Earth Day is the one day each year when everyone stops to think about the environment. Even if you’re one of those people who don’t think about the environment very often, by now you probably know that plastic is an environmental problem. This year, Earth Day set a goal to reduce the amount of plastic we all use by 60% before 2040. We can each take steps to reduce our plastic-related impact.
There are so many problems with plastic. Plastic is made from fossil fuel and its manufacture contributes to climate change. Hardly any plastic gets recycled, and a lot of plastic ends up contributing to pollution all around the world.Between 4% and 8% of global oil consumption is related to plastics. In 2015, plastics manufacturing released as much greenhouse gas as 45 million passenger vehicles. In the United States, only about 5% of plastics are recycled each year, while…