Perhaps one of our gift cards could be the perfect present for them. Lucy February 05, Maria Gonzalez February 05, This is great. We should all work together to keep the environment clean and safe.
Sarah February 05, Yaa I actually I got the chem project I shld be writing info on this plastic pollution soo I found this. Cara-Rose February 05, Please note, comments must be approved before they are published. Search Home All products. Our Brands.
About us. Contact Us. Wholesale Enquiries Contact Us. Why are plastic bags bad for the environment? According to the Natural Environment website it takes at least years for a bag to biodegrade which has the following effects: Natural Environment estimates that approximately , sea turtles and other marine animals die every year because they get strangled in bags or mistake them for food.
Plastic debris is found absolutely everywhere, from the Arctic to Antarctica. It clogs street drains in our cities; it litters campgrounds and national parks, and is even piling up on Mount Everest link. A crab on the beach of Henderson Island uses a piece of plastic debris as a home. When researchers Seaturtle with a half-eaten plastic bag in its mouth. We already know that fracking is bad for the planet -- it pollutes water, soil and air with toxins, it creates underground cavities that collapse into sinkholes, and it raises pressure in underground rock formations, destabilizing them and leading to earthquakes, even in places where earthquakes are uncommon.
Adding insult to injury, one of the main products of fracking is Basically, fossil fuels removed from shale and other rock formations are turned into resin pellets that are used to manufacture ever more plastics, plastics that are easily discarded, plastics that usually are designed to be single use.
You may not know that plastics manufacturers are dangerous to the environment, to wildlife and to people in other ways, too. For example, the British chemical industry giant, Ineos , has 75 manufacturing facilities in 22 countries, including the United States.
In addition to contributing to growing mountains of plastic rubbish, Ineos facilities can boast an impressive -- and growing -- record of fires, explosions, and chemical leaks. In the last few months, the effects upon wildlife that come from eating, or becoming entangled in, plastic debris have been reported more widely and more often than ever before, leading to public outcry and protests. The unaltered stomach contents of a dead albatross chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in Further, there is growing evidence that plastics play a role in rising rates of species extinctions.
But entangling or lodging inside the digestive tract of an unfortunate victim, like whales and other marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and fishes, is not the end of the line, because plastics do not biodegrade, nor are they digestible. Instead, large plastic pieces break into smaller fragments that are easy for even more animal species to consume. Eating plastics results in malnutrition, intestinal blockage, or slow poisoning from chemicals leached from or attached to plastics.
Advances in developing biodegradable plastics could also have a huge impact on ocean health: researchers are currently working on a bioplastic that degrades in seawater , which could ultimately reduce the amount of waste that accumulates there. But the only way to truly solve this problem is to dramatically reduce the production of plastic, which means curbing our addiction to it.
That is not a legacy I would want to leave for future generations. Take a deep dive with monthly updates of chinadialogue ocean articles and marine-focused news curated by our team. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
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You can read their privacy policy and terms and conditions. Where does waste come from? Global warming further aids the process by making previously inhospitable areas like the Arctic livable for invasive species, which can be detrimental to local species.
For example, plastic items are commonly colonized by barnacles, tubeworms and algae. Along the shore of Adelaide Island, west of the Antarctic Peninsula, ten species of invertebrates were found attached to plastic strapping that was littering the ice. Plastic is so resilient that even burying it deep within the earth doesn't keep it from impacting the environment. Currently it accounts for approximately 10 percent of generated waste, most of which is landfilled.
But, as the report notes, placing plastics in a landfill may simply be storing a problem for the future, as plastic's chemicals often sink into nearby land, contaminating groundwater. In addition, production of plastics is a major user of fossil fuels. Eight percent of world oil production goes to manufacturing plastics. As plastics grow in volume at a rate of about nine percent each year, the authors emphasize that tackling its problems means addressing its sustainability.
One solution is to treat plastic as a reusable material rather than as a disposable commodity that's quickly discarded. That means making plastic more easily recyclable from the get-go by using fewer materials in the manufacturing process and increasing recycling facility availability.
Increasing the availability of biodegradable plastic, which can be made from renewable materials from plants such as corn and soy, is another option. However, currently production capacity for biodegradable plastics worldwide is around only , tons, representing less than 0. In addition, "most of these materials are unlikely to degrade quickly in natural habitats, and there is concern that degradable, oil-based polymers could merely disintegrate into small pieces that are not in themselves any more degradable than conventional plastic," stated the report.
To help mitigate the potentially harmful chemicals in plastics, the authors recommend that more studies be conducted on the biological mechanisms that may be affected by plastic additives and in particular, low-dose chronic exposures. In the meantime, the report recommends reducing the use of these chemicals and developing safer alternatives, a strategy known as green chemistry. The report also suggests that plastic waste can be reduced by using labels that allow consumers to choose packaging based on a lifecycle analysis that includes all components of the manufacturing process.
For example, if the product were made of mostly recycled materials, used minimal packaging and could be easily recycled, it would get a green dot. If the product were made of excessive packaging that used a lot of virgin materials, it would get a red dot.
Neal of PlasticsEurope said consumers, not the industry, are responsible for making sure plastics don't wind up littering the environment. The authors said that if plastics are made and used responsibly, they can help solve some environmental problems. For example, one study found that packaging beverages in PET a type of plastic versus glass or metal reduces energy use by 52 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent.
And, solar water heaters containing plastics can provide up to two-thirds of a household's annual hot water demand, reducing energy consumption.
Plastics, if used wisely, "have the potential to reduce mankind's footprint on the Earth," Thompson said. As insects become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt, for it cannot function without them.
EHN talked to people with disabilities put in increased danger during last summer's Pacific Northwest heat waves.
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