PLASTIC

The first man made plastic was created by Alexander Parckes who publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 great international exhibition in London. The material called parlesine wasban organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could be molded, and retained its shape when cooled. But at 1970th people prefer to use garbage bins instead of plastics. For one, we had far less garbage. Goods had much less packaging than is the case today so we didnt fill our bins as lucky. Peelings, eggshells, tea bags and coffee grounds were all composted, as was any paper that wasnt needed for lighting fires. What was left went into an unlined bin with anything sloppy being wrapped in newspaper first. If we choose carefully when shopping so as not to bring home more packaging than necessary theres really no point in bringing it home just to throw it straight in the bin when we unpack and keep a compost bin going, the amount of waste that goes into the kitchen bin will be halved, at least. Now that we have re-cycling plants, even less will need to be binned. Bins, bottles and paper (we generally

have too much for the compost heap these days) can all be delivered to the local re-cycling point. If you really must line your bins, instead of buying plastics liners, its possible to use newspaper. You wont be able to pull everything out, tie it out, of course, but you will be able to tip it from your kitchen bin into the main bin without too much mess. People manage before; perhaps the comfortable life we have today just make everything appear more difficult than it really is. Obviously, if you live in area where the garbage collectors except to fine bin liners neatly arranged along the edge of the street rather than the bins themselves, youll have to continue using plastic bags. That doesnt mean to say you cant lobby your local authority for change, though. Explain why you need to leave the bin outside and that its their duty to support any move that will improve the environment. And nowadays, who doesnt know about plastic? Everyone knows about plastic .in our daily life, we always need plastic. For example, sellers and buyers in markets or department stores depend in plastic. If buyers dont use plastic, they will have difficulties to carry their goods. Using plastic is increasing from years to years, but until now the government hasnt found the best solutions to decrease the use of plastics yet. Every person does not really release them self from using plastic. Not only contain hazardous chemicals and destroys the environment, but plastics also increased global warming, so that we have to minimize using plastics.

Firstly, plastic contains hazardous chemicals which can cause much disease. Plastic contains PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride). PVC is a basic material of plastic and other substances such as steel and wood which bent easily. PVC can cause cancer and hormone disorder. PVC is able to bend when it is heated. Consequently, it is dangerous if plastic is used to wrap food. Besides PVC, plastic contains formalin. Have you ever bought meatballs which are warm and then packed with transparent plastic? Or have you ever bought warm fried food packed in plastic bag? Be careful! Because, formalin is also detected not only in fish, noodle, meatball or tofu but, in Styrofoam box as well, that contains 5 ppm of formalin. Each ppm equals with milligram per kilogram materials. Formalin in plastic or Styrofoam is chemical substances which are inherently contained in resin or plastic materials. However, only in high temperature that poisonous substance will soak in food, such as when it is soaked by boiled water or hot oil. Because of that, we should not put hot food in the plastic/Styrofoam box directly. Secondly, plastic wastes also can damage the balance of ecosystem. Most plastic are non-degradable, so most of them are thrown anywhere after being used. They can cause flood, landslide, and the death of some living creatures, such as dolphin. Many of them died because of the plastic wastes they ate. The living rate of some sea creatures are also decreasing. Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed everyday by discarded plastic bags a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging

from its mouth isnt a pleasant sight but mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst marine animals. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.

Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become home to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Every bag thats washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea-every bag thats flushed down a toilet (many small bags are), ends up in sea-every bag thats blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Add to the enormous amounts of energy thats used every year in order to manufacture these bags and its no surprise that pressure is being put on governments to make changes and consumers to rethink their attitudes.

Most of plastic wastes are dumped in an area which has already settled by the government. Even though the areas are quite capacious, its still unable to keep all of the wastes. The citizen who live nearby, complain that the wastes reach their houses and cause bad smell and most of the citizen got digestion illness such as, diarrhea and dysentery. Some people just burn plastic wastes to obliterate them, they dont know that the gas, produced by the plastic wastes may hamper children growth. Just imagine if every family burn its

plastic wastes. If we keep using plastic material, its un doubt that our next generation will suffer even more. So we should stop using plastic.

Thirdly, the use of plastic can cause global warming. Global warming is the increasing temperature in earths atmosphere thats caused by Greenhouse emission gas which cant go through the atmosphere. That emission gas prevents the reflections of sunrays radiation in the atmosphere; the other will be reflected to outer space. However, because of the emission gas in atmosphere, the radiation cant go through the earths atmosphere, and its even reflected again to earth by the atmosphere. It makes the temperature of the atmosphere increases incredibly. The increasing temperature can cause many serious problems. It can cause skin cancer to them who often get bathed by the sun. There are also many forests which got fried in some regions. Many countries try as soon as possible to prevent global warming. Because, if these situation still continue the forest which are the earths respiration sources will be completely used up. This is what people always talk about nowadays. If we dont prevent this thing, earth will get hotter and hotter, and we, the human beings will suffer.

In conclusion the number of people using plastic always increases. And we have to minimize using plastics in order to reduce the effects of plastics, such as it can destroy our health, destroy the environment because plastic is difficult to re-cycle. Using plastic also increases global plastic. So, until a real alternative is freely available, the only solution is a re-think of attitude: * re-use bags when shopping. * choose biodegradable bags. * re-use large sacks whenever possible. * refrigerate food in containers rather than plastic bags.

Last but not least, we hope, we as students can minimize using plastic.