Plastic pollution of the planet. Is there life without plastic?
Plastics cause serious damage to the environment, from production to disposal. Plants that produce plastic products emit up to 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a year, and about 800 species of animals today are threatened with extinction due to being eaten and poisoned by plastic.
The era of plastic
Often the modern benefits of civilization create not only convenience for people, but also cause irreparable damage to nature. In the last 10 years alone, more plastic products have been produced in the world than in the previous century. Disposable dishes, bags, packaging, bottles and various containers are the most common types of plastic waste that we “produce” every day. Only five percent of its volume is ultimately recycled and reused in everyday life. Single-use bags clog urban sewerage systems and create flood threats, and plastic debris litters coastal and recreational areas, damaging the tourism industry.
The soil
Scientists: stomachs of 90% of seabirds were filled with plastic. Oceanologists conducted a large-scale study of the diet of seabirds, which unexpectedly showed that the stomachs of 90% of the birds of the sea contain particles of plastic, which indicates a more serious scale of marine plastic pollution than previously thought.
It is known that plastic takes about two hundred years to decompose. Once in the ground, plastics break down into small particles and begin to release into the environment the chemicals added to them during production. This can be chlorine, various chemicals, such as toxic or carcinogenic anti-flames. Through groundwater, microgranules of plastic and its chemicals seep to the nearest water sources, which often leads to mass death of animals.
Ocean
According to UN ecologists, about 13 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the ocean every year.
Attempts to stop the catastrophic trend have been going on since the middle of the 20th century. Even then, environmentalists sounded the alarm about the growing “Great Garbage Patch”, which currently, according to various estimates, covers up to one percent of the Pacific Ocean. According to the forecasts of the British Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by 2025 there will be one kilogram of garbage for every three kilograms of fish in the world’s oceans, and by 2050 the mass of waste will be higher than the combined weight of all fish on Earth. Plastic makes up 80 percent of all waste in the oceans. Under the influence of sunlight, it breaks down into small particles, Microgranules of plastic accumulate persistent toxic substances on their surface.
Undecomposed plastic bags end up in the stomachs of marine mammals and birds. Ecologists have calculated that tens of thousands of birds, whales, seals, and turtles die from this every year. Animals die of suffocation, or indigestible debris accumulates in their stomachs and interferes with their work.
The salt is not the same
Recent research by scientists confirms that these concerns are well founded. For example, New York University professor Sherry Mason claims that plastic is already everywhere: “In the air, in the water, in seafood, in the beer we drink, in the salt we use.”
In his work, the Russian scientist researched 12 different types of salt from grocery stores around the world. The particles of plastic found indicate that people constantly consume it in food. The calculation showed that Americans eat over 660 plastic particles per year, with an average recommended salt intake of 2.3 grams per day. The consequences of the use of plastic for human health are still poorly understood, but there is no doubt that it has a negative effect, like any living organism.
Spanish ecologists have also found microplastics in two dozen table salt samples. Most often they found polyethylene terephthalate, a polymer used in the manufacture of plastic bottles. Another international team of scientists has found other types of plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene in salt.
Sources of pollution
According to ecologists today, China is the leader in pollution of the world ocean. It is followed by other Asian countries — Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The inhabitants of the sea coast in these states do not always care about its cleanliness and all the garbage here, as a rule, ends up in the ocean. The total number of daily discarded plastic products in the USA, EU, Norway and China reaches 37 thousand tons, in Russia — no more than 10 thousand tons. Existing plastic recycling technologies can only partially solve the environmental problem.
Legislative regulation
Proposals are being put forward for a consolidated international action plan to tackle the problem of plastic waste.
Experts from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) acknowledge that the problem has been exacerbated by prolonged inaction. Under the auspices of UNEP, the World Campaign to Combat Marine Litter was launched. An illustrative example is the Italian city of Capannori with a population of 46,700. In 2007, they introduced a zero waste strategy. For ten years, the volume of waste has been reduced by 40 percent. At the same time, only 18 percent of waste ends up in landfills.
It is worth noting that such a strategy requires some investment and should include mechanisms for financing waste management. Alternatively, there is the polluter pays principle. For an industry with annual revenues of $ 750 billion, it could be quite effective. More than 40 countries have established legal restrictions and bans on the use of plastic bags in their territories.
Kenya has introduced the world’s most stringent anti-plastic bag measures.
Personal culture of consumption
Every day we have an alternative: buy mineral water in a glass or plastic bottle, take disposable paper dishes or plastic plates for a picnic, use reusable shopping bags or shopping bags. Environmental concern or personal convenience? The choice determines the level of self-awareness of a person. Of course, such a culture has been inculcated in society for years. The less each of us begins to use plastic in our daily lives, the faster manufacturers will reduce their production. You should not choose “disposable” plastic solely because of its low price — often many plastic items can be replaced with reusable items made from more environmentally friendly materials.
For example, UK analysts have calculated that recycling plastic packaging can save up to $ 120 billion each year. Reducing the volume of plastic production, it seems to me, could increase the demand for more environmentally friendly reusable goods from other raw materials and make them cheaper by increasing the mass production of them.
There are other futuristic views on pollution issues. According to some scientists, irreversible changes are already taking place on our planet, we are facing a shortage of drinking water, global warming and other things that will make the Earth unsuitable for human life.
Some of them suggest not looking for new ways to save the Earth, but focus on finding new planets that are most suitable for the resettlement of humanity. Even leaving questions of ethics and morality aside, it seems to me that this path is not reasonable from a strategic point of view. It is easier to put in order your “beautiful and well-equipped house”, making it clean, than to build and settle in a new one.
