Plastics
and Environmental Implications
T.K.
Bandopadhyay
Technical Manager,
ICPE, Mumbai.
Policy
makers in the Government have already taken decisions to use plastics
in various applications, more such decisions should be taken to make
use of plastics mandatory in areas where it replaces wood and other
natural resources and where it prevents use of many environmentally
hazardous substances.
In
12000 B.C., the first deliberate man-made fire was created. That was
the real beginning of civilisation.
As
the civilization progressed, so did the needs of the human race. Civilisation
brought about industrialisation. Great inventions changed the world
and brought comfort to our lifestyle. These inventions have made a
vast difference between the way of life of a human being and that
of an animal. Industrialisation has been rapid since the middle of
the 19th century.
The
environmental effects of many inventions were far reaching. The development
of industries has created an enormous impact on the environment. The
impact is to such an extent that it has become a concern to the very
existence of civilisation.
Following
are the major reasons for environmental pollution:
-
Air pollution due to various types of gaseous emissions and Suspended
Particulate Matter (SPM)
-
Water and soil pollution due to various types of effluents and disposal
of other waste materials
-
Global warming
-
Depletion of ozone layer resulting in penetration of harmful UV
rays on the earth’s surface
Role
of Plastics in Environmental Issues
We
will attempt to examine the role of plastics in each of these environmental
issues:
First
of all let us discuss about plastics materials. Carbon atom is the
backbone of the chemical compounds that make up all living things.
Carbon atoms can build up chain links to form a large molecular structure.
The most abundantly naturally occurring life process, plants, have
this structure in the form of cellulose. And this cellulose was the
mother of invention of plastics. In 1862, Alexander Parkes in Britain
modified cellulose nitrate with camphor to produce the first man-made
plastic material. Since then, various types of plastics have been
invented involving many chemicals-organic as well as in-organic.
Present
annual consumption of plastics in the world is about 130 million tonnes,
which has almost doubled in the last 30 years.
Out
of the various types of plastics, commodity plastics, viz. Low Density
Polyethylene (LDPE), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), High
Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl Chloride
(PVC) and Polystyrene (PS) account for about 80% by weight.
We
will try to analyse the impact of these plastics on environmental
management. While analysing the impact/ effect of material on the
environment one should consider the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which
considers the following aspects:
-
Production
-
Storage
-
Transportation/delivery
-
Usage/reusage
-
Disposal, up to final disintegration
Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an important environmental management tool
to know the impact of a product on environment from its manufacturing.....
....contd.
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