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Impacts of plastic in the ocean
Impacts of plastic in the ocean
Impacts of plastic in the ocean
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Being convenient enough for everyday use and even tasting better to some, plastic bottles are a popular way of consuming beverages. They are convenient and to some people, can even taste better. However, the process of manufacturing and transporting the millions of bottles produced is detrimental to the environment. Continued use of plastic bottles could exponentially hurt the planet. Given all the negative effects that come from plastic, why are people still participating in this poisonous cycle? Some claim that bottled water simply tastes better than water from the tap whether they prefer spring, purified, distilled, or mineral water. Most people just appreciate the convenience bottled water offers; it’s easier to carry little bottles that one can throw away instead of larger reusable bottles that need to be brought home at the end of the day. Also, bottled water comes in big “value packs” in most stores, which is beneficial for large group events and big families. Water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics that don’t biodegrade, but they are completely recyclable. PETs photo degrade, they break down into smaller fragments over time. These fragments absorb all the toxins that pollute waterways, contaminate soil, and sicken animals (which are then consumed). The plastic trash also absorbs organic pollutants such as BPA. They take centuries to decompose while sitting in landfills, amounting to billions of environmentally poisonous time bombs. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used to create polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are found in a wide range of products, but food and drink containers are the most concerning. Most people fear that BPA will have negative effect... ... middle of paper ... ... Water?" (2013). Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . Musson, Stephen. "Bisphenol A." National Geographic 18 Sept. 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. . Strom, Stephanie. "Bottled Water Sales Rising as Soda Ebbs." New York Times 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. . Raw Food Energy Benefits. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. . Tapped. Writ. Josh David, Jason Lindsey, and Stephanie Soechtig. Atlas Films, 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2014
Plastic water bottles are very convenient, but are also a big scam. It is very important for people to stay hydrated. Water bottles allow people to stay hydrated while they are out of the house. People don't want to become tired from being dehydrated, so they bring water with them. Water bottles are very popular, even though most of them are just tap water. The three texts I read, all show advantages and disadvantages of plastic water bottles. Each article also uses all three persuasive appeals, ethos, pathos and logos.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic compound used worldwide in the manufacturing of plastics and epoxy resins. Derivatives of BPA are present in resin-based sealants and composites used in dentistry.1 Some of these compounds include bis-DMA (BPA dimethacrylate), bis-GMA (BPA glycidyl methacrylate) and BADGE (BPA diglycidylether).1
Both Barnett’s claim that bottled water is not better than tap water (139-141) and Gleick’s claim that specialized water is not better than tap water (118-120) demonstrate that companies’ claims are unreasonable. Furthermore, consumers assume bottled water is better than tap water because they have the impression that tap water is dangerous because of the tap water incident in “2003 [where] 400,000 people [got] sick” from drinking tap water. One may wonder whether companies use this incident to remind consumers how dangerous tap water is with the way Gleick presents bottled water companies even after the tap water is taken care of. Because Gleick portrays the deception of advertisement from bottled water businesses, he makes it clear that Barnett hints that they are taking advantage of the case by informing consumers that their water is safer than tap water in an indirect, subtle way. However, Barnett ensures readers that tap water are safe to drink again after the incident by proving that both bottled water and tap water are equally safe to drink with a study she provides: The testing from Florida Trend (magazine brand) concludes that Publix brand bottled water and tap water both contains “0.020milligrams per liter [of] THMs (trihalomethanes)”, a “common byproduct…linked to increased risk of cancer” (139-140). Although other bottled water brands may not have
A reason that bottled water has been valued over tap water would be that it is more portable. It is more convenient to just go and pick up a bottle of water than have to fill something up and take it with you. If you are in a time crunch you would
Humans are among the many terrestrial mammals affected by the endocrine-disrupting capabilities of bisphenol A. The majority of human exposure comes from consumption of BPA from food products packaged in polycarbonate plastics (Crain et al., 2007). Laboratory studies done on mice indicate that exposure to high concentrations of BPA can cause pregnancy complications, reproductive organ defects, obesity, early puberty, and cancer (reviewed by Flint et al., 2012).
So what exactly is Bisphenol-A? BPA is a chemical compound used to make plastic and epoxy resins and is found not just all over the world but all over your household. BPA is used to produce many of the items that we find ourselves using on a day-to-day basis: from computers to sports equipment, eyeglass lenses and compact discs to the epoxy resin function which is found in adhesives, paints, dental sealants and on the inside of canned foods.
Neustaedter, Randall (7/18/2004). Plastic Water Bottles. Retrieved July 31, 2008, from Holistic Pediatric Association Web site: http://www.hpakids.org/holistic-health/articles/108/1/Plastic-Water-Bottles
Many things can be recycled, but plastic water bottles are by far the most common option. Though water bottles seem very simple, they actually go through a quite complicated creation process. The manufacturing process all starts with polyethylene terephthalate,
There is also debate on how much better biodegradable plastics are in the first place. This is because as biodegradable plastics break down, they break up into smaller and smaller pieces, but never quite disappear. This leaves the potential that the plastic would continue entering the food chain. But although biodegradable plastics aren’t perfect, they are still much safer than standard plastic and present a much lower risk. In addition, by making the shift to ban single use plastics, research towards better plastic alternatives will speed up and better solutions will become available. Over time, these new alternatives to plastics may spread to other items that aren’t single use, making an even greater impact on the health of humans and the
The US Container Recycling Institute estimates that 67 million plastic water bottles are discarded every day, which is enough to wrap around the planet 149 times each year. Therefore, plastic water bottles should be banned from public use. The usage of water bottles should be suppressed because they are incredibly dangerous, wasteful, expensive, and rarely recycled. Researchers have stated that plastic bottles containing water can contain many harmful chemicals. After close examination of the plastic, researchers have concluded that some plastics contain chemicals, such as phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens, which may leach into the water, especially after being stagnant for long periods of time.
... converting plastic waste into useful products are being affected by pollution; this contamination is found within containers where plastics are collected. But the same risk of pollution carries downside consequences in which workers and people responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the plastic materials are not doing the best to eliminate plastic waste, and to disinfect the infected bacteria and microorganisms from the atmosphere and environment. Organizations from China and India are the largest in the world, they collect and purchase used plastic from United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America (Minguez 2013). These companies do not bother to sanitize the products before the recycling process; for this reason the planet earth is getting a worse environmental condition, and it is destroying lives of living beings, and natural resources as well (Uddin 2014).
Some people may think that bottled water just goes through filters that get rid of the chemicals that are contained within it, and while they are not wrong they are, however, still uniformed. Bottled water is not only taken from streams and filter but “40% of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources [a.k.a tap water]” (Bottled Water Pros and Cons. 2014. Para. 9). People drink bottled water so that they do not have to drink tap water when in reality they most likely are drinking some tap water that is mixed into their bottled water. On top of that not only has the bottled water been filtered but it has been found that “22% of tested bottled water brands contained chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health” (Bottled Water Pros and Cons. 2014. Para. 9). In other words, though the water may not have the same weird taste as tap water is does have chemicals in it that are at levels that are not safe to be consuming. When it comes to tap water which contains normal amounts of chemicals, bottled water is not safer to be
Over the course of the past 60 years, an increasing amount of the current population is using plastic and reusable products to try and reduce the amount of waste that is being thrown away. Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to manufacture polycarbonate #7 plastic which have help strengthen plastic bottles, food containers and epoxy resins (University of Minnesota, 2008). BPA is used in a range of products from every day plastic beverage containers and plastic dinnerware, to compact disks, impact-resistant safety equipment, automobile parts, and toys (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). The CDC (2013) also states that BPA epoxy resins are used in the protective linings of food cans, in dental sealants, and in other products (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013).
From a business point of view, it seems so ignorantly deceptive, yet it is absolutely genius. With a little marketing, bottled water has become a huge success. However, it is killing the environment and the water is usually comparable to tap water regardless. The “The Story of Bottled Water” is a very well-made short film that takes viewers into the dark world of manufactured demand.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees the bottled-water industry, Americans drink more than eight billiongallons of bottled water each year. Most of that water is packaged in plastic bottles.The EPA estimates that plastics such as those used to make water bottles make up nearly 13 percent of our trash. An industry watchdog group reports that it takes nearly eighteen million barrels of oil to make the amount of plastic needed to meet Americans'thirst for bottled water. That's about the same amount of oil that a million vehicles use in one year. Oil is a nonrenewable resource—once it's gone, it's gone. Worse yet, the vehicles used to move bottled water from place to place release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Perhaps more alarming is that people recycle fewer than 20 percent of their empty bottles. Most emptybottles are tossed in the trash. From there, they end up in a landfill, where they cause further environmental damage.