Plastic and Its Impact on Environment and Human Health

Plastic is a sort of material that consists of synthetic compounds which can be molded into solid objects but unfortunately it is a haunting substance for our Mother Earth. The world’s first-ever synthetic plastic Bakelite was invented in New York in the year 1907. And since then we are producing approximately 400 million tons of plastic every year. It is also defined as polymers of long carbon chain. A study has shown that every year averagely of 20% of plastic bags get recycled and the Recycling cost of 1 ton of plastics bags costs $4000. Now where does the 80% plastic go?

Life Cycles Stages of Plastics

It’s the effect on our Environment

We see plastic bags are everywhere. It has become an integral component of our life. In our locality, lakesides, rivers, ocean to almost every corner of the world. Definitely, it's affecting nature because plastic is a toxic non-biodegradable pollutant that is polluting lands, the ocean and the air. Plastic causes some serious environmental damages while manufacturing and while disposing of. During plastic manufacturing, many industries release pollutant gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, cyanide, dioxin and VOC’s which pollutes the air severely. Since it is a non-biodegradable substance, landfilling with plastics conserves the poisons forever.

Negative Impacts of Plastics on Land

Ø  > Plastic pollution on land is both physical and chemical.

Ø  > Plastic damages the beauty of the environment and hygiene.

Ø  > It reduces soil fertility by establishing the part of the ordure for years.

Ø  > It can cause landslides

Ø  > Plastic in landfills discharges hazardous VOC’s while cremating.

Ø  > Soils that contain even a little amount of plastic decreases the growth of plants and trees by blocking the absorption of nutrients, water and minerals.

Negative Impacts of Plastics on Air

Industries that produce plastics emit huge amounts of carbon monoxide, dioxin and hydrogen cyanide. These polluting gases tarnish air and cause diseases like nervous system disorders, immune suppression, respiratory diseases etc.

Negative Impacts of Plastics on Fresh Water

Ø  > The reason, why our land is still capable of throwing plastics, is because we dump most of the plastics into our oceans. But dumping them into the water causing contamination and poisons fresh water.

Ø  > On straining in water, plastic can easily enter the human food chain and harm human health.

Ø  > Plastic chocked drains which cause flooding during monsoon.

Ø  > Plastic detritus clog the sewage and drain and create stagnate ideal water for mosquitoes and parasites.  

Negative Impacts of Plastics on Marine Environment

Ø  > Effects of plastic on ocean’s life contains imbroglio and slug of plastics debris by marine vertebrates.

Ø  > Some marine mammals devour plastics which looks very similar to jellyfish in the water.

Ø  > For consuming plastic bags every year more than 44% of sea birds die due to the blockage of digestive tracts.

Ø  > Many times, plastics are mistaken as food and consumed by birds, turtles, seals and wheals. This causes disrupt their digestion and cause malnutrition.

Ø  > Many times, sea turtles found entangled in the discarded net and they found dead with a plastic garbage bag in their belly.

Ø  > A study has shown that every year over a million birds and mammals die due to ingestion of plastics.

Impact on Human Health

Ø  > We can into contact with plastics in all stages of the lifecycle from the extraction of raw materials, to the manufacturing of plastics, through the consumer’s usage, and finally their disposal.

Ø  > Due to the intercourse of plastic and other toxic components into the human body can causes cancer, diabetes, chronic inflammation and many immune diseases.

Ø  > Plastics like micro and nano plastics which are almost invisible to the naked eye are sometimes consumed by animals and later by humans.

Ø  > Heavy substances released in the extraction and waste incarnation processes have been strongly linked to problems in a more vulnerable population, especially on children and pregnant women.

How Plastics reach the human body!

As we spoke earlier, plastic is a non-biodegradable pollutant, breaking into small pieces and affecting the ocean. This also acts as a sponge and soak toxins from the ocean. Due to these plastic products, the ocean life got contaminated and that goes further consumed by human.

Our role 

The primary thing that we can do is switch from plastic bags to cloth bags. Cloth-bags saves 6 bags per week. Approximately, 24 each month and 244 every single year. And averagely, 22,000 plastic bags in our entire lifetime. So, using cloth bags instead of plastic can be a solution to the problem. The government of China, Italy, Bangladesh and many native counties in Africa has implemented some kinds of policies to regulate plastic bags. Till 2017, more than 127 countries have implemented the law to ban plastic to avoid environmental loss made of it.

Fact File: 

 Britannica