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According to the 2015 Ocean Conservancy report, more than half of the world's plastic waste comes from five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They are the fastest growing economies in Asia, and they are also the places where most of the world's plastics are produced, consumed and discarded.
In 2014, of the production of more than 300 million tons of plastic products only about 5% were efficiently recycled, 40% went to landfills, and one- third of them entered the fragile ecosystem, and the ocean is the worst victimized. In January of this year, the British Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Ellen MacArthur Foundation) stated in a report that there are about 800 million tons of plastic waste entering the ocean every year, which is equivalent to one garbage truck every minute, and all the garbage on the truck pours into the ocean.
As the global plastic problem is getting worse, many beaches around the world have been polluted, and Taiwan's beaches are no exception. The microplastic fragments peeled off from larger plastics tend to adsorb toxins. These microplastics can be found in tap water, groundwater and fish. Millions of people eat fish every day, and those harmful chemicals return to ourselves enter our bodies through the food chain.
No matter how large the garbage process, it will pollute the environment. The garbage floating into the sea will cause marine life to mistake it for food; the garbage dumped into the incinerator will warm raise the temperature on the earth; the garbage buried in the soil will cause the death of crops; , and these problems are caused by humans, so we should do something to take action to save the earth.
Take Edinburgh Car Free Day, for example. On the first Sunday of every month a number of streets in the Old Town, including the Canongate, Cockburn Street and Victoria Street, are closed to motorised traffic, letting the public enjoy the historic area on foot or by bike.
I think our school’s recycling has not really been thoroughly implemented. When I passed by the recycle bin, I saw many drink cups, plastic boxes, and straws scattered all over the place. Some of them didn’t aren’t even cleaned and tear the plastic films are not removed, which is almost equal to no recycling. If teachers and students can really actually implement the recycling and schools can strengthen the regulation and supervision, I believe we can also do our best do better for Taiwan and even the earth.
