Activity 3.3.3 – My Plastic Use

Microplastics are really small pieces of plastic. Some are about the size of a grain of rice. According to The Environmental Impacts of Microplastics, Microplastics are “plastic particles or fibers smaller than 5 millimeters (mm) in size, [and they] are one of the many environmentally-detrimental outcomes of modern society‘s widespread use of plastics” (Haab 9). They are absolutely everywhere. They are in our oceans, rivers, lakes, and even our homes. You can probably find some in your bathroom and closet right now. Samantha and Kimberly Haab from the biology department of St. Lawrence University in New York explain that “microplastics are common additives to personal care and cosmetic products (PCCPs) and are also produced from the use of synthetic fibers in textiles” (Haab 9). If a body or a face wash has polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, or nylon in it, it is full of microplastic. Every time you wash your face or your body with a product that has one of those ingredients in it, you are washing microplastics into the environment. Most clothes are made from plastic fibers, too. It is not easy to have a wardrobe with only natural materials. Every time you wash a piece of synthetic clothing and you do not catch the fibers before your washer rinses them down the drain, you are washing microplastics into the environment. Not all microplastics start out small though. Larger pieces of plastic, like bags or bottles, will break down over time creating more microplastic that is much harder and almost impossible to clean up. However, no matter how microplastics start, most of them end up in our oceans in great garbage patches. Gyres, the large system of circulating ocean currents, collect the plastic that has been dumped into the ocean to create the six large garbage patches around the world. The plastic in these garbage patches stay there for at least a thousand years. Plastic gets to the ocean through our waterways. According to Samantha and Kimberly Haab, “Microplastics enter our waterways through multiple sources including the degradation of larger plastic debris such as plastic bags and bottles, the washing of synthetic clothing and textiles, microbeads from PCCPs via wastewater effluent, and in runoff from land application of sewage sludge contaminated with microplastics” (Haab 23). Stopping microplastic from reaching our oceans is almost inevitable. What’s worse is that Microplastic does not biodegrade, so it stays in our oceans for a very long time. Also, it is not just harmless plastic floating around in the water. Most plastic is toxic and can be harmful to the marine life that ingests it. The Environmental Impacts of Microplastics explains, “Microplastics also have the potential to adsorb (adhere to the outside of) and transport toxic organic contaminants from water and sediments to aquatic organisms that ingest or contact the microplastics” (Herzke et al. 2016; Teuten et al. 2009; Seltenrich 2015 qtd in Haab 24). After a marine animal eats microplastic, it can damage their health. After fish eat the toxic microplastic, we eat the fish and the toxic microplastic. Microplastic is everywhere, it is unavoidable, and it is scary. Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

This is a portion of the plastics I use in a day. I had more photos, but the collage app I used only allowed 25. I had to keep my phone on me all morning to take a picture of practically everything I touched. My morning routine is plastic heavy. Surprisingly, the clothes I decided to wear today were all 100% cotton, but that's probably because I'm wearing cotton sweatpants, cotton undies, and a cotton t-shirt since I don't have to leave the house. This is what I wear most days during the Coronavirus quarantine. The shoes that I wore today, crocs, were the only plastic things I wore. I used my plastic coffee maker, and my plastic coffee grinder. I cut some herbs from my plastic hyrdogarden for lunch. I threw my trash in my plastic trashcan. I used my plastic computer for school, and kept my phone in its plastic phone case (that's starting to break). I am switching to a phone case thats made out of a flax material because I would like to significantly cut my plastic usage down. Today was an eye opener. I wish my products came in a container that had the same shelf life as the product.

Citations:

Haab, S., & Haab, K. (n.d.). The environmental impacts of microplastics: An investigation of microplastic pollution in North Country waterbodies. Adventure Scientists. Available:  HABB and HABB_Microplastics.pdf

Van Sebille, E. (2013). Charting the garbage patches of the seas [video]. University of New South Wales. Retrieved fromCharting the garbage patches of the sea

Dudas, S. (2018). Microplastics are everywhere [Video]. TEDx Binghampton University. Retrieved fromMicroplastics are everywhere | Sarah Dudas | TEDxBinghamtonUniversity