Plastics are one of the most versatile of all material and we use them in everyday items such as cars, pens, planes, toothbrushes and the list goes on. But there is a problem, plastics are synthetic and take very long to decompose in landfills so we can’t get rid of them easily. Well, now there is a lot of hype about bio plastics; plastics that are made using corn, potato or other annually renewable sources which are compostable & biodegradable (Glen 2009). Bio-plastics are commonly portrayed as environmentally friendly in terms of the time it take to decompose but there are many more cons to bio-plastics than pros. The cons that outweigh the short decomposing time scale are methane emissions, recycling problems and food price inflation. …show more content…
Furthermore, the bio-plastics create problems for recycling facilities, adding to the plastic problem. Some studies show that bioplastics will contaminate petro plastic recycling if the concentration is higher than 0.1% (1000 ppm) and the recycled material will be useless (About bioplastics 2010). Once the production and use of bioplastics increases, it will be very hard to actually control the concentration of bioplastics in recycling units as it looks the same as petro plastic to consumers (Bioplastics and biodegradable plastics 2010). Therefore, if bioplastics are used on a bigger scale than, it will undermine the current recycling efforts. The only solution to this will be to totally replace petro-plastics with bioplastics but, methane emissions are certainly a big risk. Another, risk is the inflation of food prices if bioplastics are used on a larger scale. As discussed earlier, bioplastics are made using corn starch, potatoes and pea startch and the bioplastics industry is growing every year. The more this industry grows the more demand it will create for these foods. It will be almost like we are farming to grow plastics. Some experts speculate that, by 2014, almost a quarter of US grain production will be turned over to biofuels and bioplastics production, potentially causing a significant rise in food prices (Michael Good 2010). There is already not enough food to go around due to the rising
It was said in that our ocean is becoming one big “wasteland”. The affects that plastic pollution in our oceans have on our future is very simple; the animal deaths will greatly increase, ocean floors will be destroyed, the wildlife of sea animals will greatly change. In my research I found that 25 billion plastic products are not being recycled each year. If plastic is not biodegradable and its 25 billion each year, imagine how much plastic pollution will be in our oceans 10 years from now!
There is rising unease about throwing out plastic products as well as the accumulation of plastic products in our oceans and landfills. This poses problems for all species in the environment, such as animals becoming tangled in smaller products, organisms consuming the products, or transferring chemicals directly to humans in the surrounding environment. Plastic products being dumped into landfills is not sustainable for our present and future environment. A small amount of fossil fuels is being used to create plastic products. The fossil fuels are practically wasted because the products are cheaply made and are thrown out shortly after purchase. Depleting the amount of fossil fuels, rapidly filling up landfills, and manufacturing briefly used plastic products is not sustainable for our environment. Increasing the amount of recycling, cutting down on plastic production, and reducing on the amount of littering are all valuable solutions to cut down the amount of plastic in landfills. (Thompson, Moore, vom Saal,
When evaluating the environmental impact of polyethylene we need to take into consideration the input materials, and the amount of energy and emissions/wastes generated by the production processes. Although polyethylene presents fewer environmental hazards than other polymers, its production requires both hydrocarbons and chlorine; chlorine makes plastic’s impact on the environment even greater that it would if only hydrocarbons were required (Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989). The use of non-renewable resources, chlorine and the energy-intensive nature of the production cycle itself together with the worldwide large-scale production of polyethylene and derivates, approximately 80 million metric tons per year (Piringer & Baner, 2008), make the environmental and human safety impact of polyethylene significant.
In conclusion, it should have been learned that the issue of plastic pollution has become ruinous. The cost of repair and the inconvenience of lifestyle changes cannot compare to the frightful future this planet is headed. At current rates, hazards are not just inflicted on Earth's oceans but individual human health and the other creatures that rightly inhabit this land. With this concern
Plastic bags have been used on a daily basis since 1977 (Williamson, 2003) as a means of carrying items such as groceries as they are not only convenient but also cheap. However, the over-use of plastic bags has posed significant threats to the environment in recent times as they are non-biodegradable and also a threat to wildlife. The primary reason for this concern is that plastics bags are not re-used, but simply disposed of in landfills.
Do you know that it will take 1000 years for a plastic bag to decompose? Our world is the most friendly planet for human beings and every other living thing. We should never take our planet for granted because there is no other like this one and in order for us to keep our planet safe and sound, we should get rid of plastic bags. The other most effective way to keep our planet safe is to recycle every plastic bottle that we used. Every plastic product should not be thrown to the garbage because plastic bottles will take several decades to decompose in soil.
It’s a hot summer day and you’re enjoying your nice, cold, refreshing soda from a plastic bottle. You notice a blue bin labeled for plastic recycling and go to chuck it in however you may want to think twice before you do. Everyone has been told time and time again by teachers, peers, and family alike to recycle once in their life. It’s commonly accepted that recycling materials like paper, glass, and plastics will help our environment and our health. However recycling plastics is far more bad than good to both our health and the environment. Recycling plastics is harmful to the environment and human health and we must find a more responsible way to use plastics, recycle them, or do away with them.
The plastic around the world is building up to become a huge world problem. Each year eight million tons of plastic
People would say that plastic in landfills would just stay there and if we keep on using plastic the waste problem would just worsen. I think that the problem here is why do people put plastics in landfills mixed with biodegradable materials. There are ways to properly recycle plastic. This comes to my third argument for why plastic beats paper. It is better because we could change its physical shape to things we really need. Richard Stein, from the University of Massachusetts, stated that plastics could be melted and formed into different structures such as propellers for wind turbines, food containers and many more [3]. Imagine being able to reuse plastic as long as the quality of it can still be recyclable, but if it isn’t anymore, Richard Stein also suggested that plastic could be converted to energy by burning it since it is made of petroleum [3].
Bio-based polymers are materials which are produced from renewable resources. The terms bio-based and biodegradable will be used repeatedly in the literature, however there is a key difference between the two types of materials. Biodegradable are defined as materials whose physical and chemical attributes will undergo degradation and completely deteriorate when exposed to microorganisms, aerobic processes, anaerobic processes, or both process simultaneously. On the other hand, Bio-based polymers can be biodegradable like polylactic acid or not degradable like biopolyhethylene. Comparably many bio-based polymers are biodegradable, yet not all biodegradable polymers are bio-based.
43% of the plastic is wasted on a global scale by being disposed of in landfills where all it does it
It also leave harmful chemical remains on earth. As compared to normal plastic, biodegradable plastic takes a shorter period of time to decompose. Normal plastic has harmful impacts on the environment such as affecting natural habitats and marine wildlife. In the final report for the department for the Environment Australia, at least 77 species of marine fauna have been recorded as being impacted by plastic debris in Australian waters over the last three decades (2009). The constant rise in biodegradable plastics of global production capacities in figure 4 increases the chances of biodegradable plastic fully replacing plastic as an alternative
With the combination of polymers that don’t biodegrade and mass overproduction, companies are harming the environment in severe ways. Plastic, a material seen everywhere, is a polymer made from oil. It is mass produced to make everything from shampoo bottles to automobiles and does not biodegrade. When it is eventually thrown out, the waste usually finds it way into the ocean, where it is either buried under sediment or eaten by marine life (Weisman 287-295). Creating a material that will ultimately kill marine life will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the
Where does all the plastic go. Every bit of plastic that has been created is still here. This is because plastic is one-hundred percent non-biodegradable! Even the most degraded plastic down to polymers cannot be digested by bacteria (Laist, 1997). If global issues like starvation and climate change are not enough to stress on, the weight of an issue literally churning in the Pacific Ocean is startling. For decades the majority of the world’s population has not been properly educated on the nature of plastic and the potential harm it can do to our environment and our physical health. Due to factors of man and the natural effects of nature, a major problem has developed that is now harming our food.
Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies.