Recycling and Plastic Pollution

Plastic is an essential component of many items, including water bottles, combs, and beverage containers. Knowing the difference, as well as the SPI codes, will help you make more informed decisions about recycling. The seven types of plastic include: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET) High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) Polypropylene (PP) Polystyrene or Styrofoam (PS) Miscellaneous plastics (includes: polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and nylon) For the sake of the environment, it’s important to know the different types of plastic and their uses, as well as the resin identification codes found on each. Some of the different types of plastic can be recycled regularly, some others require special places to recycle them and some cannot be recycled at all. (https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/promo-university/different-types-of-plastic.htm)

For too long, we have taken the easy way out by shipping our excess recyclables to China. Instead, we should be investing in new technologies that can better sort and process recyclable waste and building a market for these materials so that it is economically unwise to send them to a landfill. We must also design products to be less wasteful and continue to foster responsible consumer behavior. Voting someone into office that will emphasize the effects of plastics in our environment can ultimately help pushing more laws out against the public to lessen/eventually ban plastic use to stop the destruction of our land If you vote for someone who is not for the environment then this fast paced production of plastics will continue to harm the earth and our environment and the issues will only get worse Voting law makers in can help provide rules and regulations about plastic usage and even help work with companies to switch to alternatives or completely ban its usage as well.

The U.S., Japan and Germany are all at the top of the list when it comes to exporting their used plastic. Some 106 million metric tons — about 45 percent — of the world's plastics set for recycling have been exported to China since reporting to the United Nations Comtrade Database began in 1992(China would benefit because they took certain ingredients from our plastics to make other materials and it was a cheaper way to get the plastics from the US) Other nations can buy and recycle these plastics and manufacture more goods for sale or export, as China did, making it profitable for them as well in 2017, China passed the National Sword policy banning plastic waste from being imported — for the protection of the environment and people's health — beginning in January 2018. China is banning certain waste that is contaminated making it a very small amount of waste that can actually be imported so the U.S. cannot import most of its plastics to China anymore.(China is tr

50 percent of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away. Plastic accounts for around 10 percent of the total waste we generate. The production of plastic uses around eight percent of the world's oil production ( bioplastics are not a good solution as they require food source crops). Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute. It takes 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade. If burned it can pollute the air affecting and destroying the ozone layer and effecting the air we breathe, and can pollute the groundwater if in a landfill and wildlife Recycling does not cut down on plastic, it is reused but that process releases more toxins into the air It costs millions of dollars each year to clean affected areas after exposure, not to mention the loss of life to plants, animals, and people. As land becomes more valuable, just finding a place to put garbage is becoming a problem in ma