Activity 3.3.3 - My Plastic Use

 Short Essay: 

In this module I learned more in depth what microplastics are, and their effects to the environment. To begin microplastics come from plastic, and we've been using plastic since the 1950s, so around 65 years. Plastic takes 20-500 years to decompose, but over time that plastic will brake down into smaller pieces to what scientists now call “microplastics”. Microplastics, which are plastic particles, or fibers smaller than 5 millimeters in size, are one of the many are one of the many reasons for the widespread use of microplastics in our society. Due to their miniscule size, microplastics are not able to be removed by wastewater treatment plants. Wastewater treatment plants is something I learned in the last module, which was very interesting, because I learned how sewage water gets cleaned to get released back into the environment. However, learning about how microplastics don't just disappear with a wastewater treatment plant made me realize that they are so small, to the point we cant seem them, but we breath in microplastics. A marine research scientist known as Abby Barrows did a study by collecting water samples from around the world. In her study she concluded that 74% of those samples contained microplastics. In other words, microplastics are basically found everywhere that we eat them, inhale them, and drink them. In another study made in the Netherlands they found microplastics in human blood. The first primary form of plastics are plastics that are engineered to be small, some examples are microbeads, synthetic fibers in mascara, polystyrene beads, nurdles, glitter, etc. The secondary from of plastics are created from bigger plastics some examples are fragments from a plastic bottle, films from a plastic bag, fibers from netting, from rope, and even from synthetic clothing. Now since I mentioned that microplastics can be found anywhere that can have negative effects in environments, like animals. If animals are eating this it can have health effects on their body giving them blockages, low growth rate, etc. One of the main microplastics found in humans foods are fibers, which come from synthetic clothing. Fast fashion is a main issue in the world, which is why there are many synthetic fibers in form of microplastics, because a lot of people buy from fast fashion companies. There isn't much information on the effects of microplastics in human health, because it is still something being studied on. Although human consumption of these microplastics can result in chemical or poisonous effects to the body. In general plastic overall are bad to the environment especially air pollution or water pollutions, because we need air to survive and water. As well as microplastics in our food are now another issue that needs to be solved. Even though plastic is a environmental issue and microplastics were cause due to overconsumption of plastics there are still ways to be able to decrease plastic. For example fast fashion can use other materials for their clothing so it is not synthetic fibers, thrifting, borrowing clothes, etc. Not using as much plastic, or at least recycling is a plus in helping decrease the pollution of microplastics.

One Day Collage 

This is my one day collage of being surrounded by plastic. With this assignment I realized that we really are surrounded with plastic. It is something that we use on a daily basis and sometimes we don't even notice it. 

Citation References

• Dudas, S. (2018). Microplastics are everywhere [Video]. TEDx Binghampton University.
• Simons Foundation Science Sandbox (Producer). (2019). World class explorers help scientists collect elusive data
• Haab, S., & Haab, K. (n.d.). The environmental impacts of microplastics: An investigation of microplastic pollution in North Country waterbodies. Adventure Scientists.