution invades earth’s numerous ecosystems, it should come as no surprise that small particles and plastic additives have found their way into the human food supply (Ling ng, 2017).
Plastic can come in many different forms from bags, bottles, to a variety of containers, but what happens to these plastics when disposed of. Many of the plastic pollutants end up in landfills and the worlds water sources such as rivers and oceans. Rivers and Oceans are home to thousands of different species which the population relies on as a natural food resource. Even though the population relies on marine life for sustainability, is this marine life safe to consume? Plastics such as straws, fishing gear, particles are ingested by marine life at an alarming rate. Ingestion of plastics has harmful effects on many fish species because of the toxins that are released by plastic material. According to Moore (2016) “In addition to being nonnutritive and nondigestible, plastics transport toxic chemicals used in manufacturing processes and absorbed from seawater.” Not only are plastic material and toxins consumed by sea life, but it is also eventually consumed by the population.
Plastic pollution is not contained to one area of the world, plastic that ends up in oceans can travel hundreds even thousands of miles affecting all the world’s ocean and river marine life. With the release of plastic toxins, all areas of sea life in our biosphere are at risk of becoming sick and dying. As the population increases so will the use of plastic products, increasing the harm to marine life, the population and contamination of the worlds water supply.
The population is at risk of consuming the same toxins that have been consumed and absorbed by marine life. Each year the population consumes around 143.8 million tons of seafood (CORDIS, 2018) that has been exposed to 269,000 tons of plastic particles (Seltenrich, 2015). According to Seltenrich (2015) “While current research cannot quantify the amount, plastic in the ocean does appear to contribute to persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic substances in the human diet.” Which raises the question, just how much of plastics toxic substance is being consumed by the population and how does it affect the human health? Even though more research is being conducted on plastics pollution and toxins, it is thought that the consumption of these toxins by humans may lead to induced immunotoxicology response, alter gene expression and cause cell death (Seltenrich, 2015). These issues can arise due to plastic particles being absorbed into one's body and even placenta walls. So not only are grown humans at risk, but also developing fetuses.
Every year we are increasing the use of plastic, which has caused many negatives effects to humans and our environment. The plastic with the most negative impact on our community and environment are the plastics that we use and throw away. Plastic can harm the population by breathing near plastic trash being burned, opening new plastic items that may release strong odors, applying body lotion, drinking hot coffee from Styrofoam cups, consuming foods that have been microwaved in plastic containers, or even food that simply has been stored for a while. Any of these common practices allow chemicals from plastic to migrate easily into our bodies (Green tumble, 2018). There are three common plastic additives that have been linked to causing diseases throughout the population: BPA or Bisphenol A, often used in food and beverages containers, Plasticizers or Phthalates, primary used in PVC, children’s toys, flooring, clothes and other everyday items, Flame retardants, used in electronic equipment (Green tumble, 2018). Finding alternate used to create toys, food containers and safety equipment may be essential to reducing the diseases linked to plastic use.
More than 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year, yet only ten percent get recycled (NMSF, 2018). Due to the raised awareness of plastic pollution, there have been several countries that have banned the different type of plastic in order to reduce plastic pollution. For example, the UK and the United States have banned the manufacturing and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics and toothpaste that contain tiny plastic microbeads (Green tumble, 2018). By spreading awareness about plastic pollution, people will be able to really understand the environmental and health costs of using plastics. If educated they might reduce the amount of plastic that is used. In 2012 Trash Free Seas Alliance® was created to come up with ways to develop “sustainable strategies to solve the plastic debris problem” (Tibbetts, 2015).
The population needs to find a way to reduce or eliminate the plastic use and to find an endpoint for disposal of or recycling plastics instead of it ending up in the streets and oceans. Recycling plastics can reduce how much waste is created helps with plastic being reused. The reuse of plastic being made into other materials will also help reduce the use of single-use items. If the population recycles properly, support bans, and avoid products containing microbeads then it is possible to clean up the biosphere.
Ninety percent of the plastic items in our lives we use one time and throw it away. Another way is to stop buying bottled water. Each year close to 20 billion plastic bottles is disgarded in the trash. (Engler,2016) I would have to say that I am very guilty of this. I take several bottles of water with me to work each day. Of course, one more is to recycle. We are not doing a very good job when less than 14 percent of plastic packaging is recycled. (Engler, 2016) There are still many other ways we could prevent plastic pollution to help our environment this is just a start. Plastic pollution is one of the issues that is affecting the biosphere in a negative way. Even though the population is growing in this changing world, there are measures society can take to reduce plastic pollution and turn things around. Small steps can help make great improvements to our world.
Plastic Pollution in The Biosphere. (2021, Mar 19). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/plastic-pollution-in-the-biosphere-essay
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