Plastic Waste

Plastic materials are one of the most used materials in Europe. It is the most popular form of food-packaging worldwide. Apart from that obvious role, areas like agriculture, construction or car industry – all make use of some plastics. As a result of this extensive usage, in 2003 the Netherlands alone produced 1,2 million tons of plastic waste. That is a very big amount for a country with relatively small population – 17 million people – imagine the impact of Germany or the United States!

The biggest amount of plastic waste – approximately 45% – consists of household waste. That number is so high due to the fact that almost every food item purchased in a supermarket comes in a plastic package. Meat packages, cheese slices, butter packs, ready-made dishes – all are packed with ridiculous amounts of plastic. My favorite example is a typical lunch salad from a supermarket. Not only the whole package is plastic, but almost every ingredient has a separate compartment made of this non-biodegradable material!

Soft drink bottles, and packages like shampoos or shower gels form another enormous source of plastic waste worldwide. In many countries, where tap water is not safe to drink, this problem is even more urgent. As a result of bad quality of tap water people have to purchase big bottles of drinking water almost every day. Unfortunately, those countries are also the ones with very poor recycling policies.

Recycling

The worst of it all – only about 5% of all the plastic waste is being recycled. Most of it ends up in huge land damps, or even worse, in the world’s ocean. There have been horrifying predictions of more plastic than fish in the ocean as soon as 2050. Plastic waste in the ocean has very sad consequences, which most people never even think about. Multiple reports show show large fish and turtles suffocating on carelessly thrown away plastic bags and packages. Even if such a package eventually breaks down in the sea water, it releases dangerous chemicals in the process. If we don’t think about the environment, we should at least think about ourselves. These chemicals are eventually consumed by various fish and may end up in the human food chain.

Buying less products with a one-time use packaging and, most of all, recycling, are the answers to those problems.

Plastic recycling practices

There are three most-popular recycling practices for plastic.

• The first one consists of simply burning it down to produce energy. This is where most of the used plastic ends up. The method is, however, widely criticized due to the fact that the obtained energies are not compensating for the energies required for new plastic production. Moreover, the process results in releasing dangerous gases to the atmosphere.
• A relatively new and still rare recycling procedure includes converting plastics into fuels and carbons.
• Finally, a practice that should be way more wide-spread than it currently is – reusing plastics! It’s the most environmentally-friendly way of recycling plastics. The waste is collected, subsequently melted and further re-used to create new items – from single-use cutlery to children’s toys.

The bottom line is – everyone can contribute to a more sustainable society. Start today with buying a reusable water bottle and separating your waste!

 

If you would like to read more about the types of plastic and their utilization procedures, please check out this post.