Plastic is a material that never decomposes back into its original form; this means it lasts forever. While this plastic is laying around it poisons people and mammals, chokes animals to death daily, and is an eyesore on Earth. A decisive action needs to be taken to get the existing plastics removed from the environment and use alternatives to this deadly material… before it’s too late. Plastic is currently the number one most preferred material in today's industrial world; this is posing an extreme threat to the environment and to the health of most organisms. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a mere 12 percent of all plastic gets recycled; which poses the question of “Where does the rest end up?” The answer to this is landfills,
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The main factors that the common man should know about plastic are the two extreme chemicals that are being ingested by using plastic in a way that shouldn’t be used, and the different ways plastic affect humans. These three general points alone would scare people away from the overuse of plastic. One of the main chemicals that is in plastic is Bisphenol A (BPA), and this is regularly used for containers, bottles, and even can liners. BPA is an unnatural endocrine disruptor which can mess up a long list of systems within the body, but the most frequent networks that are messed are the thyroid and the pituitary. These regulate weight gain/loss, growth hormone, and body consumption. The second chemical that affects the human body most Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), which is used to hold soft drinks, water, juice, ketchup etc. This plastic is considered ‘safe” according to recent research, but there are several issues that should have awareness. Antimony, a metalloid element with toxic qualities, leaches from PET when the plastic is hotter than room temperature which is 73°F. If the plastic becomes any hotter than this point, whether it be on a hot day or the plastic gets heated up, the rate of leakage can increase by 55% (Rustagi 3). When this happens, the plastic is no long considered at a “safe” level. This level also increases when the food/drink is kept within the container longer than the average recommendation, which few people pay attention
The main factors that the common man should know about plastic are the two extreme chemicals that are being ingested by using plastic in a way that shouldn’t be used, and the different ways plastic affect humans. These three general points alone would scare people away from the overuse of plastic. One of the main chemicals that is in plastic is Bisphenol A (BPA), and this is regularly used for containers, bottles, and even can liners. BPA is an unnatural endocrine disruptor which can mess up a long list of systems within the body, but the most frequent networks that are messed are the thyroid and the pituitary. These regulate weight gain/loss, growth hormone, and body consumption. The second chemical that affects the human body most Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), which is used to hold soft drinks, water, juice, ketchup etc. This plastic is considered ‘safe” according to recent research, but there are several issues that should have awareness. Antimony, a metalloid element with toxic qualities, leaches from PET when the plastic is hotter than room temperature which is 73°F. If the plastic becomes any hotter than this point, whether it be on a hot day or the plastic gets heated up, the rate of leakage can increase by 55% (Rustagi 3). When this happens, the plastic is no long considered at a “safe” level. This level also increases when the food/drink is kept within the container longer than the average recommendation, which few people pay attention