The Ocean Pays Price for People’s Bad Plastic Habits

It would be a good idea if each of us took a walk along our nearest beach to see, first, what a mess has been made, and secondly, what our addiction to convenience is costing our environment.

For some reason, people regard their beaches to be the prime disposal area of unwanted junk. Many people seem to believe a myth that our vast oceans can swallow up and dissolve anything. Unfortunately, our trash is killing our oceans and its inhabitants. Currents are carrying trash to even uninhabited coasts.

Plastic containers appear to be the primary beach trash item because they are the most stubbornly durable. Some types will take 400 years to disintegrate. Polystyrene foam, another major beach pollutant, never degrades. It breaks up into small pellets that are ingested by animals, causing their death. Six-pack yokes and plastic bags also kill hundreds of thousands of aquatic animals by strangling them or causing them to starve to death. These items are not only left by beach-goers but thrown from boats and large cruise ships.

Awareness of the problem is just the first step. Action is the next step. Everyone must decide to do everything possible to reduce trash. We can choose to avoid buying anything in plastic and polystyrene foam. Recyclable aluminum, glass and paper are alternatives. Many cities, such as Seattle and Berkeley, have outlawed polystyrene foam. Orange County cities should do the same.

The Huntington Beach oil spill and the Persian Gulf War reminded us that we must break our dependence on oil. Yet most people are unaware that all plastics and polystyrene foam are derived from non-renewable petroleum resources. When manufactured and incinerated, they release poisonous gases into our air. Toxics of this type are causing an increase of asthma and leukemia in children. The convenience of plastic and polystyrene foam cannot outweigh the havoc they play with our health and the health of our planet.

LINDA NEWTON

Fountain Valley