Toxic effects Chlorinated plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other surrounding water sources, and also the ecosystem. This can cause a range of potentially harmful effects on the species that drink the water.
Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems' ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people's livelihoods, food production capabilities and social well-being. UNEP's body of work demonstrates that the problem of plastic pollution doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics. Nearly every species of seabird eats plastics.
Thousands of seabirds and sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic or getting entangled in it. Endangered wildlife like Hawaiian monk seals and Pacific loggerhead sea turtles are among nearly 700 species that eat and get caught in plastic litter.
Over 400 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications. At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.
Plastic waste makes up 80% of all marine pollution and around 8 to 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. Research states that, by 2050, plastic will likely outweigh all fish in the sea.
Each resin reacts differently when it is reprocessed into a new item, because different resins melt at different temperatures. Factories that make new products out of plastics are set up to take only specific resin types. Even resins with the same number can't always be recycled together.
Most plastics in use today are made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET for short, and are nearly indestructible. It is nearly impossible to decompose PET plastics because most bacteria cannot break them down. UV light from the sun can break plastic down, but it takes a long time.
The level of microplastics in our oceans is set to grow 50 fold by the end of the century, raising the risk of widespread extinction of marine life. Ocean plastic pollution is set to grow fourfold by 2050, says a new report. And there may be 50 times more microplastics in the sea by 2100.
Without plastic, you also wouldn't be able to use electricity, there would be no plastic circuits to build your phone or computer. There would be no inexpensive adapters either. We also wouldn't be able to protect wildlife like rhinos from becoming extinct, nor would we be able to keep ourselves safe.
Plastic also contributes to climate change: plastics are environmentally costly to make and dispose of, they emit greenhouse gases as they decompose, and some evidence shows that the tiniest bits damage zooplankton—critters that are critical in the ocean's ability to absorb carbon.
The primary contributors are private households, which produce 1.2 million tons of plastic per year, or 47 percent of all plastic waste in Australia. Unfortunately, there is little the country can do but help individuals learn about reducing the amount of plastic they use in their homes.
Plastic bags are a major cause of environmental pollution. Plastic as a substance is non-biodegradable and thus plastic bags remain in the environment for hundreds of years polluting it immensely. It has become very essential to ban plastic bags before they ruin our planet completely.
Plastic production and consumption contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, devalues marine ecosystems, and chokes the wildlife that makes our oceans so diverse.
Nearly all types of plastics can be recycled. However, the extent to which they are recycled depends upon technical, economic and logistic factors. Plastics are a finite and valuable resource, so the best outcome after their initial use is typically to be recycled into a new product.
Belgian chemist and clever marketeer Leo Baekeland pioneered the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907. He beat his Scottish rival, James Swinburne, to the patent office by one day. His invention, which he would christen Bakelite, combined two chemicals, formaldehyde and phenol, under heat and pressure.
If these trends continue, by 2050 we'll have produced 26 billion metric tons of plastic waste, almost half of which will be dumped in landfills and the environment. Because plastic doesn't degrade easily, there will be zillions of tons of the material on our planet by the end of the millennium.
Plastic has benefits other material don't have.
Plastic provides an air, water and hygiene-tight barrier for perishable and easily-damaged goods. This helps prolong shelf life and reduce waste (food waste is a huge contributor to carbon emissions, so this is very important in the fight against climate change).
That is not to say that plastics can't breakdown, they do, but it takes a long time; plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose in landfill.
There are many sustainable alternatives to these products in materials such as bamboo, paper and ceramics. Food is a key part of a more sustainable life, and in the fight against plastics. Forty percent of the plastic packaging we consume is used on food products.
Key Features. Plastic became a concept to be a boon however it became a curse. Plastic may be very dangerous because it produces poisonous gases while burning. As it is non-biodegradable, it's far more dangerous to the soil and takes many years to degrade or decompose.
Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled (15% is collected for recycling but 40% of that is disposed of as residues).
Number 1 Plastics: PET or PETE (polyethelene terephthalate)
Recycling: Pick up available through most curbside recycling programs. Recycled Into: Polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, straps, (occasionally) new containers It poses low risk of leaching breakdown products.
But all polymers are, technologically, 100% recyclable. Some of them have the perfect cradle-to-cradle lifecycle: they can be used again and again to produce the same goods. Some plastics can be reused just as they are by shredding an object into flakes, melting it, and reusing.
The United States produces the most plastic waste per capita worldwide, with the average American producing 130.09 kilograms of plastic waste per year.