Topic：“To use or not to use. That is the question.”
Wendy Wu. 93.10.05
“To be or not to be. That is the question.”
In William Shakespeare's drama, “Hamlet, the prince said “To be or not to be. That is the question.”
Good afternoon, fellow toastmasters and guests.
Today, my topic is “To use or not to use. That is the question”
“To use plastic containers or not” that is the question and it is a matter of life and death. Imagine there are no more sounds of kids in the world, we human beings can no longer bear children in the world, and we disappear from the earth. It has been reported that an average of one out of three people will have cancer in his/her life and every 6 minutes one person will die from cancer.
Why？ Because there are many carcinogens (致癌物) and endocrine disruptors (內分泌干擾素)in our environment. How come? Let’s check what is happening to our lives.
Do you really think using plastics is (these are) very convenient？
Sure! Probably！！But！！When you choose to use plastics, you are choosing to live or to die.
Don’t be afraid of this table！ We don't need to know these awkward words. All we have to do is to recognize these recycling marks and make a smart choice, and then we will be safe and sound. I think most of you know that plastics come from petroleum and it takes hundreds of millions years to form it. So, if we use petroleum without limit, it will be used up pretty soon, maybe in 30 years. Moreover, have you ever noticed where does plastic trash go？ We either burn it or bury it. On one hand, if we burn it, toxins will release. On the other hand, how about burying it？ Then it will never ever disappear！ So, our grandchildren will end up living on plastics mountains！Can you imagine how terrible would be！
For our grandchildren's sake, let's learn how to recognize the recycling marks on the plastics. No.2 and 4 are PE, no.5 is PP. Here, so many bottles belong to these three groups. No.2, 4, and 5 are basically not toxic. Basically—that means not quite.
Here are two no.5 bottles. We just said that no.5 is basically not toxic, right? Well, plastic factories add a little of this and a little of that to make it soft, translucent or colorful. What they add are--- toxins！
These water bottles belong to no.1 PET. No.1 is almost not toxic, but in high temperature it will release toxin. These toxins can make us sick or die. So we highly recommend: Don’t use no.1 plastic as containers for hot food or drinks. And don’t use no.1 plastic for wine, because wine will release toxins from plastics.
Poly-styloform (保麗龍) and the cups for soy bean milk(豆漿杯) are no.6 PS. If we put hot drinks in the no.6 container, there comes--- toxin--- again!
To play it safe, let’s bring our own cups to buy hot drinks.
The most dangerous is no.3 PVC, which contain chloride. It releases toxins at room temperature. Plastics containing chloride will release Dioxins(戴奧辛), a deadly poison when burned. Not only do Dioxins harm our body but also have bad effects on our environment. PVDC is the same. It contains two chlorides and even a stronger toxicity. I believe you have these in your kitchen, one is PE wrap, and the other is PVDC wrap. Although some producers claim that PVDC wrap has higher heat durability than PE wrap, but actually PVDC is more toxic to the body and environment. The fact is: Don’t use plastic wrap, it is better to use a glass bottle or glass cover instead.
No. 7 plastic means unknown constituent elements. It is better not to use it.
As they say “knowledge is power.” To know these plastics help us to choose the right from the wrong, to stay healthy and be happy. Let’s get into a habit of looking for the recycle marks before we make a decision “to use or not to use”. Only choose no. 2, 4, or some no. 5 plastics to use. Do not keep hot drinks or wine in no.1 plastics. Ask (demand-this word is stronger) producers to list the constituent elements and additives on their products.
There are also 4 important R’s to bear in mind: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Refuse.
1. Refuse à Try not to use plastic containers.
2. Reduceà If you really have to use it, please try to reduce your usage.
3. Reuseà If some of them can be reuse, please do it！！
4. Recycleà After using it, please don’t put it in the garbage can. Please recycle it. (Here are many products recycle from plastics, please take a look, in the intermission.)
So, “To use or not to use. That is the question.” What is your decision？