Why plastic is nasty and why to stop using it

We are daily surrounded with so much plastic, that we even do not notice how much of it is out there. It is practical, it is poisonous and it is forever.

Look on your table, in the kitchen drawer, and in your bag? How many plastic items you can count? I bet quite a few. These are the things we need in our lives. We buy more of these things every week. Then we trash these. We toxicate ourselves every day with plastic. Plastic is forever. Plastic is nasty!

Why plastic is nasty?

You may wonder why all this fuzz about plastic, while this is a strong, lightweight and waterproof all at once. Making it really a wonderful product. No? But maybe you do not wonder so much about the fact that most plastics are oil-derived and non-biodegradable. Which means plastics last for centuries and more.

We are using this wonderful product just for our convenience and greed. But all plastic, especially food and product wrapping are discarded very hastily. And all that ends up as litter, polluting all water bodies and damaging the life of all life on earth.

Most plastics are non-biodegradable. This is the main problem with plastic. It never disappears. At least nobody’s eyes can see that in their own lifetime. It can’t be burned, as it releases dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemicals to the atmosphere, therefore contributing to global warming. Plastic is nasty!

People love plastic

The other problem is us – the users. We value comfort, cheap price, and the lightness of plastic. Actually so much that we hoard the stuff home mostly in plastic. As we are at home start cooking or eating, we discard the plastic wrappers just like that – easy come, easy go! As plastic makes sense only during the transporting. For example in the UK, people generate 3 million tonnes of plastic annually.

Think of the first three items that come to your mind when you think of plastic litter? Perhaps you were thinking of food packaging, disposable cups, and sweet wrappers. The wrapper lives only a few seconds in our hands and then flies to the bin. And then it becomes a litter if you discard it in public and do not care where you are throwing your rubbish.

Plastic is nasty everywhere

If you can’t really think of how bad the situation really looks, then please take a look at this wonderful gallery by Atlantic. It doesn’t matter that it may happen far away from you. As it all affects the air, the oceans and wildlife and humans everywhere on this planet. If this again is too broad then think of:

• Fish and sea birds ingest plastic which can kill them or stuck in plastic,
• Drainage systems get blocked with plastic causing flooding,
• Layers of plastic trash choke grasslands and lakes

Since the ocean is downstream, much of the plastic trash generated on land ends up there. It has been estimated that 6.4 million tons of debris ends up in the world’s oceans every year. And that some 60 to 80 percent of that debris, or 3.8 to 5 million tons, is improperly discarded plastic.

The nasty plastic degrades rather than biodegrades, which means it simply breaks up and becomes smaller pieces. These are microplastics. Synthetic clothing releases thousands of plastic fibers every wash. Some cosmetics include small beads, which all end up in the water somewhere.

The sea salt you are using, definitely consists of some microplastics. We can’t see it but we eat some of it in our healthy meals every day. The same is happening to animals, who seeing little pieces of plastic think it is food. Since it has no nutritional value it makes the animals underdeveloped and underweight. The chemicals in plastic poison them secretly and many get tangled in plastic twine and ghost fishing nets and starve to death.

Plastic is poisonous

There are many different categories of plastic. Exactly 7, which determines how the plastic is made and how it can be used. Even the most common plastic with a marking 1, though recyclable, proven to be cancerous and advised not to reuse after the first time. But most of the food comes in plastic containers with such marking! Manufacturers are not obliged to reveal what they use in their plastic mixes. Though the polymers used in base plastics are mostly considered to be harmless, the potential toxicity of the additives is often unknown.

Take a look at what plastic does

Visit Chris Jordan’s project Midway: Message from the Gyre and take a look at what birds have eaten and how their bodies look filled with all plastic found in them.

Or visit Plasticrubbish.com about the sad stories what is happening to animals all around us, of whom we hardly ever think or pay attention.

In conclusion

I hope this a bit hectic post gave you an overview that plastic is nasty. And perhaps next time when shopping for groceries or anything else you happen to need in your life, then you are making a better choice than buying disposable and short-life items that quickly end up as everlasting rubbish.

Perhaps now it is the right time to read also this article about minimalism on our website and get your decluttering on ASAP.

Reference from: Why we hate plastic.