Activity 3.3.3 – My Plastic Use.
Below, I have written what microplastics are, where they are found, how they get there, and why they are problematic to humans and the environment. I gathered all of my information from “The Environmental Impacts of Microplastics: An Investigation of Microplastic Pollution in North Country Waterbodies” written by Samantha and Kimberly Haab. Before I read the text, I only knew what society has been telling me my whole life which is that plastics are bad for ecosystems and for humans and most people don’t recycle. After reading what they published, I gained a much better understanding of exactly why plastics or microplastics are harmful to the environment, the effect it has globally, and how it is hard to get rid of. Under the summary of microplastics, I documented my use of plastics over one day by taking pictures of what I used.
Microplastics are plastic fibers less than 5 millimeters in size that threaten freshwater ecosystems due to how much the population relies on these plastics. Microplastics derived from petroleum are added to cosmetic products and microplastics are also made from the breakdown of macroplastic debris and the use of synthetic fibers. Due to microplastics being derived from petroleum, they are not biodegradable and microplastics aren’t able to be extracted during wastewater treatment plans because of how small in size they are. This means that microplastics will continue to be introduced back into the environment. The pollution of microplastics directly harms and threatens biodiversity in ecosystems because of this.
Microplastics are in body washes and toothpaste, to name a few, and the market for cosmetic products is steadily growing which only makes microplastics re-entering the environment that much easier and more common. For example, the microplastics in some cosmetic products have hundreds of thousands of plastic microbeads in singular bottles. When you wash the product off your body then it goes down the drain where it ultimately ends up in a wastewater treatment plan that can’t remove the microplastics so then it goes back into our ecosystems. Researchers checked the ingredient list to see that the products contain polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, or nylon which is common in most personal care products that are made up of microbeads.
Microplastics also enter our waterways because of large plastic debris such as plastic bags, washing synthetic clothing, and the runoff that includes sewage which has microplastics in it.
Microplastics were found in every open ocean, freshwater lake, and river. The survival of species, population structure, and ecosystems are all put at risk because of this. Microplastics can enter the body by ingesting them like most aquatic animals do which leads to long-term effects that harm the functions of their bodies. This will decrease the overall health and wildlife diversity which will also affect societal activities such as tourism and recreation.
According to a news article written by USA Today, microplastics can now be found in human blood. Microscopic plastic particles were found flowing in the bloodstream and apparently, humans breathe enough microscopic pieces of plastic to create a credit card at the end of the week. This proves that our global use of plastic has completely taken over our lives.
The collage above contains the plastics I used throughout the entire day. Almost everything in this collage is what I use daily during the school week.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I accidentally left something out that I used today that was made of plastic. When I wanted to confirm that whatever item I was using was made of plastic, I would look it up on the internet. After doing that many times throughout the day, I found that a lot of items in our home are made of plastic which showed me how little I pay attention to what surrounds me when it comes to my use of plastic. Roughly a year ago I became more aware of my carbon footprint which helped me alter my lifestyle to become more environmentally friendly and this exercise definitely gave me a better understanding of plastic use/waste.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment