The Imminent End Of Plastic [End Plastic To End Plastic Pollution]

Introduction

There has been a continued effort to curb the threat associated with plastic pollutants. Even recently, an initiative was put together by the European Union to device a way to put an end to this growing challenge. Believe me; if nothing is done, in few years from now, the face of the earth will be a replica of the image shown below.

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Plastic Pollution

This term is really not new, especially in this era, so I wouldn't  dwell much on explaining the term in details.

A particular study published in June 28 2017 made a striking revelation. It was estimated that by 2021, humans would use over 500billion plastic bottles on a yearly basis (at the rate of 1.2million plastic bottles per minute). Now if this figure does not strike you; it should now.

It has also been estimated that over 8,000,000tonnes of plastics are being disposed into the ocean annually. This is where the scare lies. This threat is not only to humans, but it is currently disrupting the balance of our ecosystem in a very negative way. And it has also been seen to be declining the population of sea creatures.

But the comfy is that plans are really underway to curb this. You'll find out as you read through.

War against plastic

This is sounding like a real war here; and yes! It is.

In a publication of 16th January 2018, it was explicitly stated that the European Union has moved with an agenda to enforce the recycling of every single plastic bottle used by the year 2030. This initiate is coming after a decision by China to ban the importation of non-recyclable materials.

Here's a little fact to buttress the need for this:

It takes about 5second to produce a "single-use" plastic bottle. It takes about 5minutes to consume the content in it. But, it takes a whopping 500years for the bottle to breakdown. 

This is because, majority of the plastic used for the production of soft drink bottles is made from Polyethylene terephthalate (also called PET). Though it is recyclable, but it is almost non-biodegradable.

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But there is another very potent solution to the challenge of plastic pollution; and this is the biodegradable plastic.

Biodegradable plastic

This is the kind of plastic that can be decomposed or degraded by micro organisms.

Note: This should not be confused with recyclable plastic.

There are about two main classes of biodegradable plastics, but we would be considering bioplastics that are made from raw materials which are renewable. This includes Vegetable fat, Microbiota, or Corn starch, etc. Most times, bioplastics are produced from the by-product of agricultural produce.

Also, the regular fossil-fuel plastics, which are produced from petroleum, pump huge amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during production. So you see, even from the production, the pollution had already begun. Hence, the need for bioplastics can never be overemphasized.

Types of bioplastic

• Starch-based bioplastic: This is the commonest type of bioplastic. Just as the name suggests, it is made from pure starch with an added plasticiser to make it thermo-friendly.
• Protein-based bioplastic: This kind of bioplastic is made from different sources of protein, such as: Casein and Wheat gluten.
• Cellulose-based bioplastic: This is mainly made from cellulose acetates. They are very light and tough.

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Advantages of bioplastics

1. It is very environmental friendly, as it can be biodegraded by micro organisms.
2. Costs less, in terms of energy consumption, for the production as compared to fossil-fuel plastics or synthetic plastics.
3. Saves the reserve of our fossil fuels.

Together, we would win this war against plastic pollution and save our mother nature, and ultimately preserve the balance of our ecosystem.

Thanks for reading

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5