Environmental Pollution -The Perils of Plastic

Human’s insistence on using plastics for every mundane activity is steering the world towards an environmental disaster. However, confrontation with the environment could be easily avoided, only if the humans knew that plastics are not a disposable.

Use of plastic bags is quite common among shoppers, despite the fact that they are aware of its ill-effects. Plastics are said to be one of the major toxic pollutants as they are biodegradable, and hence pollute earth, air and water.

It is impossible to dispose of plastic waste.

Both at the time of production as well as at the time of its disposal, plastics can cause severe damage to the environment. So the best way to combat the hazards of plastic is to cut down its use, and thereby help bring down its production.

The chemicals used in the manufacturing of plastics are highly toxic and pose a serious threat to all living beings on earth.

Benzene and vinyl chloride, used in plastics, are known to cause cancer, while many other hazardous elements are also present in plastics, in the form of gases and liquid hydrocarbons. In addition, plastic resins are flammable and have caused more than a few accidents worldwide.

The poisonous substances released during the manufacturing of plastics are synthetic materials such as ethylene oxide, benzene and xylenes. Apart from harming the eco-system, these chemicals can cause a range of maladies like birth defects, cancer, damage of the nervous system, blood and kidneys problems together with the weakening of the Immune system. And majority of these toxic substances are released even during the recycling of plastics.

However, what is hard to believe is that like other chemical substances, plastic disposal is just a myth. Once the plastic is manufactured, it cannot be disposed of by any means. Recycling, burning or land filling doesn’t really help.

Recycling only helps bring back the toxic waste into the marketplace and ultimately into the environment, thereby adding to the toxic waste.

And since plastic does not go through bacterial decomposition, using plastic for land –filling purposes only means we are preserving the poison forever.

There are a group of people who believe that plastics can be burned and thus the toxic waste could be easily rid off. However, this is not true. When plastic is burned, a whole lot of poisonous gases are released into the air, including dioxin, the most toxic substance known to science.

According to a study carried out by the Public Interest Research Group, based in Delhi, besides the dangers, recycling of a plastic is also too expensive, dirty and labour driven, Further recycling of plastic cause’s skin, and respiratory problems. Nonetheless, recycling of plastic doesn’t help much because the quality is pretty bad.

Plastics, again, choke drains thereby block urban sewage systems. The plastics discarded in rivers, seas pollute the air, water, soil and marine life. Clogged drainage systems become a breeding-ground for mosquitoes, apart from causing flood problems during monsoons.

Getting rid of plastics through landfills is also risky. On one hand, there is a high – probability of toxic seepage from the landfill causing contamination of water resources, while on the other plastic obstructs the flow of ground water. In case of landfills, cadmium and lead in the wastes mixes up with the rain water and then eventually the polluted water makes its way into nearby streams, lakes and water bodies.

The best way out of this danger is to make controlled use of plastics, if one can’t shun it altogether.