Applications of Polymers
Plastics in the 21st Century has certainly been a convenience with a multitude of uses. From everyday supermarket plastic bags to mobile phone cases, most objects that we humans use will have plastics in them. These are examples of the different types of plastics available:
Polyester (PES) – (Fibers, textiles)
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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – (Carbonated drinks bottles, peanut butter jars, plastic film, microwavable packaging)
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Polyethylene (PE) – (Wide range of inexpensive uses including supermarket bags, plastic bottles.)
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The top 2 applications of plastics are Plastic Packaging and in the Construction sector.
Packaging is required in almost any manufacturing sector, from food to furniture. It is no wonder why plastics are the practical choice of material for most companies with it being cheap compared to other materials and the various other advantages it has. In fact, the usage of plastic packaging reduces WASTAGE of other resources.
Plastic is safe, hygienic, secure, lightweight, versatile and durable. It also takes fewer resources to produce than alternatives — so without it, we would consume more of the planet’s resources for both production and transportation. Plastic is also shatter resistant and is therefore safe to use and due to its flexibility, it can be used for pastes and ketchup. If we didn’t have plastic packaging, food would spoil quickly. Plastic provides a particularly versatile, safe, hygienic, secure, lightweight and durable packaging medium that uses fewer resources than alternatives. [1] By using flexible packaging, bananas can be stored for 2–3 more days. Plastic bags reduce the wastage of potatoes from 3% to 1%. Cucumbers have their life extended by 14 days when wrapped in film [2] Studies have also shown that if there was no plastics packaging available and other materials were used, the overall packaging consumption of packaging mass, energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would increase dramatically. [3] But the question is, does the wastage of using plastics outweigh the wastage that plastic prevents.
In construction, the materials required need to be readily available, easy to transport, durable and cheap. Plastics fit this bill perfectly. Plastics are used in a growing range of applications in the construction industry. They have great versatility and combine excellent strength to weight ratio, durability, cost effectiveness, low maintenance and corrosion resistance which make plastics an economically attractive choice throughout the construction sector. Plastics in construction are mainly used for seals, profiles (windows and doors), pipes, cables, floor coverings, and insulation. Potentially, plastics have further uses as they do not rot, rust or need regular re-painting, they have strength with lack of weight, they are easily formable, and their light weight enables them to be easily transported and moved on site.
And with such high usage of plastics, there comes the same level of waste after they have served their purpose. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming and upward trend over the past years. Published in the journal Science in February 2015, a study conducted by a scientific working group at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), quantified the input of plastic waste from land into the ocean. The results: every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans. It’s equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world. In 2025, the annual input is estimated to be about twice greater, or 10 bags full of plastic per foot of coastline. So the cumulative input for 2025 would be nearly 20 times the 8 million metric tons estimate – 100 bags of plastic per foot of coastline in the world! [4] The truth is that the plastic causing the pollution can range in size from big to microscopic
Implications of Polymers
Issues with disposal:
Landfill Accumulation
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Most polymers are non-biodegradable, meaning that it cannot be broken down naturally by light, environment air, water or micro-organisms easily. According to the Clean Air Council organization, Americans alone use an estimated 102.1 billion plastic bags — a synthetic polymer — each year, and less than 1 percent of these bags are recycled. The most common method of disposing polymers is burial.
While there are alternatives such as incineration, recycling and use of biodegradable plastics, they are not fully effective. Incinerating polymers releases abundant amount of carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming. Unless the polymers are burned at very high temperatures, harmful gases are produced from the process as well. While recycling is a viable solution, the process is rather expensive especially the separating of different types of polymers. Moreover, recycling involves the conscientious effort of general public and this is difficult to achieve. Biodegradable plastics are plastics with peptide bonds in their composition so they can be broken down by organisms [8]. However, biodegradable plastics are only applicable to plastics with short shelf lives. They are impractical if the use of the polymer requires it to have long shelf live and resistant to corrosion. Hence, dumping polymers in landfills is still the most prominent method of disposal. [7]
This takes up much valuable land space and is not sustainable since the use of synthetic polymer will continue to grow.
Food Imitation
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Improper disposal of Polymers causes multiple adverse impacts to the environment. One of them is the destruction of wildlife as they mistake plastic for food. The U.S National Institutes of Health published that 44 percent of seabird species are known to have consumed polymers, and this accounts for millions of deaths annually. This in turn affects the entire wildlife ecological system as population seabirds, as a part of the food chain, is affected.
Secretion of harmful substances
Polymers that are disposed of releases harmful substances known as Persistent Organic Pollutants(POPs). They are toxic chemicals that are non-biodegradable and thus, remain in the environment for a prolonged period of time. An example of a POP release by polymer is Bisphenol A (BPA), which is found in polycarbonate plastics. BPA has been linked to reproductive and endocrine problems in animals. According to a study done by University of the Pacific in 2006, harmful substances were found in all samples of synthetic polymers discovered at coastal sites of northern Pacific Ocean. These chemicals can poison the fish humans consume and may lead to profound negative health impacts. [10]
Loss of Materials
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Most of the materials sent to landfill could be used for something else. Materials such as plastics, paper, metals and glass are recyclable. All organic materials can be composted into a rich soil. Wasting the materials by burying them in landfills means raw materials are continuously consumed, wasting energy and leading to serious habitat destruction. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, global plastic consumption has gone from 5.5 million tons in the 1950s to 110 million tons in 2009. Americans discard about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year, but only 6.5 percent of it is recycled and 7.7 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities. The rest ends up in landfills where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, and potentially leak pollutants into the soil and water. Plastic production is estimated to use 8 percent of yearly global oil production.
Impact on Communities
Open landfills are an eyesore and few residents want to live near to an enormous pile of garbage, or even pass one regularly. Landfill sites also attract and support pests such as rats and cockroaches, some of which carry diseases. The associated noise, air and soil pollution impacts humans as well as wildlife.
Monetary Costs
Landfill sites have associated economic costs, including land, design, transport of waste and maintenance. They have initial and ongoing costs but do not provide any services in return, other than being a place for communities to send their waste
Issues with Production:
Pollution from production
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Apart from implications from disposal of polymers, the production of polymers causes many problems as well. The production of polymers involves many chemicals that are often harmful or toxic to the environment. Unfortunately, there are instances where these chemicals would leak out of the factories and contaminate the environment. According to the Environmental Working Group organisation, DuPont, the chemical company, has contaminated the local watersheds for many years with chemicals used in the manufacturing of Teflon. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency indicated that this specific chemical builds up in the gills of fishes and can be passed on in large amounts to other animals up the food chain. [9]
Contribution to global warming
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Other than polluting the environment, manufacturing of plastics contributes significantly to global warming as well. This is because the production of plastic bags releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. As carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, it contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect which leads to global warming. Negative effects of global warming include rise in global temperature, loss of ecosystems, melting of ice glaciers and potential health hazards for people.
REFERENCES (1) Bernd Brandt and Harald Pilz, The impact of plastic packaging on life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe: Executive Summary July 2011 http://www.plasticseurope.org/documents/document/20111107113205-e_ghg_packaging_denkstatt_vers_1_1.pdf (2) Packaging in Perspective Prepared by the Advisory Committee on Packaging, page 6, http://incpen.org/docs/PackaginginPerspective.pdf (3) Bernd Brandt and Harald Pilz, The impact of plastic packaging on life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe: Executive Summary July 2011 http://www.plasticseurope.org/documents/document/20111107113205-e_ghg_packaging_denkstatt_vers_1_1.pdf (4) http://plastic-pollution.org/ (5) http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/01/31/what-happens-to-all-that-plastic/ (6) http://disposalofpolymers.weebly.com/how-polymers-are-disposed-of.html (7) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/carbon_chem/6_designer_polymers2.shtml (8) http://www.livescience.com/33085-petroleum-derived-plastic-non-biodegradable.html (9) http://education.seattlepi.com/environmental-problems-caused-synthetic-polymers-5991.html (10) http://www.dummies.com/education/science/environmental-science/what-are-persistent-organic-pollutants/ (11) Image of plastic textile: https://www.aliexpress.com/popular/plastic-fabric.html (12) Image of plastic bottle: http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/rural-north-carolinians-adapting-to-landfill-plastic-bottle-ban.html’ (13) Image of plastic bag: http://www.scrapmonster.com/news/new-york-blocks-deeply-flawed-5-cent-plastic-bag-fee/1/64536 (14) Image of landfill accumulation with plastic bag: https://mhlachan.expressions.syr.edu/?page_id=37 (15) Image of seabirds with plastic in its stomach: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/nature/by-2050-almost-every-seabird-will-have-plastic-in-its-stomach/ (16) Image of oil well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraction_of_petroleum#/media/File:Oil_well.jpg (17) Image of factory pollution: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-do-factories-do-to-help-stop-pollution.htm (18) Image of ice cap melting: http://indykids.org/main/2014/07/the-arctic-polar-ice-cap-is-melting-more-quickly-than-expected/
