Zero Waste Essay

Have you ever been out in nature and seen garbage where it shouldn't be? Most of this garbage is composed of man-made plastic materials that take a long time to break down. It can take up to 1000 years for plastic to decompose in landfills. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. That is only 33 years away! The practice of zero waste can help diminish the amount of waste in landfills which in turn protects the wildlife, the environment, and people.

What exactly is zero waste? Zero waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal of zero waste is for no trash to be sent to landfills or incinerators. It is a similar process to the way that

Tons of plastic waste finds its way to the ocean every year. From the ocean, it goes onto islands or continues floating until something eats it. An example of this is on Midway Island, an island in the Pacific Ocean. The mother birds look for food and the bright colors of the plastics resemble the colors of tropical fish or squid. They feed it to their young and as a result, the birds die. The bodies will go through their cycle after the bird's death but the plastic will remain for hundreds of years before it decomposes completely. Tiny bits of plastic, micro-plastics, break off from bottles, bags, and other plastic items as they break down and those bits collect toxins like pesticides and flame retardants. When they get even smaller, a nano-plastic, they can cross into fish other sea life's cells. This harms fish's reproduction, immunity, and survival skills, according to CNN 10. If plastics can cause this much harm to sea life, how much harm will it cause us when humans eat the

Many would argue that there is no point of switching such small things because they don’t impact the environment, wildlife, and people that much. Someone might ask “Isn’t recycling enough?” or “Does switching these small things really matter?” Recycling is part of zero waste and yes, it really does matter. Straws, razors, bottle caps, plastic bags, and small bits of plastic from individually wrapped items are some of the main things found in the ocean and eaten by animals. The chlorine plastics that make the soil and water toxic for species that drink it and the nano-plastic particles that poison fish affect wildlife and humans. If you can switch these items to zero waste friendly items, you can save wildlife, the environment, and