You have just enjoyed an ice cold bottle of Pepsi. Now you’re done with it; what are you going to do with the bottle? Throw it away right? Then where does it go after that? It doesn’t just disappear. One of the many lies we tell ourselves is that trash will eventually break down and go away. Trash, especially that made of plastic and aluminum, will never completely decompose. It might change its shape, form, or size, but it will inevitably have a negative impact on the environment. Trash will be harmful if it is left accumulating, so society must decide how to solve this problem. Before we can figure out how to properly dispose of trash, we must first understand the extent to which trash affects our environment.
Trash is everywhere. Trash can be seen floating in the water, buried underground in some old landfill, or even wafting around in the form of smoke. No matter how we try to dispose of it, it just never completely decomposes. There is much more to it than just what we can see or smell. A significant amount of trash ends up in the ocean. Trash, especially plastic, breaks down into fragments as small as shrimp and hides just beneath the surface of the water. Environmental scientists tell us that a plastic bottle takes between 450-1,000 years to totally decompose. Pieces of plastic are eaten by all variety of marine life. It is estimated that there is an average of 5 kg of plastic per every squared kilometer in the ocean.
A prime example of how plastic affects marine life is the plight of the albatross. Albatross from all around the world gather at Midway Island during the mating season. Albatross mistake plastic fragments for food. They not only eat it themselves, but also feed it to their baby chicks. With every mouthful, plastic is ingested into the Albatross’ digestive system. From what we know about plastic, it takes forever to break down and the weak acid inside the bird’s stomach can do little to help. The plastic ends up inside their stomach,...