Plastic Waste: Challenges and Opportunities  - Waste Advantage Magazine (2024)

FAQs

What are the challenges of plastic waste? ›

As plastic does not break down naturally, it is polluting natural systems, including rivers and oceans. The production, use and disposal of plastics also creates significant greenhouse gas emissions throughout the different stages of the plastic value chain.

The growing rate of plastic production raises problems in many areas of our society. It's contributing to waste and pollution issues, it's impacting our health, and it's threatening our oceans and wildlife.

Requires Less Energy and Helps Conserve Natural Resources

Hence, plastic recycling saves precious natural resources. For example, petroleum, which is crucial for making new plastic products is - around 40% of petroleum consumption can be reduced by simply recycling discarded and old plastic waste.

Uncontrolled waste management can lead to medical and healthcare waste being mixed with household waste. This increases the risk of poisoning or injury to children and adults who are working sorting waste. Indiscriminate burning of waste can cause major air pollution and increases greenhouse emissions.

Answer: The challenges of developing environmentally-friendly plastics are the expense, sourcing or geo-engineering of the proper biodegradable materials, and passing legislation that demands the eventual discard of manufacturing plastic.

Most plastic is not recyclable and the vast majority does not biodegrade. Further, plastic products often break down into very small fragments called microplastics that can pollute ecosystems and harm organisms.

We must use alternatives like cloth bags and paper bags instead of plastic bags. If we are purchasing plastic, we must reuse it. We must avoid drinking bottled water which contributes largely to plastic pollution. The government must put a plastic ban on the use of plastic.

Plastics are in products we use every day that help keep us safe. They are in bicycle helmets, child safety seats, and automotive airbags that protect us and the cell phones that connect us. Plastics also help keep the foods we eat and serve to our families safer and fresher than ever before.

Plastic packaging helps protect and preserve goods, while reducing weight in transportation, which saves fuel and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. From computers and cell phones to televisions and microwaves, durable, lightweight and affordable plastics have helped revolutionize the electronics we rely on every day.

How can we address the plastic waste problem? ›

Mechanical recycling keeps the polymer chain intact and is a more efficient way of enabling circular plastic production, but it requires higher-quality, well-sorted waste feedstock. Chemical recycling is a superior solution for dirtier streams of hard-to-recycle and commingled plastic waste.

1. Wean yourself off disposable plastics. Ninety percent of the plastic items in our daily lives are used once and then chucked: grocery bags, plastic wrap, disposable cutlery, straws, coffee-cup lids. Take note of how often you rely on these products and replace them with reusable versions.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Most common method of disposing of wastes is to dump them in low-lying areas on the outskirts of towns which is very haphazard and unscientific. This has serious environmental impacts like water pollution, methane emissions, and soil degradation.

Waste management can be defined as the "collection, removal, processing, and disposal of materials considered waste" (Ecolife Dictionary). Waste can be put into landfills, incinerated, recycled, or composted. The most sustainable way to manage waste is to recycle and compost.

Waste management is a cross-cutting issue impacting on many aspects of society and the economy. It has strong linkages to a range of other global challenges, such as health, climate change, poverty reduction, food and resource security, and sustainable production and consumption.

Educating manufacturers and the public to prevent litter. Expanding collection opportunities through recycling and energy recovery. Developing new end markets that increase demand for recycled plastics making them less likely to end up littered or in a landfill.

Reduced Pollution

As biodegradable products break down naturally, they eventually decompose and are consumed by soil and other natural components. This natural process means no forced chemical reaction needs to take place to kickstart the process and less pollution will happen as a result.

Apart from taking less time to break down when discarded, biodegradable plastics can also be recycled and are non-toxic since they contain no chemicals or toxins compared to other types of plastics that can emit harmful chemicals, especially if burned.

Third, Plastic Recycling is important because of the effect plastic waste has on the environment and other living organisms. Improperly disposed plastic waste has a lot of negative impacts on the system, particularly the environment. On average, 11 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the marine ecosystem each year.

How does plastic waste affect the environment? ›

How does plastic harm the environment? Plastic sticks around in the environment for ages, threatening wildlife and spreading toxins. Plastic also contributes to global warming. Almost all plastics are made from chemicals that come from the production of planet-warming fuels (gas, oil and even coal).

Make Green choices at home in choosing products with less plastic packaging. Move away from the throwaway culture. Avoid cosmetics and personal hygiene products with microbeads. Microbeads, a type of microplastic, are the little dots in your toothpaste, and facial scrubs.

These small plastic particles may harm our health once they have entered our bodies. Plastic products contain chemical additives. A number of these chemicals have been associated with serious health problems such as hormone-related cancers, infertility and neurodevelopment disorders like ADHD and autism.

Corporations. Companies are also responsible for huge amounts of waste, especially through single-use plastics. Break Free From Plastic determined the top ten corporations that can account for most of the plastic pollution.

Plastic is a non-biodegradable material, it does bury into soil or water and its impact is worse when burned. It is harmful to people, animals as well as crops. Every year many animals, birds and sea creatures die due to plastic pollution.

The major impact of plastic bags on the environment is that it takes many years to for them to decompose. In addition, toxic substances are released into the soil when plastic bags perish under sunlight and, if plastic bags are burned, they release a toxic substance into the air causing ambient air pollution.

As nouns, the difference between disadvantage and advantage is that disadvantage is a weakness or undesirable characteristic; a con while the advantage is any condition, circ*mstance, opportunity, or means, particularly favorable to success, or any desired end.

What is the advantages and disadvantages of plastics? ›

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using plastic? The benefits of plastics: the production criteria are durable, low cost, water-resistant, lower energy and heavy chemicals and are lightweight. Disadvantages of using plastics are, they pollute our environment. They pose a danger to wildlife.

Plastic debris, laced with chemicals and often ingested by marine animals, can injure or poison wildlife. Floating plastic waste, which can survive for thousands of years in water, serves as mini transportation devices for invasive species, disrupting habitats.

Despite growing mistrust, plastics are critical to modern life. Plastics made possible the development of computers, cell phones, and most of the lifesaving advances of modern medicine. Lightweight and good for insulation, plastics help save fossil fuels used in heating and in transportation.

Plastic packaging can survive extreme environments and don't easily degrade in hot and cold temperatures, thus preserving the integrity of the food or beverage inside it. It also protects your products from moisture, oxygen, dust, light and odours.

The manufacturing process of plastic bag is energy efficient while the solid waste percentage is less. A plastic bag consumes up to 40% less energy to make and causes 70 % less solid waste than a paper bag.

Physical impact on marine life: entanglement, ingestion, starvation. Chemical impact: the buildup of persistent organic pollutants like PCBs and DDT. Transport of invasive species and pollutants from polluted rivers to remote areas in the ocean.

Recycling reduces the need to grow, harvest or extract new raw materials from the Earth. That in turn lessens the harmful disruption and damage being done to the natural world: fewer forests cut down, rivers diverted, wild animals harmed or displaced, and less pollution of water, soil and air.

What is the main cause of plastic pollution? ›

The majority of plastic pollution in the ocean is caused by littering: we buy or use disposable plastic items (food wrappings, plastic bags, razors, bottles, etc.) and do not dispose of them properly, which cause them to end up in the waterways and eventually in the ocean.

Natural cloth can replace plastic bags. Sustainable clothing made from organic cotton, wool, hemp, or bamboo won't shed plastic fibers when washed. Felted or recycled wool is a versatile, safe, and compostable material for children's toys, household containers, and more.

Most plastic is not recyclable and the vast majority does not biodegrade. Further, plastic products often break down into very small fragments called microplastics that can pollute ecosystems and harm organisms.

How does plastic harm the environment? Plastic sticks around in the environment for ages, threatening wildlife and spreading toxins. Plastic also contributes to global warming. Almost all plastics are made from chemicals that come from the production of planet-warming fuels (gas, oil and even coal).

Lack of Proper Industrial Expertise

Improper industrial experience in plastic waste recycling leads to various challenges faced by the workers. The new equipment & unclear expertise turns the working into a complicated system. This indeed results in one of the biggest hurdles in plastic recycling management.

The majority of plastic pollution in the ocean is caused by littering: we buy or use disposable plastic items (food wrappings, plastic bags, razors, bottles, etc.) and do not dispose of them properly, which cause them to end up in the waterways and eventually in the ocean.

These toxins have direct and documented impacts on skin, eyes, and other sensory organs, the respiratory, nervous, and gastrointestinal systems, liver, and brain. Transforming fossil fuel into plastic resins and additives releases carcinogenic and other highly toxic substances into the air.

Waste plastic bags are polluting the land and water immensely. Plastic bags have become a threat to the life of animals living on earth as well as in water. Chemicals released by waste plastic bags enter the soil and make it infertile. Plastic bags are having a negative impact on human health.

What is the conclusion of waste? ›

Waste management can be defined as the "collection, removal, processing, and disposal of materials considered waste" (Ecolife Dictionary). Waste can be put into landfills, incinerated, recycled, or composted. The most sustainable way to manage waste is to recycle and compost.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Most common method of disposing of wastes is to dump them in low-lying areas on the outskirts of towns which is very haphazard and unscientific. This has serious environmental impacts like water pollution, methane emissions, and soil degradation.

Waste management is important as it saves the environment from the toxic effects of inorganic and biodegradable element present in waste. Mismanagement of waste can cause water contamination, soil erosion and air contamination. Waste can be recycled if collected and managed efficiently.