How the Society Has Changed Due to the Presence of Plastic and Tins

Towards an effort to trace the power of the things we relate to, love and think with everyday, Turkle collects a number of works from a larger spectrum of scientists, designers, humanists and artists. The works have hugely shown an emotional and intellectual companions humans have on objects that would anchor memory, provoke new ideas, and sustain relationships(Turkle, 2007).

The work by Anwar Accawi depicts from the onset a mixed reaction of the people living in the village of Magdaluna (the tiny Lebanese hamlet which was his childhood home) on the issue of the introduction of plastics and tins into their village. The evocative objects perspective of Turkle tends to hold much of its relevance at this point when the introduction of plastics and tins in the village of Magdaluna erupts an emotional companions and a sense of anchoring memory (Turkle, 2007). That is, the connection human beings get into with objects in their lives. A groups of people would put it that life had completely with the introduction of the plastics and the tins as others would hold a different opinion all together over the entire scenario.

Accawi narrates that of course things were not the same again after the tin and plastics came into their lives.As Accawi’s dad explained, the tins helped the English in ensuring that their food was kept without going bad for quite some good time.

On the other hand, Accawi finds light to be another object of human development in a number of ways. He connects the aspect of light with human way of light and the aspect of life light symbolizes.As Turkle writes, an intimate object like light in this case of Accawi reflects on larger themes –that is the role of the objects in discipline and desire, design and play, mourning and memory, meditation and new vision, history and exchange(Accawi, 2004). Accawi feels that light was not justmerely light but could also bear great meaning in this life, cripple the heart, or even foretell the future, if only for  amoment. Light became a greater aspect of hope in the community as boys were expected to be men, be able to buy themselves great items in life and become an asset to the society in general. That was the most profound way of seeing light as a significant symbol of bright and great task to accomplish in life(Turkle, 2007).

Accawi’s accounts of the arrival of canned goods and those items which were made out of plastic and how they brought a lot of changes in the lives of the Lebanese community in which he lived give a vivid picture of change and scope of life they had to take altogether as a result of such introductions. The cans constituted the village’s very first trash-disposal problem. The items made from the plastics brought with them totally different ways and means of doing things. He says that he could not drink milk then due to the taste of the containers he could feeling while drinking. This was different when he used waxed-paper containers or even glass as he could not feel any of such taste. He further pinpoints that the taste imparted by the plastic-lined cartons was not so off-putting as compared to what the newer plastic items threw off(Accawi, 2004).

Accawi points out in his work the cost of waste management that has come along with the introduction the plastic and tins in the Lebanese community. He say that the experience of Sukleen, which is the Lebanon’s largest waste management company, operating in the Great Beirut and Mount Lebanon, attesting to such associated costs. The company, though having placed designated recycling bins at specific 45 locations throughout their area of operation and with all that availability of the specialized containers for glass, paper, cans and plastics remained mistreated and under-utilized. The designing of these special trash can was to ensure that citizens could sort their recycling waste into the two categories of cardboard and paper, and tin, plastics and glass. This would facilitate a designed content collection and directly taken for recycling, though, people put inappropriate waste in the designed bins, making their contents non-recyclable.

On a positive note, plastics have not inherently been depicted by Accawi to be bad for the Lebanese community. The plastics have a number of redeeming ecological features with various techniques utilized in the designs involve targeted use of plastic products. The items made from plastics have great durability and also low maintenance which reduce the material replacement, the light weight reduces shipping energy, they form into glue products which allow for the creation of the engineered sheet and lumber products from the recycled wood, and ability of them to formulate into sealant and insulation products improves the energy performance of structures.

Lastly, Accawi notes on the toxic chemical release at the time of plastics manufacturing which significantly comprised the source of negative environmental impact (Accawi, 2004). Neurotoxic, hormone disruptive chemicals and carcinogenic are standard waste products and ingredients of plastic production which finally find their way into the ecology through air, land and water.

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