[No more disposable cups!]
Have you ever wondered what happens to that disposable coffee cup, once you're done with your
coffee? In these days, some people complain the government’s policy that prohibits using disposable
cups in café! However, the problem of using many disposable cups is so serious that the ecosystem
is destroyed. In the next paragraph, the problem of using many disposable cups causing marine
pollution will be discussed in more detail.
For half a century plastic has been among the most commonly used materials in cups, bottles, and
food containers because it’s convenient and cheap. Yet in recent years, our excessive global plastic
consumption have brought the negative impacts to our oceans. Since our oceans are downstream
from every place on earth, they receive much of the plastic waste generated on land. Plastic
constitutes an estimated 90% of trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 6.4 million tons of
debris reaching our oceans every year. Unlike other type of trash, plastic does not biodegrade.
Instead it photo-degrades with sunlight, breaking down into pieces that never really disappear.
(‘steelysdrinkware’, 2017) These pieces are eaten by marine life, wash up on beaches, or break
down into microscopic plastic dust, attracting more debris. Plastics threaten large and small sea creatures.
Over 100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds die each year from ingesting or
becoming entangled in plastic. ( Claire Le Guern, 2017) The material is not only hazardous to
marine life, but it can transfer toxic chemicals to the food chain, with potentially grave consequences
to human health. When the marine ecosystem, which accounts for 70 percent of the Earth's surface, is
disrupted, the effects will eventually spread across the globe, and humans cannot be free from the whirlpool
of destruction either. Now, another pile of plastic is being added over the North Pacific Ocean. Plastic products
that we can easily use and throw away may further accelerate that speed.
I think that making public relations videos to use personal reusable cups for people is the way that
solve this problem with using my major. Many coffee shops have tried to promote reusable mugs
by offering a 10-cent discount to customers who bring their own cups to the café. Starbucks,
Seattle’s Best, and Peet’s all offer the discount, as do many local coffee shops.(Margaret
Morales, 2016) In addition, if we carry our own individual cups, we can reduce many disposable cups. At
the University of Aberdeen they have sold 1,500 Smug mugs and reduced the number of disposable
cups being used on campus by 11,275! (Tanita, 2015) However, many people didn’t know well. If we
promote those advantages of using personal tumblers or cups, more people will use private cups.
References
Problem paragraph
https://steelysdrinkware.com/the-problems-with-plastic/
http://plastic-pollution.org/
Solution paragraph
https://www.sightline.org/2016/03/08/why-youre-still-not-bringing-a-reusable-mug-for-your-dailycoffee/
https://recycleforaberdeen.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/why-reusable-mugs-are-better-thandisposable-cups/
When The Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://plastic-pollution.org/