The shredded plastic shopping bag caught on a fence or shrub is just the tip of the iceberg in an ocean of icebergs. One obstacle to raising awareness of the environmental and health costs associated with plastics is their invisibility. The amount of plastic accumulating in the environment has significantly increased in the past 15 years, but we seem to have grown numb to the waste.

The petrochemical industry reports that the world produced 260 million tons of plastics in 2016 and could produce 460 million tons per year by 2030 continuing the steep increase in output. The industry is reluctantly admitting that their products pose serious environmental problems. Public outcry is growing, and leaders are now forced to consider the future of single-use product disposal.

One strategy is small niche recycling which does not require changing the chemical structure of the material, although all recycling releases toxic materials.

Over half of all plastics are designed for single use, meaning we can effect change through our purchasing decisions. But responsibility also lies with the petrochemical industry, which continues to create new applications for single use plastics that we could live without. Bottled water contains twice the density of microplastics as tap water, according to studies conducted at Penn State University and elsewhere.

Microplastics are found in food that is difficult to rinse out, such as chicken and seafood, as well as the fishmeal fed to other animals. Microplastics removed by water treatment plants are found in the biosludge that is often spread on corn fields, where their quantity appears to be increasing and long-lasting. Significant amounts of microplastics have been found in the air, including in remote mountain regions, in every study conducted thus far.

A study of smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River and Pine Creek conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Susquehanna University, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission reported that the number of microplastics found in the fish sampled increased dramatically in three years.

In 2017, 87.5% of the fish had 2.3 microplastics per fish, in 2018, 95.5% had 6.2 microplastics per fish, and in 2019, 100% had 28.9 microplastics per fish. Multiple causes are possible, but in the end, the fish are eating plastics. Therefore, fish predators, including human beings, are also eating plastics.

Plastics production depends on extracting petroleum and gas from the ground, and chemically transforming the molecules into strongly linked chains whose properties change when other chemicals are added.

These products, so useful in our daily lives, are also very damaging to the environment, both the production method and the products themselves have long-lasting harmful impact on the environment. Chemists know that plastics are stressors for all forms of life, and pollute waters, degrade habitats, harm wildlife, and endanger peoples health. Visible plastics break down into microplastics, which affect the growth, reproduction, and species interactions for those ingesting the microplastics which include humans and aquatic life, due to the omnipresence of plastics in our waters, air and lands, and in the food web.

Carol Armstrongs experience with plastic pollution is as secretary of the Friends of Heinz Refuge, as a frequent stream monitor, as a PennState Ext. Master Watershed Steward, and as a member of her towns Environmental Advisory Committee. Lana Gulden, president of Susquehanna Valley Progress, is involved in numerous environmental and civic organizations in the area.

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Plastics and our fate | Opinion | dailyitem.com - Sunbury Daily Item