[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, submitted by a verified resident. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of South King Media, nor its staff:]
In Washington, there is a problem that is very large but too small to see: microplastics.
Microplastics are an outcome of plastic pollution. The WRAP Act and HB 1085, will reduce the use of one-use plastics, and therefore we have to deal with less plastic pollution and less microplastic.
I first learned about this issue in a school project at Maritime High School. My peers and I learned about microplastics in our ecosystem. We learned about how plastic was invented in World War II to create windshields that wouldn’t shatter and hurt the passengers and driver in the car.
Now plastic is in almost everything from flatscreen TVs to fleece jackets. Plastic has been very important in our lives and almost too important because it just makes things so much easier and you can just throw plastics away and forget about them. These things are so light a small breeze can carry a plastic bag all the way to a beach and if the plastic can make it into the ocean it will join the great pacific garbage patch. Then the ocean will slowly break apart the plastic and will make them microplastics, microplastics are a massive threat to wildlife because most sea animals consume them. So that means that fish and other types of seafood that humans consume contain microplastics. Some solutions are if people recycle and do not use one-use plastics.
There are also bills that will reduce the use of plastic and I think that politicians should support HB 1085 and the WRAP act so that we can protect our ecosystem and wildlife.
I’m writing to spread awareness about plastic pollution in our oceans and lakes, we need to learn how to without plastic so we can keep our environment clean and all the animals in it safe.
Sincerely,
Enzo Conte
Maritime High School
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Thank you Enzo for the information. I am so encouraged to know that there is the Maritime H.S.