Page 106 - Final Magazine 2019-2020.cdr

Environmental Degradation: Plastic V/s. Paper

Ms, Dipali Paresh Mali, Sonepant Dandekar College, Palghar

have you. Plastic pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Plastic waste is deceptive for
birds and other wildlife, who mistake it for food. Eating plastic affects animal intestines and often
leads to the death of animals by starvation. Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our
beaches has become a global crisis. Fish, seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals often get
entangled in or ingest plastic debris which leads to their suffocation, starvation and drowning. It is
estimated that by 2025, there will be one ton of plastic for every three ton of sh. Light breaks
plastic down so it photo degrades rather than biodegrades. When UV rays strike plastic, they
break the bonds holding the long molecular chain together. Over time, this can turn a big piece of
plastic into lots of little pieces. Estimates say that this process can take up to 500 or even 1000
years in landlls.

The US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Woods Hole Sea Grant
compiled data showing the length of time for man-made marine debris to degrade in the sea and
have estimated that it takes the ocean around 450 years to break down plastic. Disposable
diapers will take as long as plastic bottles that is 450 years to break down; a shing line takes up to
600 years to degrade; plastic shopping bags will take up to 20 years to break down; styrofoam
takeaway coffee cups take 50 years and cigarette butts take 10 years. When plastic does
eventually break down into smaller particles called 'microplastics' these can be eaten by sh and
end up in food eaten by humans.

Every year, around eight million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean and it's thought that, by
2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than sh (by weight).

To save our environment we have to recycle paper. Equipment at Paper Mills that recycle recovered
paper are designed to remove things like staples and paper clips. Paper mills that process mixed
paper are able to remove adhesives like sticky notes. However, some paper is more complicated to
recycle because it blends several elements. For example, coated paper, treated paper, paper with
food waste, juice boxes, cereal boxes, paper cups, paper towels, paper laminated with plastic and
magazine laminated with plastic can be a challenge to recycle.

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material
into useful products. All plastic created is not equal. Plastics are classied into 7 categories
according to Resin Identication Codes (RIC). They are differentiated by the temperature at which
the material has been heated, and their numerical classication (#1 – #7) only informs what type
of plastic it is. When different types of plastics are melted together, they tend to phase-separate,
like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase boundaries cause structural weakness in the
resulting material, meaning that polymer blends are useful only in limited applications. Each time
plastic is recycled, additional virgin materials must be added to help improve the integrity of the

material. So, even recycled plastic has new plastic material added in. The same piece of plastic
can only be recycled about 2–3 times before its quality decreases to the point where it can no

“Palming your fault on your nature does not
change the nature of your fault.” (Anonymous) 95
2019-20