Plastics clearly provide several societal advantages as well as future technical and medical advancements. However, there are a number of issues with regard to use and disposal, including illegal dumping in landfills and wildlife ecosystems, physical issues for wildlife resulting from the consumption or entanglement in plastic, chemical leaching from plastic products, and the possibilities for plastics to transmit chemicals to wildlife and humans. However, the most essential overarching worry, which runs through this book, is that our present use is unsustainable. Around 4% of global oil output is utilized as a feedstock for the manufacturing of plastics, with a similar amount of energy consumed in the process. This linear use of hydrocarbons via packaging and other short-lived applications of plastic is simply not sustainable, given our diminishing fossil fuel supplies and constrained capacity for waste disposal to landfill. Plastics have changed the way we live. Plastics are known to have harmed almost 700 species, including endangered species.
Effect of Plastics
Plastics are so widely utilized in our lives, whether in food packaging, toys, storage packaging, furniture, or electrical devices, that it’s difficult to imagine our existence without them. It is one of the greatest wood alternatives, minimizing the need for tree chopping and benefiting the environment. On the other side, it can occasionally cause issues, such as when it comes to their disposal. Artifacts manufactured of plastic suffer wear and tear over time and become fragile, necessitating their disposal.
A five-year-old plastic chair, for example, cannot be used again, and a shampoo-filled plastic sachet cannot be reused to store shampoo. The majority of the time, these are placed into the garbage can, which is subsequently collected by the municipality. But what if they’re not properly disposed of? We’ve observed mountains of rubbish obstructing sewers and other water bodies along highways and in drains. Plastics, which were once thought to be a gift to the environment, are now proving to be a curse.
Harmful Effects of Plastics: The improper disposal of plastics causes a slew of issues. Listed below are a handful of them:
- Plastic pollution in public places generates unsanitary circumstances by acting as a breeding ground for insects and mosquitoes that spread illnesses like malaria and dengue fever.
- Plastics do not decompose and hence remain in the soil for a long time, affecting soil fertility and degrading soil quality.
- When plastic objects penetrate the drainage and sewage systems, they clog pipes and drains, resulting in flooding.
- When animals eat poorly disposed of food bags, they develop stomach and bowel problems, which can lead to suffocation and death.
- Plastic objects end up in rivers and other bodies of water, where they are ingested by fish, seabirds, and other marine animals, resulting in suffocation and death.
- The trash from the plastic manufacturing sector is dumped straight into water bodies, altering the chemical properties of the water and posing a wide number of risks.
Effect of plastic in the environment
Once plastic strikes the environment consists of macro- or microplastics, it corrodes and aggregates in food systems via agricultural soils, terrestrial and aquatic food chains, and the water system. This ecologically friendly substance has the potential to absorb dangerous chemicals or concentrate poisons already existing in the environment, re-exposing them to direct or indirect human exposure. Additional surface areas become apparent when plastic particles disintegrate, allowing additives to leak from the particle’s core to the surface in the environment and the human body. Microplastics that enter the bloodstream through ingestion or inhalation can cause inflammation, genotoxicity, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and necrosis, all of which have been interconnected to a variety of negative health consequences, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammation, auto-immune conditions, neuro-degenerative diseases, and stroke.
Effect of other garbage burned
Garbage burning is far more hazardous to your health and the environment than you may believe.
When junk — even seemingly innocent things like paper, cardboard, yard waste, and construction debris — is burnt openly, it produces a deadly cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and other poisonous elements. Garbage burning offers a health danger to people who are immediately exposed to the smoke. Children and the elderly, as well as those with compromised respiratory systems, are particularly vulnerable.
It can increase the risk of heart disease over time. The following are some of the contaminants found in smoke from open garbage burning:
- Dioxins
- Furans
- Arsenic
- Mercury
- PCBs
- Lead
- Carbon monoxide
- Nitrogen oxides
- Sulphur oxides
- Hydrochloric acid
Some of these contaminants can also be found in the ash left over after open waste burning.
Dioxins, Furans, and Your Health: The health dangers presented by the release of dioxins and furans into the environment are one of the most serious problems with open rubbish burning. Dioxin and furan exposure has been related to:
- Certain types of cancers
- Liver problems
- Immune, endocrine, and reproductive functions are all compromised.
- Effects on the nervous system as it develops and other developmental events
Dioxins, Furans, and Your Environment: Because open waste burning is more widespread in pastoral and agricultural regions, large levels of dioxins and furans settling on crops, in our streams, and in our lakes are of special concern. These animals absorb dioxins and furans, which then go up in the food chain, eventually ending up in your meat and the dairy products. In fact, our diet accounts for almost 90% of our dioxin and furan consumption.
Effect of Plastic on Marine Life
At least 14 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. Plastic garbage is the most frequent type of litter in the ocean, making about 80% of all marine debris observed from the surface to deep sea sediments. All continent’s shorelines are littered with plastic, with more rubbish found around famous tourist attractions and heavily populated places.
The fishing sector, naval activities, and aquaculture are the primary sources of plastic pollution in the ocean.
Plastic degrades into microscopic particles known as microplastics (particles smaller than 5 mm) or nano plastics as a result of UV radiation from the sun, wind, currents, and other natural forces (particles smaller than 100 nm). Because of their tiny size, they are easily ingested by aquatic creatures. Plastic pollution is a common issue that has a negative impact on the marine environment. It endangers ocean health, marine animals’ health, food safety and quality, human health, and coastal tourism, as well as contributing to climate change.
Impacts on marine ecosystems: Ingestion, asphyxia, and entanglement of hundreds of marine species are the most evident effects of plastic trash. Plastic garbage is mistaken for food by seabirds, whales, fish, and turtles, and the majority of them starve to death as their tummies fill with plastic. They also have infections, lacerations, impaired swimming abilities, internal traumas and impaired swimming abilities.
Impacts on food and human health: Microplastics have been discovered in tap water, beer, and salt, as well as in all ocean samples taken across the world, including the Arctic. Several chemical compounds used in the production of plastic items are known to be carcinogenic and disturb the body’s endocrine system, causing developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immunological problems in humans and wildlife. Microplastics have recently been discovered in human placentas, but further study is needed to understand whether this is a prevalent issue.
Long-term exposure to saltwater causes toxic pollutants to build on the surface of plastic. Plastic waste ingested by marine species enters their digestive systems, where it accumulates over time in the food chain. The transmission of pollutants from marine organisms to people through seafood eating has been highlighted as a health issue, and study is now underway.
Impacts on climate change: Climate change is exacerbated by the manufacture of plastic. When plastic garbage is burned, carbon dioxide and methane (from landfills) are released into the atmosphere, increasing emissions.
Conclusion
Plastic is a petroleum-based synthetic organic polymer having qualities that make it appropriate for a broad range of uses, including packaging, construction, home and sporting goods, cars, electronics, and agriculture. Every year, over 300 million tons of plastic are manufactured, with half of it going into single-use goods like shopping bags, cups, and straws.