Negative Effects Of Plastic On The Environment – Plastic contaminates at every stage – from production to disposal. Environmentalists now call this process the plastic cycle of “death” because of how harmful plastic is to our health and the planet. Photo: DeawSS via Shutterstock

Plastic is everywhere – even in places you’d least expect, like chewing gum, tea bags, wet wipes, receipts, coffee cups and microwave popcorn bags. Think about that for a moment.

Negative Effects Of Plastic On The Environment

– material that we know threatens our health and the environment. Yet manufacturers continue to produce more and more plastic every year – even though the way plastic is produced encourages a toxic cycle of production, consumption and disposal.

Microplastics Are Everywhere

In fact, global plastic production is increasing dramatically – from 1.5 million metric tons in 1950 to around 367 million metric tons in 2020.

We can only stop the worsening of this toxic waste crisis by breaking the cycle of plastic pollution once and for all. That starts with understanding how plastics are made in the first place.

At its core, plastic is dirty and pollutes fossil fuels. But how is plastic made using these raw materials? And why are these materials so dangerous for our health and the environment?

Extraction: Fossil fuel companies remove coal, crude oil, and natural gas from the earth through large-scale mining and drilling operations. This includes the dangerous drilling technique known as fracking.

Harmful Effects Of Plastic On Dairy Cattle.

Impact: Digging deep into the ground damages soil and soil – and makes the area more vulnerable to natural disasters such as landslides and flash floods. Additionally, mining companies typically dump all the rock and soil they excavate into nearby waterways and ravines, interrupting water flow and disrupting surrounding ecosystems. And fracking leaves behind a lagoon of liquid containing radioactive material, heavy metals and other toxins. If that wasn’t bad enough, extraction releases toxic chemicals into the air. If inhaled or ingested by workers and nearby communities, it can lead to a range of health problems, including cancer.

Refining and cracking: Refineries process fossil fuels to obtain the chemical compounds (ethane and propane) needed to make plastics. A technique called “cracking” then breaks down the complex molecules that make up ethane and propane – turning them into smaller, lighter and more widely functional compounds known as ethylene and propylene.

Impact: Refineries and crackers are very dangerous – they release countless toxic chemicals into the air that negatively affect our climate and health. The largest petrochemical refinery in the country is located in Houston, Texas. And, unfortunately, the facility took its toll on neighboring communities.

Processing and Manufacturing: Ethylene and propylene are modified with a number of chemical additives to produce different types of resin, which in turn are molded into lens-sized plastic “nurdles” (or pellets). Manufacturers around the world melt plastic covers to create every plastic product you can imagine – that’s how plastic is made.

Lines On Plastic Bag And Its Harmful Effects For Students And Children In English

Impact: The processing and production of plastics release extremely toxic substances into the air, which affects the Earth’s climate and can lead to serious health impacts. On top of that, many plastic nurdles escape these facilities and make their way into our waterways and oceans – where they put marine life and ecosystems at risk.

The way plastic is produced clearly endangers our health and the environment. But the threat doesn’t end there. Plastic contaminates at every stage – from production to disposal. Environmentalists now call this process the plastic “death” cycle (rather than the “life cycle”) because of how harmful plastic is to our health and the planet.

Even after the plastic is formed into a package or product, the transport of those goods for distribution releases climate-damaging emissions into the air. The use of these products causes microplastics to enter and disturb the environment. And eating or drinking from plastic containers can lead us to ingest harmful chemicals. Moreover, our dirty disposal methods result in huge amounts of plastic in our communities and ocean.

While the flood of single-use plastic on our planet has drawn attention in recent years, this debris only scratches the surface of the problem. It is true that we recycle very little plastic. In fact, only 8% of the 35,680 tons of plastic produced in the US in 2018 was recycled that year. And where did the rest of that plastic go? Well, 75% went to landfills, which produce toxic waste juice that seeps into groundwater, and 16% is burned in incinerators, which release toxic pollution into the air.

Plastic Degradation In The Environment

Our recycling system can’t handle the huge variety of plastics – meaning we can’t recycle our way out of the plastic pollution problem. So we need to look for alternative solutions that remove plastic from the equation.

People across New England and around the world are fighting the plastic crisis—and winning. In the last few years alone, we’ve seen:

How plastic is produced takes a lot of time, energy and money. Yet the petrochemical industry continues to mine the earth’s fossil fuels just for manufacturers to create products

(not to mention the packaging for those products). And all the while, the continuous cycle of plastic production, consumption and disposal threatens our health and the environment.

The Impact Of Packaging On The Environment: Is Plastic The Only Demon?

We must break the unsustainable cycle that is plastic pollution. And we can do this by redesigning our products to use more sustainable materials, rethinking our waste management systems and holding producers accountable for the plastic waste they create. These Zero Waste solutions are already in place around the world – and they work.

But we can’t do this alone. Your voice and support make a big difference. Call on your legislators to ban single-use plastics in your state and help us go plastic-free.

Before you go… work every day to create real, systemic change for the New England environment. And we can’t solve these big problems without people like you. Will you be a part of this movement by considering a contribution today? If everyone who reads our blog gave just $10, we’d have enough money to fund our legal teams for the next year.

The views and opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Conservation Law Foundation, our boards, or our supporters. A new report reveals that plastic is a human health crisis hiding in plain sight. Plastics and Health: The Hidden Cost of a Plastic Planet, by Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Earthworks, Global Alliance for Alternative Incinerators (GAIA), Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), IPEN, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s. ), the University of Exeter and UPSTREAM bring together research that exposes the various toxic risks that plastics pose to human health at every stage of the plastic life cycle, from fossil fuel extraction, through consumer use, to disposal and beyond.

Plastic Straws — Design Life Cycle

To date, research into the impact of plastics on human health has focused narrowly on specific moments in the life cycle of plastics, often on individual products, processes, or routes of exposure. This approach fails to recognize that significant, complex and interconnected impacts on human health occur at every stage of the plastic life cycle: from the wellhead to the refinery, from store shelves to human bodies, and from waste management to the ongoing impacts of microplastics in the air, water. and soil. Plastic and health

Presents a full panorama of the impact of plastic on human health and advises that any solution to the plastic crisis must address the full life cycle.

Uncertainties and knowledge gaps often hinder regulation and the ability of consumers, communities and policymakers to make informed decisions, according to the report. However, the full scale of the life-cycle health impacts of plastics are overwhelming and require a precautionary approach.

Plastics require a life cycle approach. Previous narrow approaches to assessing and addressing the impact of plastics are inadequate and inappropriate. Making informed decisions that address the risks of plastics requires a full life cycle approach to understand the full extent of its toxic impacts on human health. Likewise, reducing the toxicity of plastics will require a variety of solutions and options because plastics have a complex life cycle with a diverse universe of actors.

Plastic Pollution In The Marine Environment

At each stage of its life cycle, plastic poses different risks to human health, arising from exposure to the plastic particles themselves and associated chemicals. People around the world are exposed to multiple stages of this life cycle.

David Azoulay, Director of Environmental Protection, CIEL: “Both the supply chains and impacts of plastics cross and re-cross borders, continents and oceans. No country alone can effectively protect its citizens from these impacts, and today there is no global instrument that would completely solve the toxic life cycle of plastic. Countries must take the opportunity of the current global discussions to develop a holistic response to the plastic health crisis that includes reducing the production, use and disposal of plastics worldwide. There is no silver bullet to solve this health crisis, but all solutions must ultimately reduce the production and use of plastics if they are serious about protecting human health.”

Priscilla Villa, Earthworks: “Plastics poison people before they are used because they are produced in polluting petrochemical plants. And that plastic is made from the byproducts of fracking. This is a problem because the extraction and transportation of oil and gas releases carcinogens like benzene. Any solution to our plastic problem must put people’s health ahead of Big Oil’s profits.”

Dawn Moon,

Plastic Pollution, Explained

Negative effects of deforestation on the environment, negative effects of gmos on the environment, negative effects of fracking on the environment, negative effects of globalization on the environment, negative effects of veganism on the environment, negative effects of agriculture on the environment, negative effects on the environment, negative effects of cars on the environment, negative effects of wildfires on the environment, negative effects of tourism on the environment, negative effects of mining on the environment, negative effects of pesticides on the environment