Strong, lightweight, and moldable, plastics are used in thousands of products that add comfort, convenience, and safety to our everyday lives. Plastics in carpets, blankets, and pillows keep us comfortable in our homes. Plastics in bottles and coolers allow us to take food and drinks with us anywhere. Plastics in portable electronic devices let us access the Internet or communicate with family and friends on the go. Plastics in sports players’ helmets and police officers’ bullet-proof vests keep them safe.
Plastics and Packaging
Plastic’s light weight, strength, and ability to be molded into any form makes it an ideal packaging material. Rigid plastic keeps fragile items secure and flexible plastic makes easy-to-carry bags. Plastic is used for food and non-food packaging. Foods stay fresh longer when packed in plastic, which reduces waste by reducing the amount of spoiled food that must be discarded and decreases the amount of preservatives needed to keep food fresh. Advances in plastic technology has made plastic packaging more efficient: the average packaging weight for a product has been reduced over 28 percent in the last decade. Plastic packaging is convenient for consumers: clear plastic lets shoppers view the item they are purchasing and plastic packaging is easy to open. Plastic packaging protects food, medicine, and other products from contamination and germs when it is displayed and handled. Plastic also protects consumers. Tamper-proof packaging keeps consumers safe and child-proof packaging keeps children safe from accidental poisoning by medications or chemicals. Plastic is shatter-proof, which reduces the potential for injury from broken items.
Plastics and Transportation
Because plastic is both lightweight and durable, it makes an ideal material for manufacturing cars, trucks, and other vehicles. Plastics make up ten percent of new vehicle’s total weight, and over 50 percent of their volume. Steering wheels, door liners, and stereo components are made of plastic, as are less visible parts, such as engine components. As plastic technology advances, many car companies envision using more plastic to lighten the weight of cars and trucks to make them more fuel-efficient. For every ten percent reduction in weight, a car or truck will save five to seven percent in fuel usage. Reduction in vehicle weight translates into a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions: every pound of vehicle weight that can be eliminated means 25.3 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions are saved over the vehicle’s life.
Plastics also make vehicles safer and more comfortable. Life-saving seat belts and airbags are made of plastic. Plastic padded pumpers, door frames, foam door panel inserts, plastic foam filled roof supports, and pillars are structural components that keep occupants safer during a crash. Molded plastic fuel tanks are less likely to split apart during a collision and shatter-proof headlights are less likely to break. The windshield of most cars contains a layer of plastic between two sheets of glass, which makes the windshield less likely to break during a collision. Plastics are also used to make the seats and dashboards more attractive and easy to use. Interior features of vehicles, such as carpets, are often made of recycled PET plastics, giving new life to used plastic beverage containers.
Plastics and Energy Efficiency
Plastics can make your home more energy-efficient. Plastic sealants and caulks can seal up window leaks and plastic foam weather stripping can make doors and windows draft-free. Clear plastic sheeting for windows improves insulation and decreases drafts in the winter. Plastic blinds, window shades, and drapes help insulate windows by keeping out the sun in warm months to keep the house cooler and by keeping in heat during the winter months. Plastic awnings and reflective films also help shade the home. Many brands of high efficiency LED light bulbs are made from recycled plastic. Plastic insulation in the walls, floors, attic, and roof of your home keeps heat in during the winter and out during the summer, which saves you energy and money on your heating and cooling. Plastic foam spray fills large and small holes in walls, doors, and attics.
Plastics in Sports
Plastics are used in many sports to increase athlete efficiency and safety. Plastic helmets—used in many sports, from football to skateboarding—made from molded polycarbonate with interior plastic foam padding reduce head injuries and concussions. Mouth guards reduce injury to the teeth, jaw, and mouth during collisions and plastic foam pads protect players’ shoulders, hips, tailbones, knees, and thighs from injury. Plastic foam pads down and distance markers in football and foam-wrapped goalposts protect players from injury during accidental collisions. Soccer players play with a plastic foam ball and polypropylene netting and benefit from foam shin guards, latex foam goalie gloves, and light-weight cleats. Even the turf of a football or soccer field may be made of plastic, which reduces water and fertilizer use and is recyclable. Plastic has many other uses in sports—from tennis players’ lightweight and strong rackets to beach volleyball’s wound nylon and plastic ball and runners’ shock-absorbing shoes.
Plastics and Medicine
Plastics increase the efficiency and hygiene of medicine from the surgery suite to the physician’s office. Plastic syringes and tubing are disposable to reduce disease transmission. Plastic intravenous blood, fluid, and medicine bags let health care workers more easily view dosages and replacement needs. Plastic heart valves and knee and hip joints save lives and make patients’ lives more comfortable. Plastic prosthesis help amputees regain function and improve their quality of life. Pill capsules made of plastic ensure correct dosage release in the body over time, which lets patients take fewer pills. Plastic catheters and balloons allow doctors to open blocked blood vessels and insert plastic vessel supports to keep them open and dissolve harmful deposits. In addition to plastic eyeglass lenses, contact lenses, and eyeglass frames, plastics help victims of eye injuries or disease see again: silicone artificial corneas can restore patients’ vision. Molded plastic hearing aids assist people with hearing loss to fully participate in conversations again.
Plastics in Electronics
Plastic’s strength, light weight, and moldability have revolutionized electronics. Plastic cables and cords on everything from computers to paper shredders keep electronics powered. Plastic insulation for cables and electrical equipment keeps equipment cool and protects users from over-heating. Household appliances, from toasters to DVD players, use plastic to make them lightweight and affordable. The liquid crystalline plastics in LCD flat screen televisions give beautiful pictures and save energy, using less power than traditional cathode ray tube screens. The touch screens on mobile phones, computers, and other electronics are made of polycarbonate film. The tiny microphones in mobile phones are made of polymers for their shock-resistance. Handsets and earpieces are lighter and more comfortable because of plastics.
Bad or Health
The modern lifestyle is focused on people who are always on the move. For this reason, food is available in cans, plastic containers, and other materials. The more people make use of these items, the higher the rate at which they accumulate the amount of garbage on the planet. Among the most stubborn forms of garbage are plastics. They do not rot as naturally as their other counterparts. Also, when burned up, they emit fumes which contain very harmful chemicals. Here, we focus on the ways plastics affect the planet we call home.
There are some negative things about plastic which has to be considered equally like advantages. Plastic items can’t tolerate high temperatures and releases harmful gases (at high temp.) which cause pollution. Plastic is not easily disposable and it will take thousands of years to completely dispose in soil. This result in other harmful things like blockage of water (resulting floods), death of animals, birds because of eating plastic etc. which are serious concerns of several environmental activists. Even the process of making plastic by industries releases heavy amounts of carbon dioxide.
There are so many advantages with plastic and it has to be used carefully and within the limitations to protect environment. Plastic is recyclable and hence instead of disposing it, everybody must take initiative to recycle so that the effect of plastic on environment will be less. Recycling of plastic not only helps environment but also gives you money. Several governments are making regulatory laws to regulate the use of plastic and several NGO’s from all over the world are trying to create awareness among people about plastic. Presently plastic accounts 10% of waste which is a serious concern of several environmental activists. It has to be reduced substantially for better future.
Sources of Plastic Pollutants
Each day, we release plastics to the environment in ways we do not expect.
- Trash
Trash is everyday materials such as plastic bags,water bottles, milk packets, and electronic parts and so on. High impact plastics find their way to the environment in many different ways including when you ‘innocently’ through a water bottle to the dustbin in town. You may even have an item such as cloth but not recognize the fact that the buttons are made of plastic.
- Overuse of Plastic
It may not be a surprise to recognize the fact that plastics are among the most used material on the planet. The fact that they are among the cheapest and most commonly available materials makes them among the most dangerous pollutants on the planet. The harmful effects of plastics may include the introduction of inorganic materials in the soil and harmful gasses in the atmosphere when it is burned, but plastics do more than that as they have compounds that may cause diseases to people and animals. When they find their way into waterways and other areas, they may harm the users of the water including marine life.
- Fishing Activities
Fishing activities require a lot of equipment such as nets which are mostly made of plastics. When the nets break down, they are often left to stay in the water. Also, the fact that the nets stay in water means that they emit toxins at will. High impact plastics are the worst of them all since their level of harm to the environment is higher than the other types of plastics. The harmful effects of plastics on the environment will depend on the materials that went into their making.
- Used Plastics
Impact plastics are those that continue to release toxins into the environment even after their use. High impact plastics are those whose level of chemicals released is higher than the others. When plastics are used and either disposed of or recycled, they will still release their toxic substances to the environment. People make the mistake of thinking that recycling is the solution to the issue of pollution from plastics when it is not. Even the recycling process for plastics is very costly and will lead to the release of some of the gasses that are released when the plastics are burned.
Pollution from Plastics affects the Natural Food Chain
Among the harmful effects of plastics is that they affect the natural order of feeding. They affect from the large animals to the microscopic plankton which is the main type of food eaten by fish and other aquatic lifeforms. Plastics will affect every part of the food chain to the extent that even the large animals in the food chain will be affected. They may be directly affected by feeding on plastic toxins or indirectly by lacking the food to eat after the plastics have killed the animals down in the chain.
Plastics Pollute sources of Water
A large part of the water we drink is transported through the ground through pipes and other methods. The plastics in the dumpsite will mix, resulting in high impact plastic and seep into the ground and into most sources of ground water. The harmful effects of plastics can be passed through the ground to the body through various ways like the water explained here. For most people, ground water is assumed to be safe for drinking when the reality is far from that. Unless it has been treated and approved for human consumption, do not attempt to drink it as you will be taking in lots of poisons.
Air and Land Pollution
Plastics have chemicals that can be transported through water and air to various locations that they can harm the people who come into contact with them. For all one may know, the plastic items in the home may not harm them during their use, but once they are burned or disposed of, they will have such a big impact on the environment that they have been declared among the most impactful of pollutants on the planet. One needs to focus on their impact on land, water, and the air to avoid their polluting effect.
Verdict
Finally, plastic is like a double edged sword and we must use it carefully to avoid future complications and environmental problems. Even methods suggested by plastic companies like burying deep in the earth will also have its own implications on environment. So plastic companies and plastic users have to use it cautiously. Plastic must be used according to our needs but not for our luxuries.
With the high number of plastics on the planet and in everyday use, there are measures put in place to stop their pollution on the environment. First of all is the issue of recycling. Recycling will ensure that the plastics do not find their way to the ground or sources of water to impact it in negative ways. It is the responsibility of everyone to take the plastic to the right locations for recycling or other use that will not affect the people around the area. This is the best way of dealing with the plastics.
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