Plastic, a man made synthetic material has proved to be one
of the most important and needed material for human being. The major growth
driver of plastic to become an indispensable part of human life has been the
participation of entrepreneurship, in India the demand and supply chain is organized
and strong enough to sustain another 100 years.
Considering all good about plastic and the industry, we see
that plastic has a safe future.
But there is something about plastic which cannot be ignored.
Plastic cause pollution, it
is threat to life of every living being!
NEW DELHI: "We are sitting on a plastic time bomb,"
the Supreme Court said on Wednesday after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) informed it that India generates 56 lakh tonnes of plastic waste annually, with Delhi accounting for a staggering
689.5 tonnes a day. -News
published in TIMES OF INDIA newspaper on April 4, 2013.
Environmental issues on disposal of Plastic Waste:
Indiscriminate littering of unskilled recycling/reprocessing
and non-biodegradability of plastic waste raises the following environmental
issues:
• Indiscriminate dumping of plastic waste on land makes the
land infertile due to its barrier properties.
• Burning of plastics generates toxic emissions such as
Carbon Monoxide, Chlorine, Hydrochloric Acid, Dioxin, Furans, Amines, Nitrides,
Styrene, Benzene, 1, 3- butadiene, CCl4, and Acetaldehyde.
• Lead and Cadmium
pigments, commonly used in LDPE, HDPE and PP as additives are toxic and are
known to leach out.
• Non-recyclable plastic wastes such as multilayer,
metalized pouches and other thermoset plastic poses disposal problems.
• Sub-standard plastic carry bags, packaging films (<40µ)
etc. pose problem in collection and recycling.
• Littered plastics give unaesthetic look in the city, choke
the drain and may cause flood during monsoon.
• Garbage mixed with plastics interferes in waste processing
facilities and also cause problems in landfill operations.
• Recycling industries operating in non-conforming areas are
posing threat to environment to unsound recycling practices.
It seems plastic is not good to the environment but it is
very useful to human beings. Certain initiatives have been taken to minimize the
usage of plastic, but the results were disappointing. Every day the plastic
consumption is rising. Researchers say “it is required to biodegrade plastic in
land fills” only then it will be possible to minimize plastic pollution as
usage cannot be minimized.
