Plastic vs. Styrofoam

For the Community Engagement and Art Project I went to the Dockweiler Beach cleanup and to the Peck Road Park. At first I was really astonished by the view and the beauty of both the beach and the park looked. From far away it was very peaceful and relaxing. When starting the cleanup, the amount of trash that was found was not surprising. There was every kind of trash that could be imagined. At Peck Rd there was a lot of plastic bags, styrofoam, paper, cigarette rappers, plastic straws, household items, car parts and cigarette buds. They list just keeps going. The amount of pieces that we all found at Dockweiler Beach was 1,697; 917 being plastic related items and 156 being styrofoam items.

This probably isn’t a surprise because we all use plastic as an everyday need. Water bottles, soda bottles, containers, plastic candy wrappers, plastic bags, garden hose, toys, and also some of our household tubing. I live in an apartment with a two floor building in front and a two floor building in the back, our garages being the first floor. My siblings, my mother and I always clean up our front lawn once a week. We bought a trash can to put in front of our apartment to reduce the amount of trash that is left by some of our neighbors and random people. It has helped out somewhat but the trash is still appearing. My front yard used to be all green and grassy but now it’s just all dry dirt and dead weeds that grow

As much trash as I get at home, it doesn’t compare to the trash that I picked up at the Peck Road and Dockweiler trash pickup. In Dockweiler there was so many bags of chips, plastic bags, and beer bottles. Either plastic, aluminum or glass, they were all hidden in the bushes. I started organizing them from the trash I picked up to take them for my art project, and then others to recycling. Even though it’s very nasty having to grab each of the bottles, it’s better than seeing them swim with the fishes at the lake, the beach or in the ocean.

Styrofoam and plastic bottles are used in my art project because they are the main used material in the world which are contributing to landfill trash and other environmental harms. Animals can digest styrofoam and it’ll clough up their digestive tracts which then can lead to starvation and eventually death. Plastic bottles are very hard to dispose of, when burned in a landfill they don’t breakdown the same as how some other materials breakdown. Each of these items has there advantages. For example styrofoam cups being the more expensive but can help when serving a cold or hot drink. Plastic cups being cheaper then Styrofoam but can’t compare to styrofoam’s reliability. So what I ask of everyone is to use reusable items instead of plastic bags or plastic containers. Also with Styrofoam items, there are different materials that we can substitute them for. Metal containers, ceramic wear, stainless steel or paper plates. My intended affect is to show what our beautiful beaches and parks are being overrun by, things can change and most of the time change is good.