Sarah E. Randall
English 1001, Assignment 3 Outline
Dr. Brian Bailie
April 14, 2020
Title: Why Disposable Plastic Ruins the Environment
Plastic plays a prominent role in our lives, I know it does in mine, but have we ever stopped to think about the effect our use of disposable plastic has on the environment?
Claim: It is hard to imagine that something that plays such a major role in our lives making it so convenient can be extremely destructive; however, the continued use of disposable plastic could ruin the world’s oceans and cause irreversible damage to the environment if the proper measures are not taken by governments and the people.
Reason 1: Micro-plastics and islands of trash in the ocean
You may have heard about the islands of trash pollution in the oceans but what about what that turns into? That floating plastic will break down into smaller pieces and smaller pieces and smaller until there is just a cloud of particles of plastic. This is called microplastic which causes severe harm to wildlife who cannot avoid the clouds of it that are deep in the oceans.
Reason 2: Overproduction leading to overflow of landfills and minimal recycling
Countries especially Japan and America keep producing enormous amounts of plastics which are used once and then thrown away which overwhelm the waste management systems. Only a small portion of plastics are recycled with the majority either going to a landfill or floating in the ocean.
Reason 5: Systems that try to help are greatly flawed and could be improved
A lot of the systems set in place to help with this crisis are faulty and no one is trying to fix them. Only 10% of plastic is recycled, biodegradable alternatives could lead to more pollution, and banning plastic bags just leads people to buy bigger thicker plastic garbage bags to replace them.
Reason 3: Plastics last for thousands of years
Plastics take thousands of years to break down into micro plastic and even if we completely stop the production of disposable plastics today, it will still take many years to undo all the damage it has caused to the oceans. Micro plastics never go away, and scientists believe that everything in the world including all human beings have some microplastic in them.
Reason 4: Plastic is used in the production of more and more items leading to pollution and the destruction of marine life
Plastic itself is not bad when used in the right way but it is the overproduction of single-use disposable things like water bottles, food packaging, grocery bags, and utensils that fill up landfills and make their way into the oceans. Plastic production was not a problem until around the 1950s when everything started to be made into plastic which waste companies still cannot handle.
Counterargument: Plastics improve the public health and the medical systems.
Rebuttal: While that is true, the effects of plastic pollution in the future could way out-weigh the benefits it gives us now. There are systems that could be put in place that would decrease pollution while we still get the benefits of plastic such as cleaning and reusing.
Conclusion: The future is in danger from our misuse of disposable plastic so the world should take steps like turning to reusable options before too much irreversible damage is done.
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