Plastic

Plastic is a commonly used material in our everyday life. It is in included in plastic bags, plastic bottle, most of the packaging of product and more, our life has become inseparable with the material. Although plastic is a convenient and durable material, it costs a range of environmental issues across its lifespan. Scientists and researchers have been focusing on reducing the environmental impact of this convenient material from different stages. Production of plastic and disposal of plastic are two of the main issues, Scientist now has proposed solutions for these issues.

The main component of any plastic such as Acrylonitrile butadiene – styrene (ABS) is Butadiene. Butadiene is traditionally manufactured with petroleum or gas (University of Delaware, 2017). A scientific team collaborated with three universities has found a greener solution to it. The team has successfully produce butadiene from Sugar, sugar was converted to furfural then later convert to Tetrahydrofuran -THF (University of Delaware, 2017). The team has successfully achieved 95% effectiveness in converting THF to Butadiene with the new technology called “phosphorus all-silica zeolite” (University of Delaware, 2017). This technology allows plastic being produced by a biofuel from natural biomass sources which is biomass – derived sugars in this case (University of Delaware, 2017).

Waste and disposal of plastic is another huge issue of plastic, In EU, one-third of waste sent to landfill and tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean (European Commission, 2017). Disposal of plastic is becoming a global issue it courses huge environmental, social issues. The disadvantage of plastic as a durable material is that it is very hard to degrade, it leads to a series of water pollutions and damages to the ocean environment. Scientists have discovered that Galleria mellonella was able to eat and digest plastic bags which takes around 100 to 400 years to degrade (Ian Sample, 2017). The Team discover that the worms have a type of enzymes that is able to break down plastic. Further research would be focusing on the enzymes and real world application (Ian Sample, 2017).

I think that the researches and discoveries on reducing the environmental impact of plastic are important and necessary since plastic is a widely used material in our everyday life. I think that plastic wastage and disposal and the environmental impact behind such as pollution to ocean life is very crucial issues. I believe that the processes of manufacture, recycle and disposal treatment of plastic still have large improvement opportunities. 

University of Delaware. (2017, April 24). Process invented to make sustainable rubber, plastic. ScienceDaily. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424170755.htm (accessed May 8, 2017).

European Commission. (2017, March 1). Plastic Waste – Strategy and Background. European Commission. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/plastic_waste.htm (accessed May 8, 2017).

Ian Sample. (2017, April 25). Plastic- eating worms could help wage wat on waste. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/apr/24/plastic-munching-worms-could-help-wage-war-on-waste-galleria-mellonella (accessed May 8, 2017).