Plastic

What is Plastic?
- a material, synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products
- classified by the chemical process used in their synthesis, such as condensation, polyaddition, and cross-linking


Toxicity:
- insolubility in water and relative chemical inertness
- plastics often contain a variety of toxic additives
example: plasticizers like adipates and phthalates
- compounds leaching from polystyrene food containers had found to interfere with hormone functions and are suspected human carcinogens

Advantages of Plastic:
- production is easier as it is a synthetic product
- available in large scale
- cheap
- may exhibit better characteristics compared to natural resources

Disadvantages of Plastic:
1) Environment
- non-biodegradable & does not decayed with natural microbes
--> molecular bonds that make plastic so durable
- reduces the fertility of the soil & weakens the roots of plants
- may lead to soil erosion
- limit and destroys the asthetic beauty of the surrounding
2) Organisms
- as plastic is poisonous to health, organisms feeding on it will be affected
- produces a lot of carbon monoxide(poisonous! and hard to spot!) when burnt

Case study:
1) Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- It extends over an uncertain area, estimated 700,000 - 15,000,000 square kilometres ( some say twice the size of America!!! )
- characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre
- formed gradually as a result of marine pollution gathered by oceanic currents
- plastic abundance was 335 000 items km2 and 5.1 kg km

Effects:
- plastics end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, and their young, example: sea turtles and the Black-footed Albatross
- causing hormone disruption in the affected animal
- fish are then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of toxic chemicals
, entire food chain affected
- facilitate the spread of invasive species that attach to floating plastic in one region and drift long distances to invade other ecosystems
- affected 267 species worldwide


As the generation of people today is mostly educated, we all are mostly well aware and measures have been introduced.

Measures:
1) recent increase price of plastic
--> sharply rising cost of petroleum, raw material use to form plastics
2) recycling plastic
3) reduces usage of plastic
4) continue to raise awareness in public
5) use biodegradable plastic instead
6) convert into biodegradable plastic


Case Study:
1) Singapore: How S'pore deal with toxic waste like Plastic
- Recycling Week and the monthly "Bring Your Own Bag" Campaign
--> discourages the excessive wastage of plastic bags
- Voluntary packaging agreement signed by the food & beverage industry in 2007
--> reduce waste generation (plastic packaging)
- Dealing with hazardous substance like plastic
--> well-managed and controlled through strict regulations administered by NEA
--> NEA controls the movement, storage, use and disposal of hazardous substances and toxic industrial wastes to ensure that they do not become a threat to our environment.
- Emphasis on recycling materials such as plastic which is non-biodegradable, also
produces toxic gas when burnt/incinerated