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A Persuasive Speech On Limiting The Production and Use of Plastic

Plastic pollution is having devastating and long-lasting effects on ecosystems due to improper disposal of plastic waste. The Philippines produces massive amounts of plastic waste daily, much of which ends up polluting waterways and oceans. Plastic pollution is poisoning marine life and entering the human food chain through consumption of contaminated seafood. Everyone must make an effort to reduce plastic usage and properly dispose of and recycle plastic waste to protect the environment and marine life from this growing problem.

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Kemberly Semaña Penton
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2K views2 pages

A Persuasive Speech On Limiting The Production and Use of Plastic

Plastic pollution is having devastating and long-lasting effects on ecosystems due to improper disposal of plastic waste. The Philippines produces massive amounts of plastic waste daily, much of which ends up polluting waterways and oceans. Plastic pollution is poisoning marine life and entering the human food chain through consumption of contaminated seafood. Everyone must make an effort to reduce plastic usage and properly dispose of and recycle plastic waste to protect the environment and marine life from this growing problem.

Uploaded by

Kemberly Semaña Penton
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Limiting the Use of Plastic

What comes to your mind when hear the term “polluted plastics”? I can tell you the
exact photo that just popped into our heads. This one, right? You have all heard how
plastics are affecting our marine creatures and, Oh! The poor little sea turtle! And that’s
great that you have an idea! Really, it is! We have had this idea that “pollution is bad”
since we are about seven. But this sea turtle is not necessarily the problem. It is much
bigger than it.

Plastics are leaving lasting effects on our ecosystems due to people’s improper disposal
of garbage. Plastic production also uses up many of our natural resources. It is up to us
to make a change in order to maintain our nation’s sustainability. Today, I want to show
you just what plastic pollution is and its effects, how big of a dent we are making in our
natural resources, and what steps we should take next.

Let’s say you want to throw away one plastic candy wrapper. Okay, no big deal. It’s just
one wrapper right? Well, Philippines is an archipelago, meaning that we have islands
that are entirely surrounded by the ocean. But imagine if our ocean is filled with plastic
wastes, what will happen then?
According to the United Nations, they called this problem as one the great
environmental challenges of all time. Pollution, specifically involving plastic, has been
an ongoing issue but this epidemic now comes with various solid and even lucrative
solutions. But the problem persists. Why? Because of humans, that’s why.
In a study of Ocean Watch, we actually consume about 300 million tons of plastic every
year. When these are not properly disposed, they don’t just end in a landfill. In fact,
more than eight million tons of plastic gets dumped in our ocean and these circle the
earth about four times in a year. To add, according to GAIA or Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives, more than 163 million plastic sachet packets, as well as 48
million shopping bags and 45 million thin-film bags are used and disposed of daily in the
country.
And as we all know, the Philippines is hit with an average of 20 typhoons a year. Thus,
flood is inevitable. The plastic problem is even made worse because garbage dumping
in the river is already a bad habit practiced by many Filipinos. According to a study
published in Science Advances, the country is one of the world’s top three worst
offenders of plastic pollution. This can be proven by the thick layer of garbage floating in
the canals, waterways and even in the rivers as if it were some island. Now, let’s say
that about ¼ of these end up in our ocean. That’s about as big as an island of garbage
just floating around in a year.
Pollutants found in the plastic in disposable water bottles and other plastic materials
deteriorate and leach into the water leaving potential carcinogens in the water we drink
daily. Now if all these in our harbor are deteriorating, that means your fresh seafood
might be slightly infested with pollutants. 
Even worse, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the law of biomagnification
states that pollutants “increase its concentration in the tissues of organisms as it travels
up the food chain”. This means that all of you, seafood lovers, might have more
pollutants in our bodies than we would imagine. Now, I bet you’re wondering what
happens to the rest of the actual plastic pieces left in our oceans. Plastic pieces like
these? Well, animals are ingesting them. In fact, plastic pieces are being found within
birds in the Pacific, meaning that the plastic pieces are literally killing them from the
inside out. The plastic found throughout the oceans is a result of improper disposal of
our plastics.
Steps are now being undertaken to mitigate plastic pollution, but these are mere band-
aid solutions. Even if a piece of plastic is thrown properly, it would still end up
somewhere – in landfills where they contaminate soil and water, or worse, in
incinerators, cement kilns, or so-called waste-to-energy facilities that emit carcinogens
and other pollutants of concern. From production to disposal, these plastics pose
significant threats to our health and ecology.

Now I am hoping that you’re all interested in doing something to help cut down on the
pollutants entering, not only our body, but millions of sea creatures as well. We know
the harmful effects of plastic on our environment and we all know the dent we put in our
planet in the production of these materials. We should all make an effort to use reusable
materials, however, if we must, to recycle our plastic wastes. Everyone, we must put an
end to the era of plastic so this little sea turtle can swim freely, but only our generation
can do so.

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