To some, plastic is the most ingenious invention ever made in human history. During the course of our everyday lives, plastic provides us with many useful items such as portable plastic bottles, durable plastic containers, and strong plastic grocery bags. Certainly, there are numerous advantages to having plastic as a readily available material for present and future designs. However, after years of use and reflection, we have begun to see the detrimental consequences resulting from the design of plastic.
From a scientific perspective, plastic harms the environment and poses a danger for the future of the human race. First of all, plastic is a material made from petroleum oil, a depleting natural resource that humans have grown highly dependent on. Also, certain plastic products contain toxins (such as Bisphenol-A) that are harmful to normal human development and increases the risk of genetic damage in babies and cancer. Additionally, most plastic used today are non-biodegradable. Although there are some exceptions to this fact, plastic still contributes to the increasing amount of waste building up in landfills due to their extremely slow decomposing rates. In fact, for plastic bags and plastic containers to fully decompose, it takes approximately 10-12 years and 50-80 years, respectively.
Plastic also harms wildlife, a fact that should not be taken lightly. Most plastic products, such as plastic grocery bags, end up in the ocean and on the beaches. Birds, dolphins, sea turtles, and other ocean animals may consume these foreign objects, mistaking them for food. Rather than getting a hearty meal, the pieces of plastic they swallow block their digestive tracts, leading them to starve. Moreoever, birds can get caught in plastic bags, potentially causing them to choke or suffocate.
Certainly, when plastic was first created and designed into different products, no one could have imagined the dangers it would pose to society in the future. Nevertheless, these unintentional consequences have surfaced over the years, presenting society with problems of waste control and global warming. Even so, the beauty of design is its ability to redesign old and inefficient designs into new and improved ones. Therefore, plastic and its harmful effects on society can be taken as a stepping stone for future designers to design more ecofriendly products and materials.
*Images taken from Chiriquà Chatter and RKS Plast Chem; Credit to Fake Plastic Fish and Keep Sevier Beautiful
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