Speeches! Lately at school we have been writing speeches and I'd like you to read it.

Over the past two weeks room 3 has been writing speeches to persuade the audience. My chosen topic is: Is The Plastic Problem Really That Bad? Enjoy.

Is The Plastic Problem Really That Bad?

Looking around, you see everyday objects that you use, Right? As you already know, most of those objects are made of plastic. And we all know by now plastic is slowly killing the environment, so why are we still using these objects?

Polymer chains, which are turned into plastic, can be made from a variety of things; mostly carbon and hydrogen, and sometimes oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine, fluorine, or silicon. Most of these things are drilled from beneath the surface of the earth. Once it’s made, plastic is turned into the things you see around you.

Fifty per cent of plastic is made for single use, like a plastic bag. Plastic bags are usually tossed into your trash can once they have completed their mission of delivering the groceries in, while others are left abandoned on the ground.

The plastic that is taken by the local garbage truck is either taken to a recycling centre or taken to a landfill.  When taken to a recycling plant, the plastic is shredded into small pieces, washed thoroughly, then heated and turned back into the plastic we use. On the other, bad hand, the plastic that is taken to landfills are dumped into a large hole in the ground and left there to rot.

As clouds close over the landfills, they fill with water, and that water eventually turns into a toxic bath that leaks everywhere. The toxic chemicals from the plastic items in the landfills meet with the fresh water and, mingle. The chemicals and water create a toxic slush that easily leaks into the dirt, and contaminates all water sources around it until there are no water sources around the landfill to contaminate. Farmer's herds and crops fall ill with diseases leaving farmers desperate for some of their produce to survive.

Plastics that find their way to the ocean stay there for a long time, like in 1992, when a cargo ship heading to Hong Kong unexpectedly crashed, spilling 28,000 bath toys into the ocean. It’s been thirty years since that incident and even now bath toys are still showing up on beaches.

Aside from that, plastic straws won’t be completely destroyed for about 500 years, while plastic bags can last up to 1000 years before they are completely gone. While in the ocean, plastic waste breaks apart into microplastics, smaller pieces of plastic that fish easily eat.  The microplastics stay in a creature's digestive system, causing its brain to think it’s full, which leads to the creature dying of starvation.

On average 100,000 marine creatures a year die from plastic entanglement and these are the ones found. Approximately 1 million seabirds also die from plastic. Did I mention that there are gigantic garbage patches bigger than Texas floating in ocean regions, like the great Pacific garbage patch? Many sea creatures and sea birds take plastic from the patches and eat them.

This leads to my final conclusion, the plastic problem really is that bad, and at the moment we should be turning off the tap to the factories that make plastic and use alternatives… It's time to act, our future depends on it, so what do you say, will you go plastic free?

Please share your thoughts about my speech below. Thank you for reading. :)