PLASTIC.PLASTIC.PLASTIC.

Authors: Celine Lityo, Andrew Lim and Nathan LityoDesign and edit by Rebecca Sopacua

Annually, more than 500 billion plastic bags are used all over the

globe, making the annual production of 300 million tons of

plastic seem reasonable. The adaptable properties of plastic

make it fit for use in every day to day product, and at this point,

plastic is undeniable unavoidable. So, what implications do our love

for plastic cause?

In this report, we will go in depth on plastics:

1. History2. 7 types of plastics3. Microplastics4. Microplastics and health5. Environmental effects of plastic6. Alternatives to plastic

PLASTIC.You have heard it all. The environmental concerns of plastics have been

widely discussed, prompting companies to start producing plastic-based products. Nevertheless, it is impossible to understand the health implications and environmental effects of plastic pollution without a solid grasp on the rarely discussed structure of plastic and

microplastics.

Plastic is made from synthetic polymers, like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for plastic bottles and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for flexible plastic. Polymers are long molecules with a carbon-based backbone, bonded with other elements like sulfur, oxygen or nitrogen. These polymers are macromolecules made up of small repeating units of monomers.

Plastics are fairly complicated, different categories of plastics have different structures and properties.

The less popular type of plastic, natural plastics are plastics derived from vegetable starches and fats like cellulose. These types of plastics are biodegradable and can decompose in the presence of decomposing microbes. Conventional plastic such as nylon, PET, PVC and petroleum-based plastic are completely synthetic. Bioplastics refer to plastics derived from biomass and are usually biodegradable.

Plastics are more broadly categorized by their monomers. Here are the 7 types of plastics we see on the daily.These plastics are identified by “resin identification codes”, the numbers inside the triangles, meant to make recycling much easier.

1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE or Polyester)AKA beverage bottle plastics. PET suits the job of keeping beverages shielded from bacteria inexpensively while keeping its glossy looks. Polyethylene Terephthalate is a lightweight plastic known for its excellent moisture barrier properties and resistance to alcohols, oils, and diluted acids. The common myth of leaving bottles in a hot car proves to be true, as PET contains the compound antimony trioxide, a carcinogen. Hotter temperatures stimulate the increase in the release of antimony trioxide to the contained liquid. This wrinkle free plastic is non biodegradable, due to its inert nature.

PET is usually manufactured using blow molding, injection molding, 3D printing and extrusion. Blow molding is by far a favourite among manufacturers. Blow molding is a clean manufacturing technique where granular plastic pellets are melted to be captured by molds, followed by a blast of hot air which causes the plastic to take up the shape of the mold.

2. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

World’s most loved plastic. HDPE is the most widely used type of plastic due to its unbranched polymer chains, which makes it super dense and thick, but moldable at the same time. Aside from that, it is malleable, long lasting, impact resistant, lightweight and mold resistant and is easily recyclable! What is there not to like?

Although its safety has been universally accepted, HDPE has been linked to contain estrogen mimicking compounds that are stimulated to release when exposed under UV light. It is linked to hormonal imbalance issues.

3. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

4. Low density Polyethylene (LDPE)

Wrinkly supermarket bag plastics. LDPE plastics are polyethylenes, polymers with simple and branched structures (4000-40 000 carbon atoms/polymer), making them less dense and crystalline in form. It is highly flexible and cheap to produce. It has good resistance towards acids, alcohols, esters, and bases making it a suitable material for food and hardware applications. This type of plastic is deemed safe.

LDPE manufacturing employs a radical polymerization process, where an excess of 99.9% pure ethene is compressed and passed into a reactor and initiator with oxygen or natural peroxides. The polyethene is then extruded and cut into fine granules ready for the blow molding process.

Alias the killer. Found in toys, wraps, packaging, blood bags and water pipes, PVC is utilized in almost every industry. Water pipes in municipalities are often made out of Polyvinyl Chloride, because it is easy to install and odorless. Its base materials are: Chloride salts and Petroleum based ethylene. Chlorides are extracted from the seawater through electrolysis and ethylene is harvested through the cracking of petroleum.

57% of PVC is pure chloride, releasing chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA), lead, cadmium, dioxins and mercury. It has been proven that PVC causes fetal development issues, hormonal imbalance, cancer and diminished lung function. It is advised that the general public use PVC only when necessary.

5. Polypropylene (PP)Polypropylene(C3H6)n, a hydrocarbon and a monomer of propene also known as PP, is a rigid thermoplastic addition polymer. Polypropylene is also known to be more resistant to heat and degradation from uv rays than any other plastics. Polypropene is widely used in the automotive industry(car bumpers or the carpet fibers of the interior) and consumer goods(water bottles or food containers).

Same as LDPE, PP is safe for food and drink use because it does not transmit chemicals into the things humans consume due to its relatively high melting point(171°C). It is also recyclable giving every reason why it's better to use this.

6. Polystyrene (PS)

The foamy one. 95% of polystyrene is composed of air. Most polystyrene foams are incorporated and foamed with carbon dioxide. It is a polymer of the liquid monomer, styrene.They are excellent insulators and are lightweight, making their popular function as take out box packages. other than that, PS is also used in surfboards, car parts and stabilization systems.

The brittle and flammable property of styrofoam is reduced by adding 5-10% butadiene rubber. So far, all styrene products are deemed safe.

7. Other plastics such as bioplastic and polycarbonate (PC)

Bioplastic is a type of biodegradable plastic that is formed from renewable biomass resources such as vegetable oil and corn starch rather than from non-renewable resources such as petroleum.

The other example is called polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates are typically used for baby bottles, sippy cups, water bottles, water gallons and metal food can liners.

However, a lot of countries have banned the use of this plastic material. The chemicals inside PC can be transferred into the food or beverages, which explains the reason behind the numerous health problems such as decreased sperm production in males, various behavioural changes, increased risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and metabolic disorders.

The word plastic originally meant pliable and easily shaped. Before the 1950s, plastic was barely a part of our lives. So, how did our world become so filled with plastic? Before we dive deeper on how the world became so filled with plastic, we first need to understand the history of it. It all began in the year 1869. A man, John Wesley Hyatt, invented plastic due to a $10,000 offer to anyone that can provide a replacement for ivory, a white and hard material which consists mostly of dentine, usually made from elephant tusks or animal teeth.

After some experiments, Hyatt soon discovered treating cellulose from cotton fibers would make a material that imitates other natural products, like ivory and linen. Hyatt demonstrated that his new invention was easily shaped in hot temperatures. In cold temperatures it would harden, thus, holding up its shape. His invention was quickly widespread, as for the first time, the production of a material was not limited by natural resources.

THE HISTORY OF PLASTIC

This not only hugely impacted many lives, but also the environment. Although this was all very revolutionary, Hyatt’s invention still needed to be improved.

In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite. Bakelite is the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained nothing from nature. Bakelite was not just a decent encasing; it was also tough, heat safe, and unlike celluloid, unmistakably appropriate for mechanical large scale manufacturing. Promoted as "the material of a thousand uses," Bakelite could be formed or shaped into nearly anything, giving unlimited prospects. Hyatt's and Baekeland's triumphs drove significant substance organizations to put resources into the innovative work of new polymers and plastics before joining celluloid and Bakelite. While Hyatt and Baekeland had been scanning for materials with explicit properties, new examination programs looked for new plastics, for the wellbeing of their own, and stressed over discovering utilizations for them later.

World War II required an incredible extension of the plastics businesses in the US, which the modern may demonstrate as an essential to the triumph of military achievement. The need to save scant regular assets focused on the creation of other manufactured options. Plastics were those substitutes. Developed by Wallace Carothers in 1935 as a manufactured silk, Nylon was utilized during the war for parachutes, ropes, body covering, protective cap liners, and the sky's the limit from there. Plexiglas was also a choice as glass to airplane windows. A Period magazine article noticed that as a result of the war, “Plastics have been gone to new uses and the flexibility of plastics was shown all over again.” During World War II, plastic creation in the US expanded by 300%.

The flood in plastic creation proceeded after the war finished. In the wake of encountering the Incomparable Wretchedness and afterward World War II, when Americans were prepared to spend money again, quite a bit of the goods they purchased were made of plastic. According to author Susan Freinkel, “In product after product, market after market, plastics challenged traditional materials and won, taking the place of steel in cars, paper and glass in packaging, and wood in furniture.” The conceivable outcomes of plastics gave a few spectators an idealistic vision for a future with bountiful material rich on account of a reasonable, protected, and sterile substance that could be molded by people for their needs.

In Rachel Carson's 1962 book, Quiet Spring, has uncovered the risks of mixtures in pesticides. In 1969, a significant oil slick happened in the California coast, which contaminated Cuyahoga Waterway in Ohio and led it to burst into flames. This raised worries about contamination, as mindfulness about ecological issues spread.

WORRIES ABOUT PLASTIC

Additionally, plastic progressively turned into a word used to portray things considered modest, unstable, or counterfeit. In The Alumni, one of the top motion pictures of 1968, Dustin Hoffman's character was asked by a seasoned associate to make a vocation in plastics. Crowds started forming alongside Hoffman at what they saw, as they lost excitement for an industry that opposed being filled with conceivable outcomes, an image of modest similarity.

PLASTIC ISSUES: WASTE AND WELLBEING

Plastic's notoriety fell further during the 1970s and 1980s as uneasiness about waste expanded. Plastic turned into an exceptional objective on the grounds that, while such a significant number of plastic items are dispensable, plastic keeps going forever in the earth. It was the plastics business that offered reusing as an answer. During the 1980s the plastics business drove a persuasive drive urging districts to gather and procedure recyclable materials as a feature of their waste-administration frameworks. In any case, reusing is a long way from great, and most plastics despite everything end up in landfills or on the earth. Market plastic packs have become an objective for activists hoping to boycott one-use, expendable plastics, and a few American urban areas have just passed sack bans. A definitive image of the issue of plastic waste is the Incomparable Pacific Trash Fix, which has regularly been portrayed as a whirl of plastic trash the size of Texas coasting in the Pacific Sea.

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The fame of plastics has endured further gratitude to a developing worry about the potential danger they posture to human wellbeing. These worries center around the added substances that go into plastics during the assembling procedure, making them progressively adaptable, solid, and straightforward. A few researchers and individuals from people in general are worried about proof that these synthetic compounds filter out of plastics and into our food, water, and bodies. In high portions these synthetic substances can disturb the endocrine framework. Specialists stress especially over the impacts of these synthetic substances on kids and what proceeded with aggregation implies for people in the future.

What are Microplastics?

Microplastic are very small plastic fragments(less than 5 mm in length) which can be harmful to the environment, specifically the ocean and its aquatic creatures. Microplastics does not come from just one source. It can come from pollutants produced by vehicles, or from other plastic materials that have degraded into smaller pieces.

Microplastic in animalsAccording to PLASTIC OCEANS, more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year. That is approximately 51 trillion pieces of microplastic! Microplastics can damage aquatic creatures such as sea turtles and whales. They block digestive tracts, which refuses/hinders them from consuming and feeding behavior. The side effects are damaged and reduce reproductive output. Aquatic creatures cannot tell whether the stuff they feed on are actually edible. This caused the stomachs in these aquatic animals to be filled with lots of microplastic, causing some species to starve and die. Furthermore, studies conducted by Lund University in Sweden, shows that these microplastics can enter the fish’s brains. This will cause brain damage, which explains why fish behave in such a disorderly manner.

Microplastic towards health

How does microplastic affect our health? Microplastics can be usually found in food or beverages, such as tinned food, bottled water, tea bags, tap water and even table salts. Fun fact, scientists, at the State University of New York in Fredonia, discovered that out of the 250 bottles tested, 93 percent of the samples revealed that there is an average of 325 microplastics particles per litre of bottled water. Furthermore, humans are most likely to breathe in microplastics on a daily basis because it can be found swifting through the air around you. It is also known that seafood has the highest concentration of microplastics due to the plastic wastes discharged into the ocean.

Microplastics are able to absorb and emit chemicals and toxic substances such as dioxins, which is harmful and can cause skin lesions, like rashes and damage cells in the liver function. In addition, some microplastic particles are small enough to penetrate human tissues, which can trigger immune reactions.

All of the above does sound terrifying and is true only if it's a long term exposure. However, scientists are still unsure whether consuming microplastics particles can actually harm one's health. Further studies and research is still required to find out the effects it has towards humans.

Alternatives to PlasticPlastic is preferably used mainly because it's versatile (cheap, lightweight, mouldable, durable and strong). We have to understand that there are other alternatives to these harmful substances.

1. Wood2. Bamboo3. Paper4. ceramics5. Cardboard6. Glass7. Stainless Steel

Some of these materials come from renewable resources like trees. Efforts made to satiate our plastic addiction can start by replacing plastic packaging products, furniture and construction materials with more natural alternatives.

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