UWCC Plastic Awareness Week
We are living in a world of plastic. An invention of the 20th century, plastic now permeates every facet of our lives. Plastic forks and knives are a mainstay of any food service or party. Straws are used for virtually every drink. Toothbrushes and disposable razors are thrown out every month. Produce is being sliced and pre-packed. We use it to make clothes and other textiles. Clean running water is taken for granted as millions of water bottles continue to be bought in urban societies. The list goes on and on.
What’s the issue you may ask? Isn’t that what recycling is for?
The issue is that much of what we use is single-use plastic. Products that only get used once before it’s thrown away. Most of this, unfortunately isn’t recyclable. Even if it were, recycling is not necessarily a guaranteed solution. Highly contaminated bins, such as some found on campus, are sent straight to landfill as they are deemed too difficult/costly to sort.
Once plastic gets into our environment, it can have disastrous effects. It can take thousands of years to degrade, if you can even call it that. Much of it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces (i.e micro-plastics) making it easier to spread and more difficult to remove. The oceans have become giant plastic sinks, spreading the waste all around the globe. We’re finding animals all the time with stomachs full of plastic. It can not only spread invasive species that attach onto it as it traverses the globe, but it can also absorb toxins making them even more dangerous.
This is only a brief glimpse into this new problem that only recently are people starting to take seriously. Canada’s national Environment Week was dedicated to educating the public on this particular issue last month. Companies like Ikea and A&W are making moves towards paper straws. Zero Waste stores are proliferating, offering a way to shop without all the unnecessary packaging.
Now it is our turn to take on the challenge. All this week we will be sharing content related to the issue of plastic. We will not only try and demonstrate how harmful it can be, but also that there is hope. The word is spreading and change is on the way. We need only to be firm in our conviction to change a lifestyle that we now know has wide reaching consequences. We CAN solve this.
Welcome, to Plastic Awareness Week!
