Plastic is a strong, light in weight and can be moulded into different forms. Right from 1950’s it has become an essential element in the daily life and its production has increased exponentially from 1.5 million tons per year during 1950’s to more than 400 million tons now. These days plastics are used in almost all the products, say products related to health, nutrition, transportation, security, leisure activities, communication, shelter and what not. Simply elaborating, from the time you wakes up to the time you sleep, you deal with plastic for almost all the time during different activities. The popularity is due to the low production cost, low weight, flexibility, acid resistance etc.
As the amount of consumption is increasing, the problems with plastic also keep on increasing. Presently, the world per capita consumption of plastic in around 35kg. Fifty percent of this plastic waste comes from packaging industry and remaining most from the household. A large part of plastics turns in garbage. This trend would continue as the global plastic consumption skyrockets in coming 10 to 15 years. Today, mountains of plastic is getting piled up in land fill areas. As the landfill zone are piled up, due to further unavailability, this garbage ends up in oceans. Before this problem grows to beyond controllable level, holistic a solutions shall be identified and implemented. Tackling this environmental terror will require governments to regulate, businesses to innovate and individuals to act.
A Landfill consisting plastics
Generally, plastics don’t decompose. Instead, they slowly break down into fragments. Plastic bags and containers are made of polystyrene foam commonly known as Styrofoam. The plastics which mostly found in the environment are single-use plastics, like cigarette butts, Plastic water bottles, bottle caps, food wraps, grocery bags and take away containers. Because of treating plastics as disposable material, problems with plastics go on increasing.
Plastics block waterways, clog sewers and will become breeding ground for mosquitoes and increase vector-borne diseases like malaria. Not only these plastic bags were found blocking airways and stomachs of hundreds of species. Aquatic animals often mistake the plastics as their food and absorb them, and becomes victim to it. From whale, sea lions and birds to microorganisms like zooplankton, plastic has been and is affecting the life of onshore and offshore animals. ‘Plastic debris in the world oceans’ Green Peace report published in 2006 stated that at least 267 species have suffered from ingestion and mess caused by plastic debris. Every year plastic debris is killing multiple numbers of birds, fishes and other animals.
Turtle consuming plastic
There is evidence of toxic chemicals added during manufacture of plastic transfer into animal tissue, eventually entering into the human food chain. Styrofoam products contain benzene and styrene. These are highly toxic and carcinogenic if ingested, and damages the nervous system, lungs and reproductive organs. Also, toxins in Styrofoam containers can be transferred to foods and drinks and risk seem to increase while reheating the food when still in the container. Burning of plastics in open air releases toxic gases like furan and dioxin. When plastic breaks down into microplastic particles it becomes very difficult to remove it from open oceans. Plastic clogging the drains may pose to devastating floods (an example is 1988 floods in Bangladesh) causing deaths to many.
In developing countries, littering of plastics can lead to apparent Welfare losses associated for instance to the visual disrespect of a park being contaminated with litter. Plastics create pollution and are increasingly becoming a priority for the countries which rely on tourism as a major economic source. Asia Pacific countries through APEC estimated an impact of $1.3 billion on tourism,, fishing and shipping industries of that region. On other hand, Styrofoam products cannot be recycled in a local setup and be transported to centralised setup. This makes Styrofoam recycle financially unviable. In addition to the above issues, Styrofoam is air and making it not cost effective to store and transport for recycling. The costs of accumulating plastics stand higher than preventing littering today. Some studies suggest that impact on world marine ecosystem is around $13 billion every year.
Plastic pollution in Oceans
To overcome this issue, better waste management systems shall be adopted and reuse of plastics shall be encouraged. The ban on single-use plastics can counter some of the symptoms of plastic overuse. Circular thinking needs to be adopted to design, produce, distribute, consume, reuse/repair and recycle.
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