#CrushPlastic
No matter where you go in the world, you will find plastic waste lying around or overflowing from the waste bin; we are facing a major plastic problem. Many people may assume this issue has been taken under control, however, this is an issue that is gradually becoming a natural disaster.
PET bottles and plastic bags are the mostly used type of plastic waste and they can have a detrimental effect on the environment. Plastic waste is non-biodegradable and toxic; they end up in landfills and oceans causing serious problems like pollution, and contamination. Each year, the use and consumption of plastic rises and if this continues, it will pose a serious problem globally. Apparently, the record-breaking sailor, Dame Ellen MacArthur who has seen more of the world’s ocean than anyone else, has warned that there will be more plastic than fishes by 2050.
Plastic bottles contain bisphenol A, the chemical used to make plastics hard and clear. This chemical has been proven to be hazardous to human health; it has been linked to health problems like cancer, early puberty in girls, neurological difficulties, reduced fertility, premature labour, defects in new born babies to mention but a few. Many plastic wastes often end up in the ocean, especially plastic bottle tops which are currently not recyclable. Apparently, these wastes end up in the stomach of many aquatic animals; they fall prey to this problem. According to onegreenplanet.org, A sperm whale was found dead on a North American beach with a plastic gallon bottle which had gummed up its small intestine. The animal’s body was full of plastic material including other plastic bottles, bottle caps and plastic bags.
Plastic waste is not the only threat to the environment, plastic production is as well. Many plastic wastes are made from polyethylene terephthalate and they require large amount of fossil fuels for their production and transportation.
Plastic wastes are not easily recyclable as one may think; in fact, there are plastic varieties that are not recyclable. The material that can be recycled include polyethylene (shopping bags, laundry bags, pure water sachets, yoghurt wrappers, soft poly bags, hospital drip bags, popcorn wrapper, bread wrapper, cellophane), plastic water bottles, electronics – computers, cellular phones, keyboards, batteries and other small electronic equipment, wire, cables, plastic product, rubber, etc. One of the reasons why plastic recycling is so hard is because there are different types of plastics; you can’t put all of it in one place, shred, melt, and create packaging once again. Different types of plastics need to be recycled using different techniques and some of them is even too expensive to be recycled (for example, polystyrene, a material often used for single use food packaging, is so difficult and costly to recycle, it almost always ends up in a landfill).
Despite the terrible plastic situation, all hope is not lost. Sciencedaily.com has revealed that the Researchers/Scientists at Berkeley Lab found a way to turn plastic bottle waste into ultralight polyethylene terephthalate aerogels that are soft, flexible, durable, extremely light, and easy to handle. They also demonstrate superior thermal insulation and strong absorption capacity.
Other ways to drive this #CrushPlastic goal is to provide incentives to ensure that people are willing to help in view of getting a reward. For instance, an agreement was reached between parents and school management of Morit International School, Ajegunle, Lagos, to pay their wards’ fees with waste plastic bottles. This became possible after the school adopted the Recycles Pay Education Project, an initiative of African Clean Up Initiative (ACI), an environmental non-governmental organisational in Lagos, Nigeria.
Plastic waste is a major disaster – the oceans are flooded with plastic waste, and it seeps right into the food chain.
What this means is that, when we eat fish, we eat microplastics. So plastic recycling seems like a good idea and true salvation not even to us, but to nature too.
Written By: Pascaline Opeodu
To be honest, I asked myself this question: Is eliminating plastic a realistic goal?
I truly doubt it is.
Honestly, most of us do not handle plastic properly. Plastics can be recycled at home or at the junk yard.
In the places I have stayed in Africa, there are local services that can handle recycling but most people are lazy to go through the process to do it.
I often try to recycle the ones I have and they have been quite useful in keeping things at home.
If we can be more conscious of how we dispose and recycle locally as much as possible, maybe the hazards that affect us locally will reduce.
Before we throw that plactic carelessly, we ask ourselves is this right?
We live in a fast-forward world and plastic may not leave the picture any time soon.