World Of Plastic

We live in a world of plastic, for better or worse. I suppose there are more good  than bad things about the invention of plastic. But the biggest negative to it is it is growing our trash way too much. Humans have produced 18.2 trillion pounds of plastics since large scale production began in the early 1950s and we've put most of it in the trash. If you took all the plastic in the trash today it would be equal to 1 billion elephants. Scientists say that by 2050, another 26.5 trillion pounds will be produced worldwide. The problem with durable and faithful plastic is that most  plastics don't biodegrade.

Just think, those Mc Donald's kid meal plastic toys will be with us for thousands of years.  If you pay attention while you walk you'll see plastic often. You can't go anywhere without finding plastic waste in our environment, including in bodies of water. A recent study by the British research firm Eunomia (No, they don't make plastic)  said there may be as much as 70 million tons of plastic waste on the sea floor alone. Eunomia also found that. It found only about 9% of plastic has been recycled. About 12% is incinerated  (I'm not sure what environmental impact incinerated plastic has).

If I asked you what is the most produced man-made substance, you might say plastic, and you would be almost correct if you did. Only steel and concrete are more often produced. Most of the plastic produced doesn't last long. In fact, half of it becomes waste after less than 5 years. Yet. most of plastic products are made only for short term use.

China, the U.S. and Europe produce the most plastic. The best recyclers are Europe and China. The largest market for plastic is packaging, which increased worldwide as consumers shifted from reusable to single-use containers. I think the person who invented those plastic food saver containers should be transported to the moon. And scientists say they know that plastic production isn't going to stop or even slow down because there are some legitimate uses for it. Plastics are indispensable in products designed for durability. Plastic is like the roach that no one can kill.