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Plastic Waste ((• Higher population- plastic waste accumulates, • …

Plastic Waste

Impact on Environment

the world’s water is in great danger because of leaking plastics and waste, as water gets polluted in landfills and other areas filled with garbage, which eventually seeps through the soil, contaminating ground-water

Wind carries and deposits plastic from one place to another, increasing the land litter. It can also get stuck on poles, traffic lights, trees, fences, tower etc. and animals that may come in the vicinity and might suffocate them to death.

Burning of plastic in the open air, leads to environmental pollution due to the release of poisonous chemicals

In landfills- breakdown of biodegradable plastics by microorganisms like bacteria release methane, which is a greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

Impact on Human Health

wider disruption of our delicate endocrine system

 impaired brain and neurological functions

Additives in plastic production are the main cause of negative human health impacts. Humans can be exposed to these chemicals through the nose, mouth, or skin.

Some of the chemicals used in plastic production can cause dermatitis upon contact with human skin.

Exposure to chemicals such as BPA and phthalates have been correlated with disruptions in fertility, reproduction, sexual maturation, and others

Plastic toxins damaging other species consumed by humans, such as fish, harms the human digestive tract

Impact on Aquatic Life

Marine plastic pollution has impacted at least 267 species worldwide

The impacts include fatalities as a result of ingestion, starvation, suffocation, infection, drowning, and entanglement

Entanglement is the biggest and commonest issue

marine life that ingests plastics coated with pollutants can absorb these pollutants their bodies.

An estimated 1 hundred million metric tons of plastic are present in the Earth's oceans

plastics can cause blockages of the gut or perforation of the intestines.

In 2010, a California grey whale washed up dead on the shores of the Puget Sound. Autopsies indicated that its stomach contained a pair of pants and a golf ball, more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, duct tape and surgical gloves.

Seabirds that feed on the ocean surface are especially prone to ingesting plastic debris that floats

Impact on Food Chain

all sea creatures are swallowing seawater that contains toxic chemicals from plastic decomposition. The human population is eating fish that have eaten other fish and marine organisms, which have eaten toxin-saturated plastics.

Land- Animals either die, diminishing the available food supply for their prey, or they are contaminated and then eaten by other animals, contaminating them and all the other organisms in the food chain. Unlike in the ocean, animals that die on land by plastic ingestion or contamination decompose for a longer period out in the open

Additionally, plastic and toxins leach into the surrounding soil every time plastic pollution comes into contact with moisture, contaminating the soil and nearby groundwater systems. The water is steeped in soil, affecting the quantity of crops produced and their quality. Toxic groundwater contaminates the organisms that drink it as well as those organisms who eat them, and which may enter local reservoirs of water

Solutions, how to dispose plastic waste

Reusing and recycling waste plastic products

Pyrolysis or thermal depolyryzation- converting plastic to fuel

New innovative methods to reuse, such as Earthquake-proof homes made of plastic