Plastic Pollution

Introduction

The pollution caused due to plastic materials is plastic pollution.

The great achievement of the human being is the development of technology. this technology gives many things to the human being including plastics.
plastics become a part of human activity. for example- when you wake up in the morning you use plastic brushes when you go to the kitchen you can find many small containers which are made up of plastics. when you go to the office you can get used of plastics in cars and bushes. in the office, there are many things like a water bottle, your pcs/laptops etc.
Finally, we can say that plastic is a part of our daily life.
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structure of plastics

plastic is an organic material. The carbon atom has four electrons in the outer shell. Each of these valence electrons can form a covalent bond to another carbon atom or to a foreign atom. The key feature to form the polymer structure is that two carbon atoms can have up to three common bonds and still bond with other atoms. The elements found most frequently in polymers and their valence numbers are H, F, Cl, Bf, and I with 1 valence electron; O and S with 2 valence electrons; n with 3 valence electrons and C and Si with 4 valence electrons.

     

The polymer chain is often shown in two dimensions, but it should be noted that they have a three-dimensional structure. Each bond is at 109° to the next and, therefore, the carbon backbone extends through space like a twisted chain of TinkerToys. When stress is applied, these chains stretch and the elongation of polymers can be thousands of times greater than it is in crystalline structures.

Cause due to increasing the use of plastic

1. low electrical and thermal conductivity
2. low cost and is easy to manufacture
3. Resistance to shock, good durability
4. Easily available and cheap in cost so it is reachable to everyone.
5. the huge amount of plastic waste generated, and the lack of knowledge among people about trying to recycle it.

Effects of plastics on the environment-

1. As plastic is composed of major toxic pollutants, it has the potential to cause great harm to the environment in the form of air, water, and land pollution.
2. Plastics accumulation at a place causes the problem for plants, Ecosystem and different type of pollution.
3. it is not biodegradable.so it affects the surroundings for a long time.
4. Plastics inside the land may create the problem for the quality Groundwater.
5. it also affects the land quality, crops can't grow on the plastics.
6. Many animals eat the plastics which is responsible for the death. (a Pilot whale died after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags)
7. The total plastic waste that is collected and recycled is estimated to be 9205 tonnes per day; 6137 tonnes remained uncollected and littered in 2015, according to a report by the environment ministry.
8. Recently an elephant was found dead, with 750 kg of plastic inside its stomach, according to The Plastic Cow Project.

Control of plastic materials-

1. By using more and more paper bags at the place of plastic bags.
2. Recycle the plastic materials (e.g. plastics bottle may be used for a small container in the kitchen).
3. Educate the nearby people about the bad effect of plastics.
4. The government should take a solid action against the plastic materials.
5. Replace the plastic materials with other material which is less harmful to the environment.