Plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic drink and coffee cups, plastic food containers, plastic baggies, plastic bottles, wrappers, plastic cutlery, Styrofoam, bubble wrap, packaging, this list could go on and on and on. All of the items on this list have one thing in common, that thing is that they are all single-use plastics. Meaning that each of these things gets used once then thrown in the trash. Yes, recycling is an option and a very good one at that. The problem is that most plastics are not recycled, and in 2020 only 9% of plastic bottles were recycled. That means that the other 91% was either thrown away or washed into the ocean and ecosystems. 

     There is an even better way to prevent plastic from killing marine life and leaching chemicals into the soil, the ocean, and even our food, among the other horrible effects of plastic. This better way is to stop manufacturing single-use plastics altogether. This could help the world both by preventing plastic washing into our food chains and ecosystems and by ending the onslaught of polluting byproducts from the production of plastics. Which include sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides, methanol, ethylene oxide, and carbon dioxide, and contribute to climate change and the greenhouse effect. 

     To end these negative effects of plastic, single-use plastic needs to no longer be manufactured and sold. There are alternatives to plastic, silicone, cloth, reliably sourced paper, beeswax, compostable plastic, and on and on. there can be an end to the noxious effects of plastic, and it's MUCH easier than it seems.