Annotated Bibliography
Lee, Sin Yin (2009) Life Cycle Analysis: Comparing PLA Plastic Food Use Products On The
Basis of Energy Consumption Retrieved from University of British Columbia (https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/21443/SinYinLee_SEEDS_Student_Report.pdf?sequence=1)
The thesis compares two different kinds of PLA food use products, from two different companies, Biodegradable Solutions Energy (BLA) and Biodegradable Food Services. In the essay, the author compares their energy consumption to see which one is better for the environment. At the end of thesis Lee comes to the conclusion that BFS used less an energy than BLA. The essay shows how much energy it takes to create and ship the products. This will help me see how much energy is consumed by plastic products. By knowing how much is energy is consumed, it will help me understand plastic utensils effect on the environment.
Zaman, Tarique The Prevalence and Environmental Impact of Single Use Plastic Products Retrieved from Case Western Reserve University.
(http://www.cwru.edu/med/epidbio/mphp439/Single_Use_Plastics.pdf)
This essay talks about plastic’s use and what they are made of. It talks about what constitutes durable, non durable, or packaging/container plastics. It also talks about the toxicity of single use plastics. This essay will be useful, since plastic utensils fall into single use plastics, which it talks about in great detail. It will also be useful because it’ll show me the utensils effect on the environment, like “Because of their intermolecular bonds some plastics may persist in the environment for thousands of years.”
Fahrenthold, David A. and Sonmez, Felicia (2011 ,March 5) In the House, compostable utensils replaced with old-fashioned plastic Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030406403_2.html
This article talks about the government resorting to non biodegradable plastics for use inside the house cafeteria. They tried using biodegradable plastics, but they were ineffective. The house just gave up on using more eco-friendly utensils and resorted back to non biodegradable plastics. “He's going to try washable metal utensils in the Rayburn House Office Building cafeteria and try to police them better. And he's considering having all cafeteria trash burned in waste-to-energy plants instead of sent directly to landfills.” This will help my paper because it will show how much the government has not been accomplishing it’s This will help my project, since it will show how the government isn’t really doing anything useful.
Okrand, Cary (April 14, 2008) Cut your use of Plastic, Plastic, Plastic Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved from
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ecocenter/How_to_Tuesday_Cut_Your_Use_of_Plastic_Plastic_Plastic.html
This article talks about about how we should start reducing our plastic. It tells us we need to do more than recycling. It gives us examples of how to lower the amount of plastic we use. This article will help my paper since it gives examples of things to use instead of plastic utensils. It helped me understand how much plastic we use and waste today.
Plastic Cups and Cutlery How It’s Made Discovery Channel 2004 Television.
This episode of How It’s Made details how plastic cups and cutlery are made. It tells us what they are made of. It also shows the process of what machines make them and the process of making them. This will help my project by showing me what chemicals are used to create plastic utensils and the beginning of their life cycle. This helped me understand how plastic utensils are made and will show m the first step of the plastic forks life cycle.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2006) Lowell Folk Recycling Festival Recycling Program retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/rogo/documents/lowell.pdf
This article talks about a recycling festival held in Massachusetts. It talks about problems and solutions to problems. It also talks about the many ways to help the environment, like recycling and composting. “First held in 1987, the annual Lowell Folk Festival draws more than 200,000 people to Lowell, Massachusetts, for the last weekend of July.” This will help my paper since it gives many options to use instead of using plastic utensils. It also helped understand that there are many things you can use instead of plastic utensils and that you can use plastic utensils for different things. “In 1999, a contractor performed an informal waste assessment by interviewing vendors and visually observing trash can contents. As expected, most of the waste consisted of polystyrene food and beverage containers, as well as plastic food service items such as straws and plastic utensils” This is evidence for how widespread plastic utensils are used.
Päster, P (December 4, 2011) Ask Pablo: Metal vs. Plastic Cutlery Treehugger Retrieved from
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/ask-pablo-metal-vs-plastic-cutlery.html
This web page compares and contrasts metal and plastic utensils. It talks about how much energy each one uses. He also talks about the life cycle of a plastic utensil. It also compares and contrasts reusable cutlery to plastic cutlery come to the conclusion that “In most cases the reusable cutlery and the dishwasher will win over disposables.” This will help my article since I need a life cycle to show how it begins and where it ends up. This will help me understand plastic utensils lasting effect on the earth, like how they will end up in a dump and will take thousands of years to corrode. It also gives an example of something to use instead of plastic utensils: metal utensils. It also tells that plastic utensils aren’t recyclable.
Brennan, John Should You Reuse Plastic Utensils? SFGate Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/should-reuse-plastic-utensils-79713.html
This article talks about reusing plastic cutlery, what happens to cutlery after you throw it away, and what they are made of. “Plastic forks and knives are only good for up to a week, at which point they're too dirty for reuse.” It tells that they end up in landfills and that they are made up of polystyrene, which comes from oil. This will be useful since it tells me that reusing plastic utensils is unsafe. I can also say that we are just wasting oil, since the plastics are made polystyrene, “which is made from oil”-How It’s Made. Lastly, it gives examples on what to use instead of examples.
Lee, Sin Yin (2009) Life Cycle Analysis: Comparing PLA Plastic Food Use Products On The
Basis of Energy Consumption Retrieved from University of British Columbia (https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/21443/SinYinLee_SEEDS_Student_Report.pdf?sequence=1)
The thesis compares two different kinds of PLA food use products, from two different companies, Biodegradable Solutions Energy (BLA) and Biodegradable Food Services. In the essay, the author compares their energy consumption to see which one is better for the environment. At the end of thesis Lee comes to the conclusion that BFS used less an energy than BLA. The essay shows how much energy it takes to create and ship the products. This will help me see how much energy is consumed by plastic products. By knowing how much is energy is consumed, it will help me understand plastic utensils effect on the environment.
Zaman, Tarique The Prevalence and Environmental Impact of Single Use Plastic Products Retrieved from Case Western Reserve University.
(http://www.cwru.edu/med/epidbio/mphp439/Single_Use_Plastics.pdf)
This essay talks about plastic’s use and what they are made of. It talks about what constitutes durable, non durable, or packaging/container plastics. It also talks about the toxicity of single use plastics. This essay will be useful, since plastic utensils fall into single use plastics, which it talks about in great detail. It will also be useful because it’ll show me the utensils effect on the environment, like “Because of their intermolecular bonds some plastics may persist in the environment for thousands of years.”
Fahrenthold, David A. and Sonmez, Felicia (2011 ,March 5) In the House, compostable utensils replaced with old-fashioned plastic Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030406403_2.html
This article talks about the government resorting to non biodegradable plastics for use inside the house cafeteria. They tried using biodegradable plastics, but they were ineffective. The house just gave up on using more eco-friendly utensils and resorted back to non biodegradable plastics. “He's going to try washable metal utensils in the Rayburn House Office Building cafeteria and try to police them better. And he's considering having all cafeteria trash burned in waste-to-energy plants instead of sent directly to landfills.” This will help my paper because it will show how much the government has not been accomplishing it’s This will help my project, since it will show how the government isn’t really doing anything useful.
Okrand, Cary (April 14, 2008) Cut your use of Plastic, Plastic, Plastic Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved from
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ecocenter/How_to_Tuesday_Cut_Your_Use_of_Plastic_Plastic_Plastic.html
This article talks about about how we should start reducing our plastic. It tells us we need to do more than recycling. It gives us examples of how to lower the amount of plastic we use. This article will help my paper since it gives examples of things to use instead of plastic utensils. It helped me understand how much plastic we use and waste today.
Plastic Cups and Cutlery How It’s Made Discovery Channel 2004 Television.
This episode of How It’s Made details how plastic cups and cutlery are made. It tells us what they are made of. It also shows the process of what machines make them and the process of making them. This will help my project by showing me what chemicals are used to create plastic utensils and the beginning of their life cycle. This helped me understand how plastic utensils are made and will show m the first step of the plastic forks life cycle.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2006) Lowell Folk Recycling Festival Recycling Program retrieved from
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/rogo/documents/lowell.pdf
This article talks about a recycling festival held in Massachusetts. It talks about problems and solutions to problems. It also talks about the many ways to help the environment, like recycling and composting. “First held in 1987, the annual Lowell Folk Festival draws more than 200,000 people to Lowell, Massachusetts, for the last weekend of July.” This will help my paper since it gives many options to use instead of using plastic utensils. It also helped understand that there are many things you can use instead of plastic utensils and that you can use plastic utensils for different things. “In 1999, a contractor performed an informal waste assessment by interviewing vendors and visually observing trash can contents. As expected, most of the waste consisted of polystyrene food and beverage containers, as well as plastic food service items such as straws and plastic utensils” This is evidence for how widespread plastic utensils are used.
Päster, P (December 4, 2011) Ask Pablo: Metal vs. Plastic Cutlery Treehugger Retrieved from
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/ask-pablo-metal-vs-plastic-cutlery.html
This web page compares and contrasts metal and plastic utensils. It talks about how much energy each one uses. He also talks about the life cycle of a plastic utensil. It also compares and contrasts reusable cutlery to plastic cutlery come to the conclusion that “In most cases the reusable cutlery and the dishwasher will win over disposables.” This will help my article since I need a life cycle to show how it begins and where it ends up. This will help me understand plastic utensils lasting effect on the earth, like how they will end up in a dump and will take thousands of years to corrode. It also gives an example of something to use instead of plastic utensils: metal utensils. It also tells that plastic utensils aren’t recyclable.
Brennan, John Should You Reuse Plastic Utensils? SFGate Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/should-reuse-plastic-utensils-79713.html
This article talks about reusing plastic cutlery, what happens to cutlery after you throw it away, and what they are made of. “Plastic forks and knives are only good for up to a week, at which point they're too dirty for reuse.” It tells that they end up in landfills and that they are made up of polystyrene, which comes from oil. This will be useful since it tells me that reusing plastic utensils is unsafe. I can also say that we are just wasting oil, since the plastics are made polystyrene, “which is made from oil”-How It’s Made. Lastly, it gives examples on what to use instead of examples.