I am petitioning to request the removal of single use plastic water bottles at MIHS.  We need to be out in front of this important lesson. Please help our community make the right decision in eliminating unneeded waste.

Simply take a look around you, at least one item is made out of plastic. I am interested in the microplastic problem because of the shock it gave me, more than any other common current issue at this time. One time I watched a video about plastic wrappers and how it would take at least a thousand years to decompose. This really scared me. When I am dead, and everyone I have ever met in my life has died, that plastic wrapper I used in first grade would still be “alive”. At that time, I just accepted it since the current world is built this way, without single-use plastic you can not do much. However, one day it just snapped in me. If I see someone using single-use plastic when there is clearly a better alternative, I get annoyed. Almost every single day this math teacher Ms.Ramsy would come to my math class and get a mini plastic bottle of water. What came through my mind was “Why can’t she just get a water bottle?” Now I cannot even begin talking about how much plastic is being used at the school canteen, half of which has clear alternatives but we are just yet to use them.

Microplastics are extremely small pieces of plastic debris from the breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste (Oxford Languages) -- hence the name micro-plastic. However, when you think about plastic, it is often bigger pieces, something tangible. What people fail to notice is that these are the exact stuff that creates microplastic. Materials like these get ground down over time either by wind, sun rays, or human causes like scraping, and so much more. Apart from the obvious items like containers and cheap toys, things such as electronics and even paint can break down and release secondary microplastics. Unfortunately, clothing made with synthetic fibres is no exception either. Washing these types of clothing can also bring out microplastic. Regardless of which, at this point in time we are already seeing a lot of it in our food. (Yale) If plastic does not disintegrate, it would just take up space, but in reality, its fake disintegration is far worse and harder to combat. It really creates a reality check for people once they know what we are actually dealing with. If you think about it, everything around you will produce microplastic. 

Polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS) and synthetic fibres are all under the branch of plastic. 99% of which are made from fossil fuels. 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions is from plastic production, whereas it is 7% for metal production. Although one could argue that metal is far worse based on just this number, however, single-use plastic far outruns the amount of single-use metal that we use. Metal is only harmful when it is not properly disposed of by individuals and firms, but plastic is detrimental regardless of how it is being discarded. Data shows that 70% of steel is being recycled. (NationalMaterial) Is it possible to recycle and reuse plastic? Yes, but we are not doing it. Since plastic was introduced in the 1950s, with Leo Baekeland making it more accessible, 8.3 billion metric tons have been produced. (Earth Day Single-Use Plastic) To put it in perspective, that is about the same as 8 hundred thousand Eiffel Towers or 1 billion elephants. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, plastic microbeads first appeared in cosmetics in 1974. (CRS) In 1971, Marine biologist Edward Carpenter found plastic debris, though larger than microplastic, in the Atlantic Ocean. Currently, only about 10% of all plastic has been recycled, the rest 80% is still in landfills or natural environments, leaking deathly particles to its surroundings. In 2012, the amount of plastic in cosmetic products was so great that consumers started to get concerned. Despite the obvious alternatives that are far better for the environment, I have yet to start talking about consumer usage. The number of people actively doing something to fix this crisis is still in very low numbers. Clearly mass producing and using plastic has far greater opportunity costs both in the long run and now, compared to metal or paper. 

There are many different possibilities as to why one may have ingested plastic. From drinking poorly filtered water, eating fish that have been exposed to plastic water, using hot plastic containers that are not made for it and so much more. Although humans tend to react less violently to harmful things in comparison to animals, once the amount of plastic accumulates in our bodies, we are under no escape. Every week, humans ingest approximately a credit card side worth of plastic. (Cillizza) Studies have shown immoderate amounts of plastic in one’s body can cause abnormalities in internal organs. The polymer or crystal particles in plastic do not just stay in your body as roadblocks, they react with our organs. Studies have shown that in the human brain, only 99.5% is actually what is supposed to be there, and the rest 0.5% is plastic. (Pinto-Rodrigues)

I understand that average Americans may not notice the impact of plastic pollution in their daily lives as much but in third-world countries, especially where countries like America export its trash, the numbers are truly shocking. For example, India has 126.5 million kg of plastic waste in the ocean compared to only 2.4 million kg in the US. In the past few years, the “save the turtle” ads have been all over the place, but one thing I noticed personally is that this problem has been going on far longer than this. Back in elementary school, which was about 10 years ago, the “discovery” channel showed a group of fishers accidentally catching a sea animal, with a plastic straw in its nostrils. They helped to take the straw out, but the animal ended up bleeding. I remember thinking it was one in a million, everything was fine. Now that I realized, it is highly likely that many people were just like me, not giving this issue enough attention, and neglect until it was too late. 

One of the most pathetic parts about this is not how little we as living beings on earth have done to this problem, but rather the idea of “fake it til you make it”. In April 2023, the EPA published the “Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” for the public. It has actions that the country can do, voluntarily. It feels quite pathetic. In 2004, Professor Richard Thompson and his team proved that microplastic particles have accumulated in the oceans. It has been 20 years since, yet the amount of plastic produced is ever-rising. In 2024, the EPA released the “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution”, one quote from the publicized document caught my eye: “Although there are currently no policies or regulations that directly target the primary production of plastics…indirectly…policies which aim to boost plastic recycling…”. For sure plastic recycling is important, nevertheless, without policies that directly target the plastic problem can only mean more polymer waste that is added to the recycling pile. 

Solving the plastic pollution problem does not mean a complete ban on all polymers ever. This brings us to some of my solutions to this problem. Starting off small, it is hard to convince single households to reduce plastic (believe me, I’ve tried), so I suggest talking to the school administration or the workplace equivalent. According to Forbes magazine, more than 1 billion single-use water bottles are sold every minute. Students at the high school have easy access to water fountain stations in each hallway, the commons, next to the gym and also the band room. Many students have reusable water bottles on hand to refill as needed, if not, a $20 purchase not only saves money in the long run but also reduces the amount of plastic waste. At the canteen, almost one in 5 students would purchase something with non-reusable plastic containers. If chips and soda at our school canteen can be in paper or metal packaging, we can reduce at least 100 pieces of plastic a day. At the elementary school, utensils are metal, and reusable. Here at the high school, although plates are paper, the utensils are made out of solid plastic. What Costcos in Canada has started doing is switching to wooden/paper utensils. Personally, after using them a few times, I can say they work fairly well. Under certain circumstances, wood gives off a taste, but we rarely hear people complaining about popsicles. On the community level, I advise we create more storefronts like “mason jar stores”. Currently, these stores are often very expensive. However, I believe by lowering both the supply and consumer prices, we can see more people adopting this alternative. Big corporations like Walmart do not need to go either. Instead, they can change the “bulk bin” area from making consumers use plastic bags to paper or glass containers. After all, buying in bulk often gives a discount. If the store purchases in bulk and lets consumers use their own reusable container to buy what they need, not only does it reduce the amount of plastic being used regardless of whether the container has polymer or not, but also helps to reduce waste on the consumer’s end. Another thing stores have started to do is paper bags. These are often not very durable, and to that, I suggest promoting the use of reusable bags, whether it’s mesh or cotton. I know it can be hard to implement something on the national level, but giving subsidies to firms that are more environmentally friendly versus taxes on single-use plastic producers/firms can ease the country in a better direction.