PLASTIC POLLUTION | | 0.0 (0) |
Written by rashmi October 06, 2010 Hits: 368 0 Cash Credits: 25.00 Editor: Deepti
The pollution that is caused by organic polymer materials such as plastic on the environment thereby having harmful effect on human being is known as plastic pollution. Plastic mainly can be divided in two broader classifications namely.
* Thermoplastics * Thermosetting plastics
Both these varieties of plastics are not biodegradable that cannot be acted by micro organisms leading to the breakdown of the molecules. Generally most of the organic materials such as proteins in human and animal systems, paper, wood, vegetable materials etc. are prone to bacterial action and get putrified leading to mineralization. But it is not possible for any plastic waste material to undergo degradation leading to mineralization. The plastic packing and other waste material will be present in the environment for indefinite time. Hence the disposal of plastic waste material has created a very great challenge to the present generation.
Sources
The main sources of plastic pollutants are the polythene bags. Besides this the broken home appliances made of plastics, broken plastic chairs and furnitures mainly contribute to the waste materials. The industries producing plastic materials also release plastic waste materials into the land and water sources.
There are several drawbacks of using polythene:
* It creates unaesthetic appearance in public places, residential colonies, tourist spots, and others. * Because of its lightweight, they are very easily lifted by winds and may reach open drains, which further cause blocking of sewer lines, and floods during monsoon * If dumped in landfills, they stay for a long time causing impaired biochemical reaction. * The colouring pigment in coloured polythene bags leach out to oil in dumpsites causing ground water contamination. * The intake of polythene bag by