Plastic Podcast

Plastic is a major contributor to marine pollution and poses a threat to wildlife. Plastics are produced from fossil fuels and often end up in landfills, the air, or the ocean. Animals can choke on plastic bags and straws, leading to their death. Plastics also harm marine species that ingest them, causing a decline in population. Plastics can be found everywhere, including in our food, and can potentially affect our endocrine system. Plastic production and disposal contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Efforts to reduce plastic waste include using alternatives like paper straws and metal water bottles, but it is difficult to remove plastic already in the ocean. Solutions include changing lifestyles and creating a treaty to end plastic pollution. Scientists are researching ways to degrade plastics using microbes and enzymes. Individuals can help by avoiding single-use products and boycotting plastic. Hello. Have you ever wondered how much plastic you use every day? Or where does this waste go? I'm Anderson. I'm Max. I'm Melody. And I'm Josh. These are some of the questions that we'll be answering. We will explore the journey that every plastic experiences, the destruction plastic leaves in its wake, and possible solutions that you can perform to contribute to solving our global crisis. Although this material has several useful applications in industries like the medical, electronic, and transportation fields, it is directly responsible for 75% of all marine pollution. This is why we always hear about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and microplastics. Nonetheless, all of these plastics produce fossil fuels deep inside the earth, where they are extracted, sent to an oil refinery, and chemically bonded together into polymers that make up these plastics. But after these plastics are used by consumers and discarded, they will likely face a much more tragic ending. They are either thrown away in landfills, burned back into natural gases, end up in one of the ocean gyres, or hopefully recycled so they can be remolded for another use. Some of them are eventually recycled, but none of them are ever recycled effectively. Instead, plastics are often downcycled. This means that they are not made to fulfill their original use and will eventually end up in landfills, the air, or the oceans. We have used plastics for so long, but looking at the bigger picture, the production of plastics is negatively impacting the environment. We have all heard stories about how wildlife are trying to eat plastics and are dying because of it. But how does this happen in the first place? Well, when we drop a plastic straw or bag, the wind and rain carry it into the ocean. When it gets into the ocean, wildlife are directly affected because they can choke on the plastic bags and straws. According to the World Wildlife Fund, approximately 100,000 mammals from the sea die from plastic pollution. Remember, these are the plastics that humans leave on the ground to blow in the wind, and it finds its way into the ocean. This is why we all know iconic videos like a plastic straw in a turtle's nose, or a sea lion whose neck was sliced open from a plastic ring. Wait, so you're telling me the plastic fork I used during lunch could kill any animal it comes in contact with? Yep, that's correct, but this is just the beginning. Most marine species also suffer from ingesting these products. One example of this is a giant bird called the Laysan albatross that lives on Midway Atoll, which is an uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This island is home to 1.2 million albatrosses and many tons of trash, causing all these birds to have stomachs full of plastic. But the worst part is that this increasing synthetic diet has resulted in the death of 40% of the chicks every year, as they are at most risk to this change. Unfortunately, even the largest animals of the sea, whales, aren't safe from this new artificial diet. There are hundreds of cases where a species of whale is stranded on beaches around the world either dying from the plastic stuck inside of them, or injured and immobilized by the deep cuts plastic creates on their bodies. But most are lifeless as soon as they wash ashore. In total, plastic in the ocean is responsible for the deaths of 267 identified species. The reason behind this consumption is due to several factors. The most common ways are that these plastics look similar to the animal's natural food, or that they are located inside the prey's stomach in the form of microplastics. Microplastics are generally plastics millimeters in length or shorter and they are everywhere. They can be found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the top of Mount Everest, and even in our food. Humans can ingest tens of thousands of microplastics per year. Currently, there is no concrete evidence that it is harmful to humans. However, some studies have shown that it can affect our endocrine system. That's right, the system which controls our growth and development and regulates hormones. But how did they get in my body? I never even ate a plastic bag. Well, this is because these plastics end up in our waterways, soil, and air, leading to most of our diet including drinking water, fruits, and even livestock and fish to contain some amount of plastic inside them. Another way that plastics are damaging our planet is through climate change. Plastic production and disposal is responsible for the emissions of approximately 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. And we know this is connected with the rising temperatures. Part of this comes from landfills, which burn waste and are harmful to the environment and can cause global warming. This connects back to the rising temperatures which can affect environments like the Arctic. There are many attempts to try to learn plastic production and pollution. Examples of this are switching to paper straws and something that I do, which is using a metal water bottle instead of single-use plastics. This could be very impactful. However, it is extremely hard to extract a large portion of the plastics that have found their way into the ocean. Well, what am I supposed to do to prevent those poor turtles from dying? Now that we know the dangers that plastic poses, we can think about the future solutions for this global epidemic. One solution could be motivating people to change their lifestyle to better the future of our ecosystem. Though these plastics pose a huge threat to our society, there are many things that people are doing to help stop this global crisis. Oh yeah? Like what? One big thing that is happening right now is that some delegates at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for Plastics are trying to create the first legally binding treaty about plastic pollution. Oh yeah, I heard about that. Angela Charlton and Jennifer McDermott said in their article, Delegates working to end global plastics pollution agreed to craft a draft treaty. A coalition of high-ambition governments led by Norway and Rwanda, along with environmental groups, want to end plastic pollution altogether by 2040 by slashing production and limiting some chemicals used in making plastics. Scientists are also trying to figure out how to use microbes to degrade plastics. In 2016, some Japanese scientists discovered Idenellis echinacea, 201-S6, a new bacterium that had two enzymes that were able to break down PET. And then, some bioengineers were able to combine the two to create an enzyme that was able to break down PET polymers around six times faster. There are limits to this, though, which restricted its effectiveness. Tairani Saez and Christian Sarda explained in their TED-Ed the smallest solution to one of our biggest problems. Another group of scientists in Japan had been researching bacterial enzymes adapted to high-temperature environments, like compost piles, and within one particularly warm pile of rotting leaves and branches, they found gene sequences for a powerful degrading enzyme known as leaf-branch-compost cutanase. Using fast-growing microorganisms, other researchers were able to genetically engineer high quantities of these enzymes. They then enhanced and selected special variants of the cutanase that could degrade PET plastics in environments reaching 70 degrees Celsius, a high temperature that can weaken PET polymers and make them digestible. With the help of these and other tiny diehards, the future of PET recycling looks promising. Still, most types of plastics don't have a reliable solution. And this is worrying, as our plastic production will keep going up and up with the growing population of the world. There are so many different ways that people are trying to help reduce plastic waste and production. Even you could help. That's right. Some easy things that you can do to help is not use single-use products, like plastic bags from the grocery store or microbeads, which are in many beauty products, and contribute directly to microplastics traveling into waterways. If that's not your style, though, you could boycott plastic products. Think about your actions correlating with your plastic use, and think about our future on this planet. Let's stop this crisis together!