Plastics and their Human Health and Environmental Impact - Research Paper Example

Human health and the Environment Impacts of Plastics Introduction Daily plastic use affects both human health and our environment. People have been using plastics for good and for ill in different applications like keeping our food fresh. PVC is applicable for almost everything from piping to flooring. The major challenge with plastics is improper disposal by the users. Plastics always get themselves into our environment hence a problem to the human health and the environment at large. The study researcher will focus on some of the plastics used daily, their raw materials, and their environmental impacts as well as giving practical recommendations on dealing with plastics. Human health and the Environment Impacts of Plastics Plastic use is limitless because plastics are found almost everywhere in our daily routine. Several applications and examples are also provided. Bumpers and dashboards and other car parts are commonly made of plastic elements. For example the radio control buttons, dashboard, and the window control elements. The bumper too is made from a plastic injection molding. Most covers like lids are made from plastics (Akovali 38). They include; plastic bottle caps, plastic cup lids and the lids for prescription drug containers. Many of the electrical switches used in the lighting systems or to power electrical appliances like coffee maker are plastic made. DVDs and CDs used at our homes are also plastics. Medical Devices Hospitals depend solely on plastics than any other place you can think of; plastics are light, replaceable, and sanitary. Many of the medical devices used for inpatients and outpatients are made from plastic (Derelanko and Auletta 822). They include; plastic syringes, containers and some tools used in actual medical procedures. Plastics objects in use daily range from medical equipments like IV bags and tubing. These have been assumed to contribute mainly to hospital waste. In most of the U.S. hospitals discard of materials range to approximately 425,000 tons per year (Kutz 86). Plastics are a composition of different elements like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, and sulfur. Plastics have large molecular weight, signifying each molecule of the above elements can possess thousands of atoms attached together. Plastics or the polymers are made when natural products are turned from primary chemicals we get from oil, natural gas or oil. A raw material such as polystyrene is extracted from oil in the refinery. In crude oil refining, four percent ends up as raw material for plastic production (Bilitewski, Darbra and Barceló 48). Polystyrene extraction has an adverse impact on the human health and environment because it takes at least five hundred years to decompose. The manufacturing process for the popular plastic objects divided into four; a) Obtaining the raw material or the monomer. b) Synthesis of the basic polymer. c) Adding components to the polymer, to undergo fabrication. d) Molding the plastic into its final shape, size and form. Chemicals used as a part of the process have adverse impacts on the human health hence a risk. Plastic fumes produced in the manufacturing process when the material is also heated a risk since its immediate effects may include severe irritation to the eyes, nose, and lungs. The future is positive for plastics. The demand for plastics has increased compared to the past years. The increase in demand can be related to the increase in population in the worldwide. A large population now is in demand of plastics for its daily applications like for food packaging, shopping conveyance, and increasing medical instruments. However, we have continued untapped oil reserves hence not able to match the supply with the growing demand. Discarded, broken, or used plastic items are disposed of in some way. How people dispose of plastic have a significant impact on the human health and the environment. One of the best ways is recycling though only a few of the used plastics are recycled. Recycling helps to minimize damage to the environment by reducing the need for new materials. For instance, plastic parts melting so as to shape them into new products. By use of Symbols on the plastics, people will know the plastic type for sorting and recycling. Nevertheless, the large part of our electronic products end up lying on the ground or even been buried in the dumps. That is a worst way of disposing of the used or broken plastics because it will take at least five hundred years to decompose (Kutz 102). Recycling means processing a material again so that it can be made to use another time. Plastics are collected from bins and gathered in a material recovery facility unit where they arranged readily for the process. After sorting, they are directed to the primary unit. At the unit, any dirt present is removed. After that, the plastic is washed and broken into small pieces. To separate the mixture, a floating tank is then used in which with different densities, and the components are separated. Our plastics are dried, melted at high temperatures, and composed into pellets. The pellets are then transported to the plastic manufacturing plants to be made new products. This process is advisable but at the same time, it poses its health risks (Henstock 72). It involves melting the plastic that can cause result to chemical releasing. Recycling is related to skin problems after the body exposure, respiration complications when one inhales the fumes. Avoiding such toxic fumes emitted in plastic recycling is impossible even if it is done overseas because they travel long distances hence a global contaminant. The moment plastics are used and left as litter without recycling, and they start releasing dangerous products. Right now, most plastic is being wasted or sent to dumpsites or incinerators for burning. At the incinerators, heavy toxic chemicals are produced to the air, water, and land hence environmental pollution. When these chemicals enter our bodies, they become more concentrated with time hence posing a significant challenge to our body system. Worse may happen when the chemicals are swept to our water bodies (Henstock 76). Small portions of plastic find their way into our food from containers. Such process is known as leaching or migration. The process is further described as unavoidable because in every plastic material there is a substance that can find its way to the food. Food in such plastic containers should not be heated since heating seems to increase the leaching level. Leaching can also increase when the plastic package touches fatty, salty, or acidic foods. Due to this reason, so it is difficult to say plastics are safe for food storage and preservation (Bilitewski, Darbra and Barceló 36). Conclusion The society needs plastics, in food packaging, conveyance, and hospitals. It is advisable then we dispose of our used or broken plastic products in a right manner. Recycling is not always the best, but it is desirable if we want to save our environment from pollution, as well as keep stable health conditions. Burning or burying plastics is not a solution since it poses more challenge to the surrounding. Those responsible for recycling the process should always take care of their safety to avoid the risks that come up when recycling like the chemical fumes. For a clean environment and good health conditions, let us dispose of plastics in the right way. Works Cited Akovali, G. Plastics, Rubber And Health. Shrewsbury: Smithers Rapra, 2007. Print. Bilitewski, Bernd, Rosa Mari Darbra, and Damia Barcelo. Global Risk-Based Management Of Chemical Additives. Berlin: Springer, 2012. Print. Derelanko, Michael J, and Carol Auletta. Handbook Of Toxicology. Boca Raton: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, 2014. Print. Henstock, Michael E. The Recycling And Disposal Of Solid Waste. Print. Kutz, Myer. Applied Plastics Engineering Handbook. Amsterdam: William Andrew, 2011. Print. Shaxson, L. 'Structuring Policy Problems For Plastics, The Environment And Human Health: Reflections From The UK'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364.1526 (2009): 2141-2151. Web. Read More