Can we live without plastic

6 Minute English

语言学习

2023-12-14

6 分钟
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  • Neil: I'm Neil.

  • Beth: And I'm Beth.

  • 'Plastic is fantastic!'

  • This phrase was used a lot in the 1950s

  • when mass-produced plastic items started to become part of our everyday lives.

  • The following decades saw a revolution

  • as plastic became the most commonly used material in modern life,

  • found in everything from cars to furniture to packaging.

  • Take a quick look around

  • and you'll soon see how many everyday items contain plastic.

  • Neil: But now our love of plastic is being questioned,

  • mostly thanks to climate change and pollution caused by single-use plastics –

  • plastic products which are designed to be used just once before being thrown away.

  • 11 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into our oceans every year.

  • It's believed that single-use plastics make up 40% of all plastic pollution globally.

  • Beth: What's more, it's not just land and water being polluted –

  • tiny plastic pieces known as microbeads have even been found inside the human body,

  • and can be passed from mother to child through breast milk.

  • And because plastic comes from fossil fuels,

  • the process of making it creates problems at every stage,