Documentary:

Trashed by Jeremy Irons

Reflection

As I have seen in the video, rubbish from different parts of the world
is just so overflowing that finding a place where else to dump it is already a
big question. On second thought, a bigger question comes to my mind: Is
there still any place without rubbish?
In the film, the beach in Lebanon became a mountain of trash and the
river in Indonesia is swimming with rubbish. I also witness the improper
disposal of trash in my surroundings. Trash can be seen scattered in the
streets that would make you think of how undisciplined some people can be
for them to just leave their trash wherever they please.
Paul Cornett, a professor of Chemistry, said in the film: You dont
have to be a rocket scientist to know that you cannot have infinite growth
against finite resources. I agree with his statement. Every year, we throw
away 200 billion plastic bottles, 58 billion disposable cups and billions of
plastic bags. We live every single day using commodities wherein after
consumption, would leave plastic, cardboard, or waste without being
mindful of how it accumulates over time. An example is when you buy a
memory card so small and yet the packaging is so big for its size. After
taking the memory card, the packaging would now then be thrown as it is
already useless. Thus, it contributes to the piles of trash we already have.
To put it in simple terms, we are being wasteful.
The thing that strikes me most of the documentary is how the rubbish
that we throw comes back to us. For us, we think of our trash being
eliminated when we have disposed it from our homes and after the dump
truck have picked it up. Although our trash was already collected, it will just
be placed to an area where it will accumulate and decompose over a long
period of time. As shown in the film, may it be through landfill or
incineration, the trash through combustion, would produce dioxin. Dioxin is
a combination of carbon, oxygen, and chlorine which is a toxic chemical.
The effect of exposure to high levels of dioxin, as shown in the film, is how
it could interfere with hormones, affect growth, and damage the immune
system.

The effect of trash to marine life is quite bothering. Killer whales were
shown to have high levels of toxic waste. Marine animals are already
ingesting plastic and get tangled up by trash in the ocean. A lot of these
creatures are dying and becomes intoxicated because of the rubbish we
have thrown into rivers and sea.
At the latter part of the film, it can be observed that above all the
garbage problem the world is confronting, there is still a way on how we
could face this. This is through recycling. It was shown how in San
Francisco, California, USA, trashes are being segregated from
biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Then, plastics, papers and metals
are separated. With their recycling, they get to employ people from their
community and sell the segregated trash to be turned to another product
like compost and plastic products. To organise a system that will cut the
amount of waste we produce, both domestically and industrially, and to
mount a campaign to encourage us to recycle and re-use.
I agree with the film promoting recycling as possibly the best way to
regulate trash because it promotes sustainability. In this manner, the
harmful effect of incineration and landfill is avoided. Incineration burns the
trash and produces dioxin. Some incinerators around the world like the one
in Iceland was closed due to the high level of toxic waste its ash produces
which is pointed as the cause of the farm animals and people nearby
getting sick.
We have seen a shopkeeper in London whose store doesnt use
packaging; your foodstuffs are available in bulk instead and you only take
exactly what you need. It can also be seen that the participation of the
members of the community in promulgating and supporting the no-use of
plastic is very helpful. If all the people would bring their own bags and
containers, there would surely be a great reduction in plastic waste alone. It
will only take discipline for people to do this until this would become a habit.
I, myself, avoid using too much plastic.
It is still a long way before we could totally lessen and clean-up our
surroundings. We, as individual consumers, must take responsibility and
put in mind the things we consume to help out with waste management.
Everyone should be an advocate of responsible disposal of trash. We
would all benefit from this. It would develop sustainability in our society.
Our environmental battle from trash, the pollution that it gives off can be
solved.