Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semi synthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular weight, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

The word Plastic derives from the Greek ????????? (plastikos), “fit for moulding”, from ??????? (plastos) “moulded”. It refers to their malleability or plasticity during manufacture that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into an enormous variety of shapes – such as films, fibres, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.

Plastic Pollution

Plastic is one of the few new chemical materials which pose environmental problem. Polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene is largely used in the manufacture of plastics.

20% of solid municipal wastes in India are plastic. Non-degradable plastics accumulate at the rate of 25 million tonnes per year. According to an estimate more than 100 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year all over the world. In India use of plastic is 3 kg per person per year

Plastic Problems

Plastics are used because they are easy and cheap to make and they can last a long time. Urbanisation has added to the plastic pollution in concentrated form in cities. Plastic does not decompose, and requires high energy ultra-violet light to break down.

Plastic thrown on land can enter into drainage lines and chokes them resulting into floods in local areas in cities as experienced in Mumbai, India in 1998. It was claimed in one of the programmes on TV Channel that eating plastic bags results in death of 100 cattle’s per day in U.P. in India. In stomach of one dead cow, as much as 35 kg of plastic was found.

More than 90% of the articles found on the sea beaches contained plastic. The plastic rubbish found on beaches near urban areas tends to originate from use on land, such as packaging material used to wrap around other goods. On remote beaches the rubbish tends to have come from ships, such as fishing equipment used in the fishing industry.

This plastic can affect marine wildlife in two important ways: by entangling creatures, and by being eaten. Aquatic animals mistake floating transparent plastic bags for jellyfish and eat them. A recent US report concluded that more than 100000 marine mammals die each year in the world’s oceans by eating or becoming entangled in plastic rubbish, and the position is worsening World-wide, 75 marine bird species are known to eat plastic articles.

Health hazards of plastic

A chemical found in plastics used in water bottles, food cans and even dental fillings, could pose a serious threat to the user’s health, researchers claim.

Research on lab animals has linked the chemical to prostate enlargement, declined testosterone, pre-cancerous breast cells, prostate cancer, changes to the genital tract, early puberty in females and hyperactivity.
It also acts as an endocrine disruptor meaning it can interfere with the hormone system.

Precautions

“Ideally, the best methods of reuse are ways that will keep these plastics out of the landfill the longest.”
Plastic water and soft drink bottles are sold with the intention of single use, then recycling, they can be safely reused if cleaned and handled properly. The keys are to ensure that the bottle is not damaged, has been thoroughly cleaned before each use, and is filled with clean tap water.

Different ways to reuse the plastic bags:

• Use them to dust off out-of-season on shoes or seasonal articles.
• Use the bags as gloves to clean dustbins, or using pesticides.
• When packing a suitcase, use them to keep shoes from soiling clothes and dirty things from clean ones.
• To protect small outdoor plants from rain or frost at night, cover them with bags and tie the handles tightly around the pots. Be sure to take the bags off in the morning.
• Use as a barrier between you and your trash: for those with infrequent trash pickups, use as an extra layer for strong smelling kitchen waste. Or replace trash bags: use for the bathroom, the car, or even to replace kitchen trash bags.
• Use as over dirty shoes to avoid tracking mud, or to put over shoes while doing gardening.
• Ask stores if they will take the bags back. Encourage your local retailer to do the same.
• For those who are interested in something a little bit more long lasting, consider learning how to craft with plastic bags, like carpet, shopping bags.

Reuse of Plastic Container

• Clean plastic food containers make great toys for your child/children.
• Use plastic food containers to store leftovers in the freezer.
• They could be used as great lunch containers in kids’ school lunches.
• Use as drawer organizers. They can round up jewellery, extra buttons, bobby pins, safety pins, and business cards, whatever you’ve got.
• Can be use as wrapping gift items / parcels.
• Can be modified to make pots for starting seedlings.
• Bigger containers work well to hold food scraps or dustbins.
• Small and medium sized plastic containers are great for travel containers for your homemade baby food and snacks.

Best Practice

• Start saying NO to carry bag when you can carry things in your hand
• Don’t forget to carry a cloth bag from home when you are heading for a purchase
• Keep a set of bags always in your bike/car
• Avoid packing goods in multiple plastics which can packed in a single
• You can use thick/black plastic which can be recycled
• Recycle a carry bag for at least 10 times before you throw

Conclusion

“It is better to be safe than sorry”. So a better idea will be to avoid this plastic as far as we possibly can.
These bags should be re-used as many times as possible to avoid entering the waste stream, but ultimately avoiding plastics all together is crucial to reduce our footprint on this earth. Until it becomes second nature, REUSE is MUST.
If we neglect this today, our tomorrow might be in a problem. Realise the importance of using less plastics
Make it a Habit and a Rule

…One person can save at least 15 plastics in a week…

Its a Seminar Report, that I prepared for my cousin. I hope this will help someone to take care of Environment as well as Marks on Project Report