"Reduce, Reuse, Rebury" by Ellie Clark When I was in elementary school, I remember being confused about where I was supposed to throw away my trash after lunch. I would peek into both the trash and recycling bin, confused with where I was supposed to throw away my utensils and plate. In both bins I saw plates and utensils alike, apparently, my classmates didn’t care about where they threw their trash. As I stood in front of the bins for a few minutes, still stuck with my decision, my friends called out to me saying “C’mon Ellie! It doesn’t matter where you throw it, it all goes to the dump anyways”.
We have all heard the advice to start recycling and to use metal straws, but for what? Is recycling my coffee cup actually going to stop climate change? Is recycling actually doing anything or is it just an empty slogan where we can rebury our problems?
First of all, I want to mention that every city has different requirements and regulations for how their trash gets recycled, but as a whole country, the EPA estimates that 75% of American trash is recyclable, but we only actually recycle 30% of it (Dosomething.org). That is an insane number.
Think back to all the times popular companies have asserted that a large percentage of their products get recycled, greenwashing their audience to continue to buy their products, guilt, and conscience free. This lack of communication and ignorance is costing the US, but more importantly the world. We buy “environmentally friendly” packaging options because we think we are actually making a difference, just to find out that recycling isn’t as good as we think. It’s time we stop being ignorant of the world and its condition before it’s too late.
Companies have been blaming and putting the responsibility on the consumer to do their part to throw away their trash. Companies are producing many plastic bottles and other hazardous materials, in the process, burning lots of oil and creating fossil fuel fumes which go into the atmosphere and heat our planet. One popular soda company’s carbon footprint is equivalent to 108 billion bottles a year, which is more than ⅕ of the world’s plastic bottles (The Guardian)! A company might say that their products aren’t bad and aren’t creating fossil fuels as long as the bottles are recycled. However, if you look at the number of plastic soda bottles produced in 2021 and compare it to the amount of oil that was burned to create the plastic, we see a different reality. In 2021, 583.3 billion plastic bottles were produced and 18 billion gallons of oil were used to create those 583.3 billion plastic bottles. This is equivalent to 28,000 Olympic swimming pools filled with oil to create 110,000 Olympic size swimming pools full of plastic bottles.
Time Magazine reported:
“For too long, they say, the burden of recycling has fallen on consumers. Companies tell their customers to recycle plastic bags or throw yogurt containers in the correct recycling bin, without trying to make sure the products they sell are easily recyclable in the first place. Then, cities and towns have to sort through the recycling to remove potential contaminants like chips bags or greasy pizza boxes. Only 9% of plastic products are recycled.” (Alana Semuels)
Currently, many research groups such as the USC Fieser Lab: Catalyst Design for Sustainable Transformations, are working on different ways to recycle plastics. As of now, there are seven different types of plastic, some of which are commonly recognizable. For example PET and PVC. These plastics are currently being mechanically broken down, using extreme heat, to return to their original form. The downside of this is that plastics can only be mechanically recycled around seven times before the structure is broken and the plastics turn brittle and can’t be used again. This USC Lab is researching and conducting two new ways to recycle plastics. The first way is chemically breaking down (the polymers that makeup plastics) of pre-existing plastics (such as PET) to (reuse many times). The second way is to make new polymers from sustainable materials that can be also be chemically recycled and (reused many times). These new sustainable polymers would also be biodegradable.
Personally, I have always felt passionate to help the environment and make a difference. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved animals and plants and wanted to protect the world from the oncoming onslaught of climate change. Growing up, that urge has only become greater as the times get more severe. It is no longer a myth, climate change is real and it's our reality. It won’t be a problem of the future if there is no future to come; we are destroying our only planet and are doing nothing to stop it. Doesn’t it concern you that the children of our generation are having to stand up and deal with a mess our ancestors created? Our politicians and public leaders are too busy and too ignorant to face the truth, so please, you, yourself should make a change. Whether it’s as small as bringing your own bags when you go grocery shopping to as large as having a zero plastic lifestyle, it makes a difference. Plastic needs to be cut out of our lives in order to change the world. 1 million people have all thought “maybe I should do something ” but change is made individually, person by person, by those who decide to step up.
