On average, every American throws away 1,130 pounds of trash each year. Globally, we are throwing away 3.5 million tons of solid waste each day, and by 2025 it would jump to six million tons each day. That is over 7,000,000,000 pounds a day. Today, over “75% of trash can be recycled, but only 30% is actually recycled” ("11 Facts About Recycling”). On average, 88% of the ocean's surface is covered with trash and plastic, but this is only 1% of the total trash in the ocean. This is a serious issue that needs to be fixed. Plastic was not an issue 40 years ago when the production rate was 650% lower than is is today (Park). Plastic is most of the trash in the ocean and is may be dangerous. CNN showed us what happened when plastic breaks down. “It turns into microplastics and when those break down they turn into nano plastics and can enter the tissue of fish” (CNN). Scientists don’t really know what would happen if the fish we are eating have micro or nano plastics in them, but it’s not going to be good. These reasons prove that the world is in trouble and in need of proper trash disposal.
Is there anything we can do about it? Yes. There are many things we can do to help this issue. One major thing is recycling. Over 75% of trash can be recycled, but only 30% is actually recycled. If we took the time to recycle instead of throwing everything away we could get those numbers higher and have way less trash in the world. Next, you can use reusable materials. Every time you use a water bottle it is adding plastic into the world. Instead of using plastic water bottles you should use reusable water bottles and when all the water gone you can fill it up again. Lastly, you could pick up trash. I'm not saying never use plastic water bottles, but if you are, make sure you recycle. If everyone picked up one piece of trash every day for a year we would have 1.825 trillion less pieces of trash in the world in just one year. So if you want a trash free environment, you can recycle.
Is there anything we can do about it? Yes. There are many things we can do to help this issue. One major thing is recycling. Over 75% of trash can be recycled, but only 30% is actually recycled. If we took the time to recycle instead of throwing everything away we could get those numbers higher and have way less trash in the world. Next, you can use reusable materials. Every time you use a water bottle it is adding plastic into the world. Instead of using plastic water bottles you should use reusable water bottles and when all the water gone you can fill it up again. Lastly, you could pick up trash. I'm not saying never use plastic water bottles, but if you are, make sure you recycle. If everyone picked up one piece of trash every day for a year we would have 1.825 trillion less pieces of trash in the world in just one year. So if you want a trash free environment, you can recycle.