If you knew that a plastic water bottle would take up to 450 years to decompose in the earth, would it make you think twice about buying one?

Most of us don’t think about the packaging that products come in when we purchase them. We just throw it out after. It doesn’t affect us, right? Wrong. Plastic is one of the most harmful materials to our environment, and it affects us all.

Impact on the environment

Plastic creates a lot of waste and pollution in landfills and wherever it’s dumped. Plastics made with Polyethylene Terephthalate will never decompose, and most bacteria do not break down plastic as easily as they would with paper or food. Polyethylene Terephthalate is commonly found in plastic drink bottles and food containers, so when shopping in your local supermarket, try and purchase items that are loose, or have as little packaging as possible.

The best known way that plastic breaks down is through photo-degradation, but plastics in a landfill will never see the light of day for this to happen. When plastics end up in the ocean, they get sunlight to decompose, but this releases harmful toxins into the water.

Biodegradable plastics have been invented. These are plant-based hydro-biodegradable plastic and petroleum-based oxo-biodegradable plastic. These plastics are much better at decomposing in the ocean, but even they have their problems when trying to decompose in a landfill.

Recycling

This problem could be avoided if we all recycled, but according to Elizabeth Royte, author of the book “Bottlemania: How water went on sale and why we bought it”, more than 80% of recyclable plastic bottles end up in landfills every year.

Plastic is difficult to recycle, as it takes a huge amount of heat to melt it, and different types of plastic do not melt well together. This means that there must be a labour-intensive sorting process.

However, plastic recycling in general is a better option for the environment. We should all recycle plastics when we can, because plastic waste is a huge problem. In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency said that 31 million tons of plastic waste was produced in the US.

Initiatives 

In 2002 the Irish government introduced a tax on plastic bags in order to reduce litter. The Industry Council for Research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN)  released a report in 2008, which found that plastic bag litter, as a proportion of national litter composition, reduced from 0.64% in 2001, to 0.22% in 2005.

However, others argue that the levy has not reduced the number of plastic bags used at all. Tesco is reported to now sell 80% more pedal bin liners than they did before the tax was introduced, while SuperQuinn sells 4% more disposable nappy bags. Instead of using the free plastic bags from the shops as bin liners and nappy or dog waste bags, it seems that people are going out and buying them instead. This is a real problem, as it can take plastic bags up to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill.

Everyday actions

We can all play a role in improving this situation if we avoid buying bottled water and think about the packaging on items in supermarkets before we purchase them. Together, we can all do small things to combat this huge problem. Plastic is one of the most harmful materials for our environment and the best way to combat its negative effects is to just avoid it all together.

Author: Suzanne Cooper

Photo credit: Plastic bottle rubbish, Batam, Austronesian Expeditions (CC license)

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