Introduction
The invention of plastic has done more harm than good to the world. It may be a cheaper way introduced by the inventors to contain stuff but it is causing harm to the earth on a completely different level. The plastic although has a lower melting point but it naturally decomposes in about half a thousand years. The most common use of plastic is in the form of the plastic water bottles. Since the introduction of the filtered water bottle, the marketing schemes and the overall opinion construction have made people believe that drinking tap water is unsafe and unhygienic. However, it is not being realized that the use of filtered plastic water bottles in place of the tap water is doing more harm to the people and to the environment.
Discussion
The Forbes in mid-2017 reported that human beings buy a million bottles per minute globally. It was also mentioned that the recent reports and statistics estimated the selling of over a trillion plastic bottles till 2020.
Plastic water bottles are made up of polymeric material which takes about 400 years to decompose on its own. This slow decomposition rate enables it to cause harm to the environment over a longer period. Recycling is one of the good aspects of the plastics that may solve most of the problems, but it is not utilized. It has been reported that about 91% of the plastic produced is not properly recycled. This may include those plastic bottles that instead of being recycled, get downcycled. This does not do any good to the environment. It just introduces smaller or microplastics to the environment which could potentially cause harm to the environment even more.
Hazards
Plastics mostly find their way into the ocean in smaller size appearing like food to the sea life. If even one of the sea animals eats the harmful substance, it will disturb the whole food chain. The food chain for instance usually ends up in the fish being cooked by human beings for food. Therefore, the plastic disposal through water bottles is not only harmful to the sea life, but also to the human beings at the end of the food chain.
Animals and birds that look for food on the land often swallow the non-decomposing plastic from the ground. Instead of getting filled up with the food, these animals instead are starved or poisoned to death (Moore).
Plastic water bottles are added to the environment in great numbers each day. Being naturally slow decomposing, they remain in the environment until something is done with them. Formation of Leachate (a toxic water chemical) is common due to the non-dealt with plastic water bottles. The formation of the ‘great pacific garbage patches’ in the ocean is another one of the examples of the plastic water bottle pollution.
Solutions
There are many practical solutions to the dilemma of plastic water bottles. One of the first solutions to this problem is the stoppage of the plastic usage at its source. This can both be done by institutionally banning the use of the plastic water bottles or by banning the production of plastic bottles. Recycling of plastic is another key solution to this problem which will utilize the wasted plastic and reduce hazards. Reintroduction of drinking water system may also be done where the use of filtered plastic water bottles be replaced by drinking fountain systems. The HSU Take Back The Tap (TBTT), one of the student-led campaigns, is striving against the water privatization and is serving the purpose of bringing back clean tap water drinking system through the provision of refillable water bottle stations (Nace n.p). Steps like these on a larger scale to change the drinking ways of the people would help to cope up with the plastic water bottles problem.
Conclusions
The use of plastic water bottles has alarmingly increased globally and is posing threats to the environment. Due to the low decomposition rate, the plastic water bottles are causing harm to both the land and the sea life. But no problem comes without a solution and plastic water bottles come with a solution too i.e. recycling. Recycling if done properly and globally can certainly ward off the harms of the use of plastic. Moreover, the prevention of the use of the plastic water bottles should be taken into serious consideration as it will save the earth from a large number of environmental hazards.
Works Cited
Moore, Charles. Seas Of Plastic. TED, 2009.
“Take Back The Tap | Waste-Reduction & Resource Awareness Program (WRRAP) | Humboldt State University.” Www2.humboldt.edu. N. p., 2018. Web. 17 Apr. 2018.
Nace, T. “We’re Now At A Million Plastic Bottles Per Minute – 91% Of Which Are Not Recycled.” Forbes.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 17 Apr. 2018.
