Sagot :
Explanation:
Recycling can save energy. It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.
Conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals.
Answer:
Plastic is a life-changing resource, but the same qualities that make it useful—alongside poor waste management—have created a global waste challenge. Here’s what you need to know.
Plastics boast a unique and useful set of properties. They are polymers, long chains of molecules made from repeating links called monomers, often produced from chemicals like petroleum. Its molecular structure can be engineered to present different characteristics—to be flexible or hard, transparent or opaque. They are durable, strong, lightweight, water resistant, and relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture. Most modern plastics are made from fossil fuels like natural gas or petroleum; but as new technology emerges, plastics are also being produced from renewable materials like corn or cotton. There are thousands of patented plastics spanning countless sectors, all with unique attributes that make them fit for purpose.
Plastic in our daily lives
In many applications, plastic is virtually irreplaceable because it is cheap, strong, lightweight, and resistant to corrosion. The most common uses of plastic are in packaging and building components, such as piping. In the medical industry, plastic is often key to contamination and infection control. Syringes, pipettes and gloves used in healthcare and biomedical research cannot be reused. While the excessive use of plastic packaging is concerning, some form of packaging is often necessary to maintain the hygiene or freshness of food, or maintain the integrity of a product during freight. Small or travel-size toiletries and personal hygiene products are sometimes seen as wasteful, but are vital in providing affordable sanitation options for some of our most vulnerable communities, such as the homeless or low-income families. With an estimated 70% of the world’s population living on less than US$10 a day, toiletries in single-serve sachets provide an affordable sanitation option in developing markets.
Plastics are the cleanest, most efficient way to keep medical supplies sterile.
Replacing plastic with other materials is neither simple nor straightforward, mainly due to the challenge of finding an alternative that combines all the most desirable plastic properties. Biodegradable alternatives—such as special plastics, paper, or cardboard—may well have a higher greenhouse footprint because of the amount of water or natural resources consumed in their production. A study conducted last year by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found that reusable plastic bags are more eco-friendly than paper and cotton alternatives, but only in cities and countries with a well-structured waste management system that prevents leakage.
The plastic waste problem is a waste management problem
While plastic is durable, this also means plastic waste can be trapped in our environment for centuries, if not managed well. While plastics deteriorate into fragments easily through wear and tear, their polymer chains only break down into other smaller components at very high temperatures, such as during some chemical recycling processes. However, today only 15% of plastic waste is recycled.
The world still largely operates on the ‘linear economy’ model—sometimes known as ‘take-make-discard’—where raw materials are used to manufacture products, only to be disposed of at the end of their short lifetimes.
Transitioning to a more sustainable model is not rocket science, if we can remember the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—in that specific order of priority!
1. Reducing our overall consumption is about respecting our natural resources, only using what we need, and refusing unnecessary excess. Take the Japanese ‘Mottainai’ lifestyle approach—which teaches respect for the planet and its natural resources by reducing wasteful behaviour, using only what is needed.
2. Reuse is key to increasing the lifespan of the things we use. This includes repairing or upcycling our items to give them a new lease on life.
3. Recycling the waste we eventually generate is key to closing the loop in a circular economic model.