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Foreseeable Future: The End to Plastic Pollution

 By: Alondra Cecilia Niño 



                   The figure shows the trend and effectiveness of plastic biodegradation in different environments.


    In recent years, the single use plastic production industry has grown in great numbers. Due to their versatility to everyday life, the amount of plastic usage around us has grown immensely. With such high number of plastic availability and lack of plastic regulation, countries have seen how plastic greatly contributes to the pollution seen in landfills and marine environments. Plastic in its entirely takes a long time to decompose when disposed of correctly; however, recent scientific innovations have allowed for the creation of biodegradable plastics that can greatly help with the ongoing plastic pollution crisis and allow for a faster degradation of plastic.
Recent studies have shown that the production of biodegradable plastic can positively impact environments in which humans inadequately dispose of plastics, such as in marine environments. These positive impacts on the environment leads for a faster degradation of the product and is considered to be cost efficient due to lower costs of proper disposal of plastic (Narancic et al. 2018). Studies have also shown how even when plastic is not disposed of correctly, or lands in different environments, the plastic will be able to dissolve at a safe and constant rate regardless of environment. Such innovation greatly benefits all living organisms because whether plastic pollution ends up in marine, deserts, or our environment, regardless if disposal is done correctly or not, habitats will be able to return to living environments in where eventually plastic pollution will no longer be an issue. 










Citations:


Narancic T., Verstichel S., Changanti S.R., Morales-Gamez L., Kenny S.T., De Wilde B., Padamati  R.B., and O’Connor K.E. 2018. Biodegradable plastic blends create new possibilities for end-of-life management of plastics but they are not a panacea for plastic pollution. Environmental Science and Technology 52:10441-104452.

Comments

  1. Oj GarciaNovember 18, 2020 at 11:53 PM

    Very interesting, and informative article. Even though I believe that the production of biodegradable plastic is a good step in getting rid of plastic pollution, we also need to get involved and do our part since substantial changes will only be achieved if constant public pressure is applied.

    ReplyDelete

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