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Plastic Waste-Canada Draft

Page history last edited by ericw 13 years ago

Neal/Shamar/Eric W/Emmy

       

     Do you like plastic? We sure don't. As national citizens we  should be and are concerned about Canada's use of plastic bags/waste and where all of it is going. It is ending up all over Canada. Join us on the journey through time and space to the realm of plastic waste.  

 

Physical

 

       One of the physical aspects of the problem is that plastic is derived from petroleum and petroleum is oil. Seeing as we don't have an endless supply of oil and we need it for our cars and we are using 430, 000 gallons of oil per 100 million plastic bags per week .and we are using 55 million bags per week! In two weeks we use over 860, 000 gallons of oil! Plastic bags are blocking the water because the bags go down sewers and clog the drains so water gets stuck on the streets. About 100, 000 animals are killed each year because the animals think plastic is food and then they die. Worse, the ingested bags remain in after the death and decomposition of the animal and it lies on the landscape waiting for another victim to eat it. Still like plastic bags? If you do a like them still, do a quick search on Google Images and you search " Plastic in birds" you'll see what we are talking about. The animals are dying because of us and our thinking that "plastic bags are  sooo useful (exaggerated sarcasm)." If plastic bags are burned they release dangerous toxins and carcinogens into the air. Also, if plastic is buried it blocks the natural flow of oxygen and water from going through the soil and to the surface which means we get littler and littler water and oxygen. We don't know about anyone else but we are never going to let any plastic bags we use get into an animal (so we aren't going to use them). Luckily scientists have invented something called Arboform. Arboform has better thermal and mechanical properties than plastic and wood put together. and liquid wood is also called Arboform. Arboform is also called liquid wood. Liquid wood is an eco-friendly alternative to plastic. Liquid wood is a strong thermoplastic formulated from lignin, natural fibers and wax. It is non-toxic, bio-degradeable, and doesn't depend on a nonrenewable resource such as petroleum. Plastic take 1000 years to biodegrade under perfect conditions. Plastic waste such as plastic bags are put in landfills and doesn't bio-degrade because landfills don't have perfect conditions.Environment Canada and Canada Border Services say that the electronic plastic waste taken from 27 Canadian companies since November 2005 originated from across Canada but mainly Quebec and Ontario. The waste included: thousands of computer monitors containing lead, lead-acid batteries, fluorescent lamp ballasts containing polychlorinated biphenlys (PCBs) which is toxic to the environment and humans and hundreds of more hazardous waste.The waste included: thousands of computer monitors containing lead, lead-acid batteries  fluorescent lamp ballasts containing polychlorinated biphenlys (PCBs) which is toxic to the environment and humans. In the pacific ocean people can't go fishing because of the plastic waste which is caused by us as humans. This last sentence would be good for the grade 6 plastic waste group (the one before this one).

 

 

 

             

                                       ECONOMIC

 

       Surprisingly all of these so called "useful" plastic bags and waste don't make our country have a better economy in fact it does the exact opposite. So that's why we as national citizens are concerned for our country's economy. Only in Ontario and Quebec, stores are charging a 5 cent fee on bags. That is a very small number compared to all  the provinces and territories in Canada (it's 2 out of 13). Canada illegally exports plastic waste and other toxic wastes to developing countries so it can be recycled there. The problem with that is the workers in the developing countries are trying to recycle all this waste but the conditions are hazardous to their health. One time, 50 containers were loaded with about 500,000 kgs of metal and plastic scrap and was exported to Hong Kong and China from the Port of Vancouver. That goes to show you how bad our situation is. We can't take care of our own waste, so why are we using so much of it? Environmentalists say "Even though we know we shouldn't keep using and throwing away plastic all the time but, we do it."  This is not even the end of this monstrosity of plastic but we'll show you how bad our levels of government is in recycling plastic.  

 

 

Political

  

         You may think that the government is helping with reducing and recycling plastic in Canada but they aren't because the federal government is allowing plastic waste to be illegally shipped to developing countries!! How unfair is that? If plastic bags are burned they release dangerous toxins and carcinogens into the air. And if they are allowing plastic bags to be shipped that country might get full of plastic and need to import it back to Canada. Also some ministries like the ministry of natural resources would be affected if and when Canada has plastic almost everywhere (which it's on it's way there). The ministry would also be affected because water is a natural resource and the water is polluted and blocking people travelling by water transportation (like people who have a boat but don't have enough money for a plane) and that is in their field of control. Another ministry that would be involved is the ministry of Fisheries and Oceans because the water that is being polluted is one by one being crossed of the list of where people can go fishing because it's not safe for their motors and/or the fish aren't healthy enough to eat.The fish would be not safe to eat because of the plastic bags and plastic wrap. The ministry of Environment to because animals are part of it- a living, thriving biodiversity- and animals are dying because of our usage of plastic bags and waste. The government is also responsible for   the this monstrosity of importing we import the plastic bags instead of saying no to them. A way you could reduce plastic waste is by using eco-friendly canvas bags instead of plastic bags. This is not even the end of this monstrosity of plastic but we'll show you how bad our levels of government is in recycling plastic. 

 

  Social 

 

      This may sound a bit laughable at coming from 10 and 11 year olds but, we need to seriously do something People are thinking that they need to make a change about their plastic waste habits. According to the Institute of Chemical Waste Management, about 15% of our garbage is classified as toxic, and only 85% (approximately) of that the 15% is disposed/recycled of properly. If every person in that lives in Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City, Charlottetown, Halifax, Fredericton, St.Johns, Newfoundland, (capital of Newfoundland), Winnipeg, Regina, Victoria and Edmonton stopped using plastic bags then there would be a noticeable difference and other cities/ villages/towns would follow not wanting to be left out. When we are buying plastic bags, we are telling the companies to keep making them.The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that every person living in Canada produces one ton of toxic waste every year. This is a bad thing because they produce more and hurt the environment and waste more oil. We hope that people are also telling their friends to buy canvas bags instead of plastic bags because they are more eco-friendly. Therefore If that happens Canada won't have 55 milloin million plastic bags taken home each week and be known for having a reputation of being not so green.  Canvas bags are spreading through the community and most stores.  Also, most stores are selling them canvas bags  so people using plastic bags. Thankfully, some people are taking action. Two Canadian muncipalities banned plastic bags almost as soon as the 5 cent fee was introduced. Wow, imagine if everyone in Canada did that. Now that would be cool. See, there are alot of people out there wanting to make a change. Our job is to tell you about this huge problem and all the people changing things. We hope you will become one of them, then we can write about you.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read our paragraphs!!!!!!!! 

Comments (4)

neal said

at 12:05 pm on Mar 2, 2011

are you writing about the economics because I think we need more on phsical

shamar said

at 1:52 pm on Mar 2, 2011

We need more on economic because we have more on physical then on economic.

ericw said

at 4:04 pm on Mar 5, 2011

I will do physical, Neal will do Economic, Shamar will do Political and Emmy will do Social.

ericw said

at 6:18 pm on Mar 10, 2011

We have 1266 words!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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