2. what is plastic
Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic
materials used in a huge, and growing, range of applications.
Everywhere you look you will find plastics.We use plastic products to help make our
lives cleaner, easier, safer and more enjoyable.You will find plastics in the clothes we
wear, the houses we live in, and the cars we travel in.The toys we play with, the
televisions we watch, the computers we use and the CDs we listen to contain plastics.
Even the toothbrush you use every day contains plastics!
Plastics are organic, the same as wood, paper or wool.The raw materials for plastics
production are natural products such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of
course, crude oil. Plastics are today’s and tomorrow’s materials of choice because
they make it possible to balance modern day needs with environmental concerns.
3. history relatedto inventionof plastic
The first man-made plastic was created by Alexander
Parkes who publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 Great
International Exhibition in London. The material called
Parkesine was an organic material derived from
cellulose that once heated could be molded, and
retained its shape when cooled.
4. preventivemeasuresto controlminimiseuseof
plastics
Just as plastics are a common material used in many aspects
of our lives, plastics are also a common component of marine
debris. As plastic usage has increased over the years, so has
the amount of plastic entering the municipal solid waste
stream, more commonly called garbage or trash. Between
1960 and 2007, the amount of plastic in the total solid waste
stream increased from 1 to 12%. Plastics are a pervasive
environmental problem, but they are a material that can be
managed and a resource that can be conserved. Reducing the
plastic component of marine debris depends upon better
management of this resource.
5. plastics integral matter of our routine life
Plastic products have become an integral part in our daily life as a basic
need. It produced on a massive scale worldwide and its production crosses
the 150 million tonnes per year globally. In India approximately 8 Million
tonnes plastic products are consumed every year (2008). Its broad range of
application in films, wrapping materials, shopping and garbage bags, fluid
containers, clothing, toys, household and industrial products, and building
materials. It is a fact that plastics will never degrade and remains on
landscape for several years. Mostly, plastics are recyclable but recycled
products are more hazardous to the environment than the virgin products.
The recycling of a virgin plastic material can be done 2-3 time only,
because after every recycling, the plastic material is deteriorated due to
thermal pressure.Considering, 70% of plastic consumption is converted as
waste, approximately 5.6 million tons per annum (TPA) plastic waste is
generated in country, which equals to 15342 tons per day (TPD).
6. One of the positive characteristics of plastic is the fact that it is durable.
Unfortunately, this is not a positive characteristic when it comes to the
environment.The fact that plastic is durable means it degrades slowly. In
addition, burning plastic can sometimes result in toxic fumes.
Aside from trying to get rid of plastic, creating it can be costly to the
environment as well. It takes large amounts of chemical pollutants to create
plastic, as well as significant amounts of fossil fuels.
On the other hand, some argue that plastic helps the environment is several
ways, as well.After all, plastic has been used to make cars lighter.As a result,
less oil is used to mobilize the cars and less CO2 is emitted. In addition, plastic
containers provide safe ways for disposing of toxic waste products.
impact of plastics on environment
7. Invention of eco friendly plastics
Most plastics contain organic polymers.The vast majority of these polymers are based on
chains of carbon atoms alone or with oxygen, sulfur, or nitrogen as well.The backbone is
that part of the chain on the main "path" linking a large number of repeat units together.
To customize the properties of a plastic, different molecular groups "hang" from the
backbone (usually they are "hung" as part of the monomers before the monomers are
linked together to form the polymer chain).The structure of these "side chains" influence
the properties of the polymer.This fine tuning of the repeating unit's molecular structure
influences the properties of the polymer.
Most plastics contain other organic or inorganic compounds blended in.The amount of
additives ranges from zero percentage (for example in polymers used to wrap foods) to
more than 50% for certain electronic applications.The average content of additives is
20% by weight of the polymer[citation needed].
Many of the controversies associated with plastics are associated with the additives.
Organotin compounds are particularly toxic
8. Benefitsof usingeco-friendplastics
Eco-friendly products usually mean that their production or certainly
use doesn't damage the environment, for example, made from
biodegradable material that will not contribute to the large landfill sites
or cause toxic waste, so firstly this helps the appearance of the
environment the safety, many reduce the effect of global warming, acid
rain and various other environmental problems, many wastes can be
hazardous to animals etc. so obviously it's beneficial. However they can
often be expensive for example, biofuel is more expensive than normal
fuel, also many of the material and products are being developed this
means that time and money is wasted in some people's opinion rather
than on for example cures to certain disease etc. also many of the
products being in development can have unknown risks and reactions
so many people may be reluctant to use them.
