Negative Essay On Plastic Bottles

1457 Words6 Pages
“The great challenge of the twenty-first century is to raise people everywhere to a decent standard of living while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible,” – American biologist/environmentalist Edward O. Wilson. Striking a balance between optimal product consumption for a better standard of living and maximum degree of sustainability of resources can be quite challenging. During the 1994 Oslo Symposium for Sustainable Consumption, the main subject was defined as “the use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations." In this essay we will be looking at the differing viewpoints between the environmentally-conscious environmentalists and the care-free…show more content…
Firstly, to know a little about the production of plastic bottles, it takes seven litres of water to make a bottle capable of holding just one litre of water. Along with large amount of water, the production of plastic bottles also requires great quantity of oil and energy (electricity). Furthermore, only 36% of plastic bottles are actually being recycled. The rest are being dumped into landfills, or the oceans. The plastic bottles that are being dumped in the ocean pose a danger to the coastal birds and marine creatures as they consume these plastic wastes and die due to being unable to digest it [Chiras, D (2001) Environmental Science: Creating a sustainable future. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett] As for the plastics in the landfills, they present a great loss of energy source, having the potential to power cars in Los Angeles, USA for about a year. Hence, instead of just throwing the bottles, recycling them will actually be much more
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