Plastics and the Environment
More than the
Eye can see!
Everyone must understand that the
environmental legacy we leave behind for
future generations will depend on our resolve
to: REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE
“A study conducted by the ‘German
Society for Research in the Packaging
Market’, shows that if plastics packaging
were replaced with other materials,
the weight and volume of disposables
would increase by a factor of 4 and 2.5
respectively, along with twice the level of energy consumption and double the
cost of packaging,” says
T.K.Bandopadhaya, Technical Manager
ICPE, Mumbai in dialogue with ET
Polymers.
Q. Are plastics eco-friendly?
In general, all man-made products,
during manufacture, processing and
disposal, have an impact on the environment.
The issue therefore is which
of these products under consideration,
will impose the least burden on the environment
and contribute to what is
termed as “sustainable development”.
As you read-on the haze created might
clear to reveal the genuine role of plastics
in the environment. This is best
expressed in the following quotation:
“There is a perpetual danger of thinking
you can find out the truth merely
by being clever. The truth is that you have to work doggedly at the facts” (Dr.
Ronald Broadbent in the New Scientist
- July’ 73).
Q. How do we judge whether plastics
are eco-friendly in relation to other materials?
Plastindia Foundation’s Enviroplast
Committee developed a model or criteria,
which may be used for qualifying
materials as eco-friendly. The material
or product in question should:
* Improve the quality of life, particularly
of the economically weaker
sections of society.
* Reduce significantly the pollution
load on the environment - land,
water and air - in relation to materials
that are replaced or substituted.
* Use the non-renewable energy resources
more efficiently.
* Contribute to the preservation of
land, water resources and forests.
* Lend itself, to recycling and/or recovery
of a significant part of the
inherent energy.
Normally the tendency is to judge a
product or item in terms of its waste
disposal problem. This is like saying that
an iceberg is as big as it appears above
the surface.
Every process connected with a
product, right from the time that the
basic raw materials are extracted from
the earth to the time a product is produced;
transported, used and disposed,
has some impact on the environment.
A comparative study of products or applications
based on measurements of
energy input and the pollution discharged
to land, water and air, at every
stage, is called a Life Cycle Analysis
(L.C.A.) - or more simply “the cradle
to grave” approach.
....contd.
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