Environmental Effects Of Plastic - 977 Words

Introduction Plastic is one of the most important materials that are used today in our daily lives. Plastics have been in our lives for a long time. The first polymer plastic was first made in 1907 by Leo Hendrik Baekeland (Bellis, 2017,para.6). Plastics are used for food, transportation, packaging, bottles, containers, bags and much more. Around 300 million tons of plastic is created each year and less than 10 percent of that is recycled (Wassener, 2011,para.13). It exists everywhere and it’s a daily usage in our lives, thus, we can’t help but expose ourselves in the environment where plastics are around. The use of plastic has benefits but they also have some serious health and environmental impacts during manufacturing and disposing.†¦show more content†¦The additives in the plastic can be toxic to our health and environment. Plastics have countless advances in our way of life. Benefits of using plastic are that it is convenient, inexpensive, light and easily shaped. Pla stic containers used to store food help preserve flavor and freshness. It’s a perfect building material and it also has ability to prevent contamination therefore can be used in sterile medical environment. However, more than 90% of the plastic waste is disposed through landfills, open burning and littering after we are done with it. Health Impacts Plastics cause serious threat to human and animal health in many ways. Plastics can cause severe adverse health effect on humans such as cancers, endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive effect if exposed to plastic chemicals. The exposure can happen during the manufacturing, leaching food due to the use of plastics package, placing medical instrument, and chewing toys etc. Based on Rustagi, Pradhan, and Singh’s research (2011), Polyvinylchloride (PVC), Phthalates (DEHP and DINP), Polyethelyne (PET), and Polystyrene, four most common types of plastics, are all harmful to human health (para. 3). PVC is widely used in food packaging, plastic wrap, cosmetics, toys and chewy teethers. During the physical contact, the chemical phthalate esters release and can cause cancer, birth defects, changing in genetics, deafness, and liverShow MoreRelatedEnvironmental Effects Of Plastics : Environmental And Environmental Impacts1083 Words   |  5 PagesEnvironmental Impacts Production and disposal of plastic can have significant environmental and economically impacts. During production, energy and resources are wasted and toxic chemicals are released into the air. Disposal of waste causes air, soil, and land pollution and harm to wildlife. The manufacturing process of plastic produces solid waste, air emissions and waterborne emissions. The raw materials used in creating plastic are derived from oil and natural gas. 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