PLASTIC POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS Essays - Dielectrics, Polyolefins

PLASTIC POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS Michael Mann Mr. Moran Argumentative Paper 4/14/2017 PLASTIC POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS In the present day, most products are entirely or partially made of plastic. This broad usage of plastic material affirms the universal nature and popularity of it as a building material. Plastic offers a wide variety of expedient goods at relatively low prices. However, the use of plastic is not good for the environment and health purposes. It plays a crucial role to augment the pollution, and because of its adverse effects, it is necessary to control the excessive usage of such harmful material. Many substitutes can be used to miti gate the regular exposure to plastic made objects. Paper, cloth bags, card board and glass are a few alternatives, and can be utilized to conserve the energy and control the pollution level. Plastic can be define d as the polymeric material that Alexander Parkes invented in 1855. Initially named " Parkesine " but later was renamed as celluloid. Till then plastic went through a long journey and eventually, Leo Baekeland's invention of Pheno lics in 1909 brought a not eworthy shift in the usage of plastic . At that time, adverse effects of plastic were unknown to its inventors. After t he creation of Phenolic , a new age of plastic emerged , and that altered the mechanical aspects. This shift in trend was greatly celebrated, and plastic became acceptable as the future building material. The chemical structure of plastic elaborates the excessive use of environmentally unfriendly ingredients. ( Meikle , 1995) Fundamentally, most fabrics are comprised of carbon, polymers, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. Plastic is cheap, enduring, sturdy and tends to be created in bulk . These charact eristics and plastics enduring nature make it hard to dispose of. In present day, the marketplace of the United States has a significant share of plastic made products that are distributed in different products classification. The following pie chart demonstrates the ratio of various sources of plastic that is in use throughout the United States. Figure 2's pie chart is showing the disposal rate for plastic products in the United States of America. Figure 1: the products made of plastic in The United States Figure 2: Plastic Waste disposal in the US T here is approximately thirty different types of plastics that consumer use daily . Some of them are acknowledged as safe pla stics, and some are known as toxic . The safe plastic or better known as BPA free is recognized as terephthalate and polyethylene that is usually referred as PET as well. This kind of substance is employed to make the clear bottles that can be easily see n in every shop and supermarket. I nitially it was considered safe to use and recycle these PET bottles, but the recent research depi cts substantial traces of DEHP (Knight, 2012) . F urther more, there are two types of polyethylene that are known as High-density polyethylene (HDPE), and the left over is exploited as fiber fills. This texture fills sued in the pillows, jackets and other fabric lining and sleeping bags. Moreover, this type o f substances is suitable for making carpets and furniture's upholstery. Other usages are the rattan weave ou tside furniture and various sorts of dustbin and toys. The other type is Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) which is used to make regular s hopping bags and plastic wraps. S tationary, pots, kitchen accessories, jewelry, footwear, and bottles are a few examples of products that are manufactured with plastic. This excessive use of plastic, in turn, increases the da mages that can be caused by plastic . The e nvironment, human health, economy, marine life, plants, and animals are affected by the usage of plastic material. Plastic is a complicated substance and has a few chemicals in its structure that make it hard to dissolve and therefore impose a dangerous situation to all the environmental factors. The factories that produce plastic and related materials emit a considerable amount of harmful gasses as well as carbon dioxide. D ischarge o f various gasses significant ly impact global warming and affect the habits of different species within that polluted environment . Furthermore, the fumes