21 Plastic and Our Planet

Plastic and Our Planet written by Samantha Montgomerie

plastic in our world Plastic is made by humans. It is easy to make it into different shapes, which is why we use it for many things. We use 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago. We use plastic in many different ways. We use it to make boxes, bottles, toys and toothbrushes. It is used in computers, cellphones, cars and many other things.

problems with plastic Most plastics are man made. It can take more than 500 years for plastic to decompose in the soil. This makes our land and oceans polluted. When plastic goes into our oceans, it affects many animals. They eat the plastic thinking it is food. A plastic bag in the ocean looks a lot like a jellyfish. Bits of plastic can look like fish eggs.

The Pacific Garbage Patch The Pacific Garbage Patch shows us the problem we are making for our planet. This is a large collection of waste in the North Pacific Ocean. It is caught in the water currents. It is like a large floating island. The plastic in the ocean can't break down. It will only break into smaller pieces.

reduce and reuse We need to find ways to reduce the plastic we use because this will reduce the waste we are making. We can choose to buy things that are not made of plastic. Single-use plastic is what we call plastic that can't be used again. This is used a lot with food and shopping bags. We should choose to buy food not wrapped in plastic and take shopping bags made of cloth or paper. We should reuse plastic in our homes. We should use it many times before we recycle it or throw it away. We should reuse plastic boxes and bottles. We should make sure we give plastic toys to other people when we have finished using them.

recycling plastic Recycling is when you use something to make something else. If we can't reuse plastic, we should recycle it. We can use plastic items to make other things we need. If we can not recycle a plastic item in our home, we should put it in our recycling bin. This will be melted down and made into other things. We can make carpet and clothing from recycled plastic bottles.