about

The first time I started to realize plastic waste is invading our life and environment is when my older sister asked me to use metal straws instead of plastic straws and informed me of the harm of using plastic items and the current situation of plastic pollution a couple of years ago. So how are plastics destroying our environment?

Because of the cheapness and convenience of plastic, it is not uncommon to see plastic items such as plastic utensils, plastic shopping bags, water bottles, are being produced and used everywhere in our daily life. If you take a glance at the trash bins of the Untitled Cafe in Broad Art Center, you will be surprised how many plastic cups are thrown and this waste is merely produced by one of the coffee shops in the entire world. According to Plastic Oceans International, 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year and half of them are for single-use purposes. And more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the oceans every year. Though plastics can be recycled, it is undeniable that plastics items normally can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills when is seriously harmful to our ecosystem. Apparently, people are still lack of awareness of recycling plastics and reducing the use of plastics in daily life. Therefore, the goal of my research is to explore the ways to enhance awareness and how actions can be taken for reducing plastic pollution.