The Effects Of Plastic Waste Environmental Sciences Essay

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semi synthetic organic solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Millions of plastic products are manufactured each year throughout the world. As the technology for their production increases, even more products will enter the “plastic age”.

The major chemicals that go into the making of plastic are highly toxic and pose serious threat to living beings of all species on earth .So, there are many aspects that affect the plastic: the environmental and include human, plants and animals and in economic terms. All of this cost a lot of money because finding alternatives require a lot of researches and studies which is expensive either.. We have many solutions for this problem such as recycling and we introduce the step of recycling and the effect of recycling .Finally how can we reduce using of plastic?

Introduction

almost certainly you will see plastic. Our homes, offices, schools, hospitals, factories -indeed, our entire surroundings – are dominated by products made from this material. We live in the age of plastics; bright, attractive, colorful, long-lasting, relatively inexpensive substances whose invention has revolutionized the manufacturing industry. Plastic certainly have advantages. Unfortunately, they also bring problems to our world, not the least among these being the generation of vast quantities of waste material.

This report will speak about :

The definition of plastic

History of the plastic

Chemical structure

Types of plastics and their uses:

Good plastic

Bad plastic

Damage of the plastic

The Effects of Plastic on environmental

The Effects of Plastic on Human

The Effects of Plastic on plant

The Effects of Plastic on animals

The Effects of Plastic on economy

Solutions to avoid plastic problems

Plastic Recycling

Solution to avoid using of plastic.

Definition of plastic:

We must know “When plastic invent?”. “Also where it use in that time ?”. All this question we will answer it in this part of report. In addition, we will tell you about chemical structure for plastic to know “why it does not Degrad?”

History of the plastic :

Plastic is a term of a polymeric material. In 1855 Alexander parkes invent the plastic and he called it parkesine but later it called celluloid. The plastic was revealed in London at 1862 Great International Exhibition. However, some polymers which can occur naturally like rubber wasn’t known until 1910 when was the development of synthetic polymers. In 1909 Leo Baekeland invented phenolics or Bakelite – a plastic material. Little would he have realized then what a profound effect this and other plastics would have upon ourselves and our earth. His invention marked the beginning of a new “plastic age” that has transformed many aspects of industry and our lives. Great enthusiasm greeted the discovery, and plastic was labeled the manufacturing material of the future.

When those polymers appears,people thought that it is suitable to the engineers needs. Bakelite was one of the first developed commercial plastics and they used as a cover of early radios. Later on, in the second world war plastic like nylon and polyethylene used as replacement material for other materials in short time. Because the early plastics were not complete chemically stable, it become popular as a unreliable and cheap material. Nevertheless, the plastic technology was developed which let the plastics to be very useful and reliable as a material to design product.

The plastic characterized by its light-weight , the possibility to colored when manufacturing. Plastics are used widely for products packaging and other applications where mechanical strength is not conceder premium. And plastic can model complex shapes in an easy way.

 

Chemical structure

Thermosets assumed to have unaccounted of molecular weight. But in fact its common range around 20,000 and 50,000 amu . these chains are composed of a sequence of molecular units are called repeating units. The majority of plastics have polemers of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, chlorine and oxygen or sulfur for the backbone.

The backbone of the chain is the part that function as a linking of a big number of repeating units. But what gives the plastic its qualities are the molecular groups that connect the backbone. This set of polymer properties of repeating molecular structure units allowed plastic to be an important part of the twenty first century.

Plastics are organic liquids which dissolve in big qualities into solid polymers. This effect the the chain to be regardless of the disappearance by a liquid of oil. This lisette them to make them slide over each other easier . this what makes plastic very flexible and reduced its tensile strength the plasticier should not own a vapour pressure or it will leave the plastic brittle again when it is evaporates.

It proved to be clean, inexpensive, long-lasting, strong, and able to be produced in a wide range of bright and attractive colours.The irony is that their strength and durability are two of the factors which make plastics cause serious disposal problems.

Types of plastics and their uses:

There are around 30 different types of plastic in regular use. We will tell you about four kinds of plastic that people use it and it “some time” we can say it is good for use, Also we will write some kinds of them. Then we will write about bad plastics that human use.

Good plastic:

Probably the easiest to identify is Polyethylene Terephthalate, or( PET). It is used for the clear plastic bottles which we find in supermarkets, containing fizzy drinks such as lemonade and cola. PET soft drink bottles make up about 20 per cent of all moulded plastic containers. Seventy per cent are soft drink bottles made of another type of plastic.it was known as the safest and as a well known plastic and easy to be recycled. However, recently they found that traces of DEHP in a water bottles kept in PET bottle for over 9 months. .

Called high-density polyethylene or (HDPE). Scrap from PET is used to make “fibre fill”, a lining material for jackets, pillows and sleeping bags. It is also used as lining in the upholstery of furniture and as a fiber in the construction of carpets. HDPE plastic is used in the manufacture of garden furniture, flower pots, toys, dustbins and various other sorts of plastic containers. HDPE is considered safe and easy to recycle.

(LDPE) Low density polyethylene, used in gro­cery plastic bags , some bottle and most of the plastic wraps. So now can you guess the number of plastic bags used in the world per year? 500 billion per year !!. In other words, that’s almost 1 million plastic bags used per minute it is popular by its safety but difficult to recycle. polypropylene (PP) used in most deli, syrup, rubber maid, yogurt and soup containers, and some straws besides baby bottles.

Bad plastic:

(PVC) or (V) or (DEHA) : Polyvinyl chloride used for wrap, , some types of plastic compress cooking oil, peanut butter jars and bottle like, window cleaner bottles and detergent. (PVC) is famous to be connected with liver cancer. (DEHA) is related to the harmful effects on bone structure, spleen, body weight , liver and kidney. And this is recyclable the least.

(ps) polydtyrene used to make eggs cartons, bowls, not reusable cups and plastic plates and styofoam food trays. Styrene is filtered from polystyrene and it conceder toxic to the nervous system and the brain .PS also known to affect liver, red blood, kidneys and stomach in animals studies . and it is not easy to recycle this type of plastic.

Polycarbonate used in sports water bottles, metal food , clear plastic cups, body bottles, water bottle of 5- gallon and plain plastic dishes. The new plastic with bio- base can be labeled number 7. It has the ability to leak Biphenyle A, the material that the hormone estrogen. It is known to increase prostate cancer, produce ovarian dysfunction, genetic damage , etc .

Millions of plastic products are manufactured each year throughout the world. As the technology for their production increases, even more products will enter the “plastic age”. Many of the plastic products around you are made by a process known as injection moulding. Molten plastic is squirted into a mould, where it quickly cools and reproduces the shape and form of the mould itself. When the plastic has cooled, the mould is opened to revel the finishing product. This amazingly quick and accurate process is used for a variety of goods, from dustbins to high-precision watch parts, and including items such as kettles, irons and cookware. Almost no labour cost are involved, and therefore plastic products are inexpensive compared to those made from the materials. They are also colorful, attractive and easily cleaned. We are living in plastic age, with its many advantages. Unfortunately, it is an age which brings inevitable and serious problems for our earth.

And as support for information we put a “Pie chart” to see the Percentage of different types of plastics found in Egypt. Also a picture show the important types of plastics and in what it use?

Damage of the plastic

The Effects of Plastic on environment:

There are many of the damage caused by the plastic of living organisms (human, animal and plant). Plastic contains some chemicals that are difficult to Nhalilha and constitute a threat to the ocean environment and living organisms. plastic factories produce a great amount of green house gases and carbon dioxide . which lead to significant increase in global warming that can change many species habitats therefore their numbers will decrease. another fact that most kind of plastic diffuse toxic pollutants to the atmosphere, besides burning plastic generate toxic fumes fuse with the air. In addition these toxics can leak to the soil and groundwater and cause contamination of soil and groundwater which makes it impossible to grow the plants . these harmful chemicals have the ability to conflict with hormones in the body which is a major reason of many disease and faultiest in cells functions.

The Effects of Plastic on Human:

Plastic contains chemicals that cause damage to the nervous system and immune system and some genetic diseases. If the plastic exposed to high temperature is produced from the melt poisonous substances called dioxins, causing this article some tumors, birth defects, genetic mutations, and cause gas and vehicles Alheidrockeropponip liquid resulting from plastics pollution in the air and the earth, as well as causing chemicals resulting from the manufacture of plastics, such as oxide, ethylene, gasoline and Alaakslin destruction of the nervous system and immune system and certain types of cancers, kidney disease, and this chemical pollution dangerous resulting in poisoning of food and causing health problems are complex, most important of which increase the chance of infertility and disease cancer and hormonal imbalance in the body and disturbances in the nervous system and imbalance in the mental capacity. Prevents heating food in the microwave using plastic containers, especially those of food containing fat, which leads to the food poisoning which affects the body and human health.

The Effects of Plastic on the plants:

Bags and volumes of plastic if stabilized volumes and bags on the plants to prevent the arrival of sufficient light to also prevent them from breathing at night and hinder its growth, if you reach this material to the soil to prevent it from breathing and ventilation, may reach hundreds of years, because most microorganisms can not analysis of plastic materials, plastic bags that need to be 1000 years to decompose in the soil. because they contain chemical analysis difficult.

The Effects of Plastic on animals:

The plastic is a danger to marine animals, when you get these materials to the seas and oceans is destroying the marine environment. When you get to work on the dam fish gills and prevent them from breathing and cause death. As well as causing damage to wildlife that may be addressed, causing blockage of the gastrointestinal tract and lead to death. Furthermore, around 100,000 animals like dolphins ,penguins and turtle whales are killed because of the plastic bags. Many animals eat the plastic bags by mistake this problem doesn’t end in here because later when these animals died , the animal body will decompose but the plastic will not decompose and it will kill another victim.

The Effects of Plastic on economy:

Plastic types are vary , some of them are petroleum -based plastic . which need more than 12 million barrels of petrol in its industry ,this type of plastic has a sharp increase in its price because of the petrol price . So scientists tried to find alternative materials for the petrol so they suggested to use oil shale and tar oil but it still expensive .besides people use plastic in big amount which can affect the economy of the individuals and country for example many people in the countries where water cannot be consume ,they buy bottled water which cost a lot yearly and increase the amount of plastic waste ,for that environmental groups like Clean Up the world suggest to find places of the good water to let the people use them instead of the bottled water. However ,all of this cost a lot of money because finding alternatives require a lot of researches and studies which is expensive either.

Solutions to avoid plastic problems

Plastic Recycling

There are many studies try to solve plastic problems in earth. But we didn`t wrote about all this studies. We will talk about the most effect solution. Then we will take about some proposals can help to less a damage of plastic.