Plastic is a convenient material to use. It is cheap, light, and is non-biodegradable. All kinds of plastics are produced, consumed, and trashed every day. Unfortunately, it’s also because of these qualities that plastic becomes an environmental hazard. Plastic is considered to be one of the major pollutants to our environment. Most landfills are filled with their remnants, and marine animals suffer from the presence of plastic in their aquatic homes. Because of these predicaments, responsible use of plastic is a burden put on all of us.
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We all must learn how to participate in recycling plastic. Doing so means we must be aware of how recycling really works. For one, consumers need to be knowledgeable about Resin Identification Coding System (SPI). SPI is a symbol found in plastics that indicate its polymer type. Just look for a chasing arrows symbol with a number inside. That’s the SPI symbol. The purpose of this symbol is to allow effective segregation of different plastic types for recycling. Unfortunately, not all plastic that goes into the curbside recycling bin actually gets recycled. This means that the water bottle that you threw away does not become a new water bottle. It is reprocessed into new secondary products that are unrecyclable such as plastic lumber, parking lot bumpers and picnic benches.
Recycling is not enough. We must also learn how to reduce the use of plastic. Although use of plastic is practical indeed, there are instances that we must opt to use less convenient materials such as glass, paper, or wood, if they can easily serve the purpose. This is especially true in the choice of packaging. If people cease to use plastic as a packaging material, a lot of industries will decrease their production for that purpose.
Since plastic does not decay, it is just practical to reuse the containers instead of just throwing them away. A lot of lockable plastic storage containers that we use in the kitchen to store food usually gets thrown away when they get stained or when we feel that it is not hygienic anymore to keep them in the kitchen. Instead of throwing these containers away, we can relocate them in the garage instead and use them to store tools, or in the nursery so they can be used to store crayons and small toys. Groceries bags can still be reused. The next time you do your grocery shopping; take old grocery bags with you. You may also use these grocery bags as garbage bags at times. A lot of colorful plastic wrappers can be reused as art materials. You only need to be creative.
It may seem that these little efforts are futile in solving humongous environmental problems that usage of plastic has caused. But believe it or not, our own little ways are a great help indeed, especially in spreading the awareness on how to responsibly use plastic.
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